The Power of the Covenant Idea for Leadership, Reform, and Ethical Behavior

The study of leadership is awash with numerous concepts, many of which overlap. To the student and the scholar, finding a starting point and integrative theme for leadership ideas which extend from interpersonal to organizational contexts can be dizzying. This paper proposes the idea of covenant as a unifying metaphor for these valuable and often overlapping leadership ideas. The covenantal approach has had a tremendous impact on the history of Western legal and perhaps, more importantly, social and cultural thought and therefore might offer us a realistic and practical approach to effective leadership. In particular, we will see that a covenantal model emphasizes the following: 1) An ethos of empowerment, mutual care, and mutual accountability; 2) A leadership style of servant leadership; 3) A process of participative decision-making; 4) A structure of non-centralization; and 5) A culture of spirituality in the workplace

Biblical Principles of Reform and Regeneration: An Intellectual Framework for Christians Addressing Social Change

This paper seeks to provide Biblical perspective on social and cultural reform. At the time of this writing, much upheaval in the form of a pandemic, race riots, and political protests have manifested both within America and abroad. In turn, these disputes have carried over into conflict within various denominations of the Church itself. This paper will provide some guiding Biblical themes from Scripture that are relevant to these very difficult issues today. It will also address common pitfalls the Church can easily fall into in dealing with these issues, and how these extremes can be avoided

Self-Directed Learning and the Impact of Leadership: Analyzing Keys for Success from a Covenental Perspective

The current state of education seems to beg for visionary changes to truly impact students and prepare them for the future. Self-directed learning models purport to do just that, by preparing students to be self-motivated, lifelong learners. While many educators seek to apply self-directed practices, research reveals that there are several obstacles that can hinder self-directed learning. Duby’s 2006 study of schools employing self-directed learning investigated how leaders successfully overcome these hindrances via specific leadership attitudes and behaviors that not only effectively overcame these obstacles, but are also reflected in the covenantal perspective of leadership. Using content analysis, this paper further explores the findings of Duby’s study of educational leaders, analyzing them within the covenantal construct developed by Fischer (2003), in order to better understand the relationship between effective leadership practice and the covenantal perspective. This study revealed intriguing similarities between particulars of the CFA model and the leadership practices exhibited in the self-directed learning schools. These similarities also present opportunities for future study, including whether visionary organizations are more apt to be motivated by covenantal principles and examining the type of for-profit organizations that are more apt to embody the tenets of CFA

A Biblical-Covenantal Perspective on Organizational Behavior & Leadership

WHAT IS A WORLDVIEW? For starters, it’s important to recognize that our view on organizational behavior, and indeed on life itself, is influenced by our worldview. A worldview is an intellectual, emotional, and spiritual framework by which every person views reality, makes sense of life, and applies meaning to every area of life. Everyone has a worldview, but the sad fact is that most people don’t really know that they have one, or how their unspoken assumptions about truth, meaning, values, and humanity influence every decision they make and every perception they have. As a result, most people’s worldviews are undeveloped, which means that most people are making decisions based not upon a coherent view of reality and life, but more likely an unclear, hodge-podge collection of vaguely defined and unverified assumptions about life. If we want to be effective leaders and managers in our organizations, and even more importantly, if we want to be successful human beings, shouldn’t we know what we believe and why we believe it

Biblical Principles of Reform and Regeneration

This paper seeks to provide Biblical perspective on social and cultural reform. At the time of this writing, much upheaval in the form of a pandemic, race riots, political protests have been manifest both within America and abroad. In turn, these disputes have carried over into disputes within various denominations of the Church itself. It can be difficult to ascertain a Biblical perspective on all of these issues. We had previously argued that a Biblical perspective on government requires an emphasis on limited government with a covenantal structure which embodies noncentralization, and federalism; after all, historically, the American system of government was influenced by Protestant Reformation emphasis on covenantal (or federal) theology.[1] This includes not just sharing power within the federal government, or between the federal government and states. It also favors a grass-roots spread of power, where not only state and local governments have their own spheres of autonomy, but other spheres such as families, churches, non-profits, businesses and other voluntary associations are robustly involved in mediating and addressing societal evils.[2] Also included within this framework is an affirmation of the institutional separation of Church and State. These realms should always remain separate in order to ensure maximum liberty and freedom of conscience.[3] The State focuses primarily on protecting our inalienable rights, and the Church deals with other facets of personal and societal evils. Crimes are a violation of inalienable rights, which as the Declaration of Independence argues, is why government exists—to protect those rights. Inalienable rights are rights given to us by God which cannot be given away or take away.[4] It will be argued that this structural framework can be applied to areas of needed social reform. To do so, it will first be helpful to discuss some of the idols associated with reform and calls for change, both from the right and left ends of the political spectrum. [1] Daniel J. Elazar, Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel: Biblical Foundations and Jewish Expressions, (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1995), 22-23. [2] Kahlib J. Fischer, “The Power of the Covenant Idea for Leadership, Reform, and Ethical Behavior”, The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 10, no. 2 (2017): 3. https://scholar.valpo.edu/jvbl/vol10/iss2/13/. [3] David Vandrunen, “The Two Kingdoms Doctrine and the Relationship of Church and State in the Early Reformed Tradition, Journal of Church and State 49, no. 4 (2007): 749. DOI:10.1093/jcs/49.4.743. [4] Fischer, “Biblical Principles”, 4

Biblical Principles of Government

The following article seeks to provide an overview of the key ideas and themes of Scripture which relate to the realm of government. The safest way to find Biblical principles is to avoid using just one verse here and there which “seems” to fit, and instead to look for general principles which are evident throughout Scripture and to apply those principles accordingly. The discussion below illuminates major Biblical themes and then provides points of application

Leadership & Statesmanship: An Introduction

This course allows us to focus on statesmanship—its definition, attributes, and application in the political arena. Before doing so, we need to understand the extent to which statesmanship and leadership overlap. After all, to be a statesman is to be a leader, but does that mean that all leaders are statesman? Before that question can be answered, we will look at a basic (and Biblical) overview of the key ideas of leadership which may be relevant to our understanding of statesmanship. In doing so, it is hoped that the reader will look for points of personal application from the principles being discussed. Not all of us will be called to be statesman, but we are called to influence those around us and society as a whole, for the better and for God’s glory, which is at the foundation of statesmanship, and which, moreover, is what leadership is all about

Biblical Principles of History & Government

Throughout history, one can trace the development of certain Biblical principles which serve to draw man and his government toward freedom and away from tyranny. The purpose of this thesis, then, is to explain these principles by providing Biblical support and historical evidence for them. Also, included in this work is a collection of historical documents which were included for their relevance to these principles. Briefly stated, this work will reveal that freedom is achieved by acknowledging the sovereignty of God in aU areas of life, specifically in the realm of government, and the subsequent importance of patterning human relationships according to Biblical principles, which requires adherence to covenantal principles. This work was done in consultation with the Oral Roberts University Educational Fellowship, and was designed to be a possible resource guide for teachers of History, Government, and Bible in Christian schools

Biblical Principles of Government and Criminal Justice

This article formulates a Biblical perspective on government, public policy, and criminal justice. It does so emphasizing themes of covenant, justice, inalienable rights, and proper boundaries and cooperation between Church and State, and other spheres of sovereignty within a society. These themes are predicated upon central tenants of Scripture--the sovereignty of God, the imago dei of all humans, and the and the centrality of the Gospel