Nehemiah: A Visionary, Missional, and Strategic Leader

A visionary leader articulates and applies future thinking in ways that engages and motivates others.

By Heber Ticas, Superintendent of Latin America

You may remember God’s calling on the life of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was called from the palatial life of being King Artaxerxes’ cupbearer to his turbulent ancestry city of Jerusalem. His mission was to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls which were in ruins. The mission was such that it demanded a leader who possessed multiple leadership gifts. Nehemiah was a visionary, missional, and strategic leader who would faithfully execute the mission. Amid overwhelming odds and constant challenges, he never wavered, and he lived out his God-given mission with great efficiency. He recruited, inspired, and mobilized a multitude of people to carry out the mission of rebuilding the walls, and in just fifty-two days, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt.

Nehemiah possessed a keen ability to harmonize his divine mission with the everyday rhythms of life and its challenges. To carry out God’s mission, Nehemiah needed to employ both visionary and strategic leadership.

A visionary leader is one who, by the Spirit, defines a clear picture of the preferred future. In Nehemiah’s case, once his heart was stirred by God regarding the condition of the walls and gates of Jerusalem, Nehemiah promptly put in motion a plan to begin to move toward that vision. It is important to note that Nehemiah’s approach was bathed in constant prayer before the Lord.

A visionary leader is also able to articulate and apply future thinking in ways that will engage and motivate others with the future in mind. This was evident in Nehemiah’s conversation with King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1-8). He entered the king’s court with a clear understanding of what it was going to take to fulfill the mission. Since the preferred future was clear in his mind, he was able to articulate future thinking in such a way that he secured from the king all that was needed to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls and gates.

A vision without strategic thinking will not go very far, and a strategy without strategic planning will also falter. Casting and sustaining a vision require missional awareness and strategic leadership. A strategic leader leads with clarity and is constantly aware of missional pitfalls that stray from the preferred future. These kinds of leaders constantly reinforce the vision and celebrate the incremental steps toward that vision.

Leading strategically requires planning strategically, but one cannot plan strategically without evaluating what’s at hand. A precise evaluation of resources, or lack thereof, becomes crucial. Nehemiah is a good example of this reality. When he approached the king, he was aware of what would be needed to begin to execute the mission. He asked the king for letters for the governors of the different provinces so he could have access, he also secured timber for the walls and gates. Nehemiah had evaluated the cost of executing the mission.

Nehemiah’s visionary, missional, and strategic leadership can be summed up in the following manner:

• He was moved by the Spirit to participate in God’s mission (Nehemiah 1:1-3).
• He sought God in prayer with humility and repentance (1:4-11).
• He received a clear and concise vision from God (2:1-6).
• He secured resources for the execution of the mission (2:7-8).
• He recruited and mobilized leaders (2:16-18).
• He faced opposition and hardship with dependance on God and missional cognizance (2:19; 4:7-9).
• He adapted and persevered with faith, hope, and love.

Nehemiah’s ministry reminds me of Jesus’ ministry. Like Nehemiah, Jesus also recruited, inspired, and mobilized others to help him carry out the mission he received from the Father. He was a visionary leader and was quite strategic in how he carried himself. His vision for his church was for the church to join him, and, by the Spirit, participate with him in his mission from the Father.

Since Jesus has given us participation in his ministry to the world, like Nehemiah and Jesus we must lead strategically. By the Spirit, we also need to recruit, inspire, and mobilize the body to attain God’s vision for our churches. I believe that our Team Based — Pastor Led model affords us the structure to facilitate this. As pastors, we must employ visionary and strategic leadership to lead our teams through the healthy ministry Avenues of faith, hope, and love. Nehemiah could not achieve the mission without building a team. He enlisted various teams and organized them in ways that deployed them effectively in the field.

God not only called Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of the city but also to achieve a bigger purpose. Building the walls rebuilt the morale of the people that had been broken and inspired them to build up their lives and community. God’s calling always includes mending fractured relationships, and leading people to seek God by restoring worship expressions. It was truly the ministry of faith, hope, and love.

My fellow co-laborers I pray that like Nehemiah, our hearts may be stirred, and our minds would be filled with clarity of vision and mission. May the Lord awaken in us the leadership gifts that he has already equipped us with, and may his Spirit empower us in ways that our missional participation would result in the joy of disciple-making with Jesus.