Every year our
church goes to Savannah Georgia on a mission trip to work with inner city
children Over the past two years I have helped my pastor teach a class of
middle school age children. . One of the biggest challenges we face
is how to teach these children to become leaders and instead of followers. Year
after year I watch our pastor treat these children with respect that no one
else gives them. In The Art of Leadership Willie Davis talks about what made Lombardi a great
leader. Some of these qualities are the qualities that my pastor shows these
children.
The first thing
my pastor and members of our church do is show the children that we care. We
show them that we care my learning their names and listening when they talk.
The second thing my pastor does is to work hard to gain their trust. These children
do not trust people easily so gaining their trust may take all week. Once these
children realize that we care and they can trust us they confide in us with
their problems. They think that we have all the answers to their problems and
ask us how they can help us. Believing in the kids is an important factor that
affects the entire week. If we believe in them they learn that they can relax
and just worry about having fun. Keeping the bar high is also important with
these children; most of these children do not set the standards high if you set
the bar high when you expect things from them they come to realize they can
have high standards for themselves. Meeting people and keeping in contact with
them helps maintain a relationship with them.
This picture found online portrays some of the qualities are that we are teaching the children that are important leadership qualities.
After six years
of working with these children and trying to teach them how to be leaders,
these children have become leaders themselves.
These children who once were only followers have become Transformational Leadership.
They think of others before themselves and now they think of how they younger
children watch and mimic them. Living in poverty these children grow up
thinking they will always be living in poverty but once these children have
learned they can be leaders they are questioning how they can grow up and move out
of poverty.
Teaching
children to become leaders is helpful for their life because they can set goals
and dreams. They also can teach others to become leaders and will not just
follow a crowd.
