How to apply spiritual leadership in community and personal settings: The Lifting Clay model
Spiritual leadership isn’t just about being a leader at work; you can also apply it to other aspects of your life.
I’ve been asked how I make decisions on what communities or individuals I choose to help.
If you’re reading this, there’s no doubt you’ve thought of ways on how to invest your time, treasure, and talent in individuals or organizations over the years.
Invest
We want to invest in people, nonprofit organizations, and projects. We do that where there’s a pathway to sustainability being created in which we’re not just giving a handout but a hand up. Thinking about our philanthropic work in a strategic way and as an investment, rather than as a donation or a gift, is a model we call Lifting Clay.
Grow
The Lifting Clay model makes sure people who were users of resources and services become contributors to resources and services. We do that by helping them grow and sharing what we know. We share our points of contact. We might pour resources into them by getting them education and connections. Sometimes we provide breathing room and space to just be and think.
Multiply
Once the people, project or organization you’re helping has all the resources they need, the shift happens. They can then take what they learned, move on, and share their resources with others in need.
There’s an exponential impact. People who need help breaking a cycle can multiply the goodness from each of us.
The Lifting Clay model in action
When an orphan turns 16 in Ukraine, they become emancipated and kicked out on the streets. About 60% of the girls become prostitutes, and 70% of all children end up in prison or commit suicide.
We had an opportunity to help a couple adopt two 15-year-old boys from Ukraine. They just squeaked by the 16-year-old emancipation time frame. The community came together in amazing ways to help this family bring these boys to their new home.
We helped them purchase a larger home while the couple was on their final trip to Ukraine to pick the boys up. While the family was in Ukraine filling out the adoption paperwork, the community came together to renovate the home. When the family returned, the home had been updated to accommodate the larger family.
Today, the boys are giving back. One of them is attending college, and the other has started his own family. These boys could not have grown, learned, and multiplied if the community hadn’t invested in them.
As I developed this Lifting Clay model, I had a friend point out that this model is exactly how Jesus worked. He invested in people, primarily the 12 disciples, who experienced personal growth through their learning, then they taught others which multiplied the lessons and the impact of Jesus’ work by sharing the message and the Word.