Have you ever had a bad experience with a customer service rep on the phone? There is a point when things escalate and a request comes out, “let me speak with your manager.”
No matter the organizational structure you serve within, we all understand something of delegated authority. Delegated authority is when a person in charge hands down responsibilities to someone under their leadership. That customer service rep on the phone? They were given responsibilities from the manager as a representative of the organization.
Wherever you serve you have been entrusted with a measure of authority. Keep in mind that whatever the amount of authority you have, it is always under someone’s umbrella of authority.
For instance, I am a pastor at 12Stone Church. There are many conversations or meetings where I am the person with the most authority in the room. However, I do not have ultimate authority…because I work at our Central Campus and come under the authority of our Campus Pastors. Our campus pastor has a lot of authority, but in the bigger picture he falls under the umbrella of our Senior Pastor. Does our Senior Pastor have ultimate authority? It would be easy to say yes – until you consider the role and responsibility of our denomination – the Wesleyan Church.
Wherever you serve you have been entrusted with a measure of authority, and you also sit under someone else’s Umbrella of Authority. In light of that truth, here are 3 thoughts on authority:
- You are a servant, not a consultant – under the umbrella of authority your job is to make things happen. You have been given authority to serve, not simply provide opinions (click to tweet).
- Your role is to serve their purpose – While there are multiple roles of authority, under the umbrella there is only one purpose. Your authority has been given to make things better under the umbrella. Authority was handed down so the mission can keep moving forward.
- You have to trust the authority above you – Trust is essential. Your leaders fly at a greater altitude than you do. That means you see details with greater intensity than they do, and they see farther down the road than you. One of the beautiful mysteries of spiritual leadership is that God delivers wisdom and insight that I need through those I follow (click to tweet).
Cory Lebovitz 