The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (3) Part Four

The kind of supervisor we just fellowshipped about knows their profession and possesses work capability, but just doesn’t bear a burden, and indulges in eating, drinking, and entertainment all day without tending to their proper work or doing any real work. False leaders cannot promptly dismiss and reassign this kind of supervisor, and this obstructs and disturbs the work, keeping it from progressing smoothly. Isn’t this caused by the false leaders? Although the false leaders are not directly responsible for this, their dereliction of duty, their failure to fulfill their role as overseers, makes them indirectly responsible for the losses caused to the work. These false leaders don’t fulfill their duty as overseers, they are derelict in their duties, ultimately causing the church’s work to suffer losses. Some tasks even come to a standstill and are left in disarray due to the absence of a suitable supervisor to take charge, carry out checks, and supervise and push the work forward. Improper use of personnel will cause these kinds of losses to the work. Although this kind of supervisor has a little caliber and understands the profession a bit, they don’t tend to their proper work, often take their own route, and don’t follow the correct path. Even if false leaders hear that someone has reported an issue with this kind of supervisor, they do not look into or handle it promptly, and this eventually paralyzes the church’s work. Is this not caused by the irresponsibility of the false leaders? They even try to shirk responsibility, claiming that they didn’t understand the supervisor’s situation, that they were foolish and ignorant, thinking that saying this will be the end of the matter, that they won’t have to take responsibility. In their work, false leaders always act in a perfunctory manner. Even when people report problems, they neither ask about nor handle them, and when things go wrong, they try to shirk responsibility. This is one manifestation of false leaders.

When false leaders are working, the problems they encounter are not limited to just this situation—there is another one in which supervisors have poor caliber and no work capability and cannot shoulder the job. In such cases, false leaders also fail to ask about and handle the issue promptly. Why is that? False leaders lack work capability, they have poor caliber, and they do not have spiritual understanding. They never care about or take the initiative to ask about the caliber of various team supervisors, their ability to shoulder the work, or the circumstances of their work. They can’t see through to supervisors who have poor caliber and aren’t able to shoulder their work, nor do they know about these things. In their minds, once any person takes on the role of supervisor, that person will remain in their post for a long time, unless they commit multifarious evils, provoke common outrage, and are removed by the brothers and sisters, or unless someone reports their issues to the Above and the Above dismisses that person directly. Otherwise, false leaders will never dismiss that person. They believe that since the brothers and sisters said that person was good and elected them, that person must be the best choice. False leaders always rely on imaginings and judgments to determine whether someone can do work and whether they are suitable to act as supervisor. For example, there was a supervisor of a dance team who did not know how to dance, and they didn’t understand the principles of selecting dances. While choreographing a dance, they did not know whether to choose a contemporary or classical style. Strictly speaking, they had no knowledge of dance. However, the false leader could not see this. They chose that person as a supervisor because they were enthusiastic and willing to step into the limelight, assuming that this person understood everything and letting them guide the brothers and sisters. Later, the false leader did not follow up, observe their work, or see how well the supervisor was guiding the brothers and sisters, whether the supervisor was an expert or a layman, whether what they taught was appropriate, or whether it was in line with the requirements of God’s house. They couldn’t tell these things, and they didn’t go and ask about them. As a result, everyone worked for a long period of time without producing any results, and it was finally discovered that the supervisor chosen by the false leader could not dance at all, and yet they were pretending to be an expert and directing others. Didn’t this delay the work? But the false leader could not identify this problem and still believed that person was doing a good job. In the minds of false leaders, no matter who someone is, as long as they have guts and dare to speak, act, and take on work, this proves that they have caliber and can shoulder it, whereas if they don’t dare to do those things, it proves their caliber is insufficient to shoulder that work. Some people are half-wits or reckless hotheads who are bold enough to do anything. These people do not know if they have the right caliber or if they can shoulder the work but still dare to become supervisors. And it turns out that after they take on the role, none of the work progresses, and no matter what work they are doing, they don’t have a clear sense of direction, or steps, or correct ideas. Anybody can put forward any opinion and they won’t know if it is right or wrong. If one person says to do things one way, they say that’s fine, while if another person says to do things another way, they say that’s fine, too. And when it comes to what approach to actually take, they let everyone have a say, and whoever speaks the loudest gets their ideas put into action. These kinds of people have no caliber whatsoever, cannot see through to anything, and simply make a mess of their work, but false leaders still can’t see through supervisors like this. Some people say, “That supervisor has really poor caliber; they need to be dismissed immediately!” But false leaders reply, “I’ve talked to them, and they said they are willing to do their part. Let’s give them another chance.” What do you think of this statement? Isn’t it something a fool would say? What is wrong with this statement? (It’s not a matter of whether they are willing to do their part or not; they lack the caliber and simply cannot shoulder the work at all.) That’s right, it’s not an issue of whether they are willing to do it; it’s about them having far too poor caliber and not knowing how to do it—this is the crux of the problem. That’s why their leaders need to possess some brains and be able to assess people, to see if these supervisors possess the necessary caliber. These leaders need to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of them based on their speech and fellowship, on observing whether they usually act with a proper framework and with orderly ways and steps, and on the feedback from brothers and sisters. If their caliber is too poor and they lack the necessary work capability, if they make a mess of everything they do, and if they are good-for-nothings, then these supervisors need to be promptly dismissed.

There was a certain supervisor of a farm who made a mess of the farming work. He didn’t know which crops he should plant in which plot of land, or which plot of land was suited to growing vegetables, and he didn’t seek and fellowship with everyone—he didn’t know how to fellowship about these things, so he just didn’t do it. He planted the crops however he pleased, casting the principles of God’s house to the back of his mind. As a result, he carried out the planting of each piece of farm land in a chaotic manner, with crops that should have been planted in small quantities being planted in large numbers, and crops that should have been planted in large quantities being planted in small numbers. When the Above pruned him, he was still defiant, and felt that there was nothing wrong with him planting the crops in this way. Tell Me, aren’t these kinds of supervisors very difficult? He didn’t know how to handle matters based on the principles established by God’s house, or that he should determine how many fields of grains and how many fields of vegetables ought to be planted based on the number of people doing their duties in the full-time duty church. Instead, he decided to plant more and less of certain crops based on his own preferences, and he believed that doing this was entirely appropriate. Ultimately, he planted the crops in a muddled fashion. Later on, the seedlings sprouted up. Some of them had turned yellow and required fertilizer, but he didn’t know how much to apply or when to apply it. Some of the crops became infested with pests, and he didn’t know whether he should apply pesticides to them or not. Some people advocated using them, and some advocated against doing so, and he became confused, and didn’t know what to do about the pesticides. In this way, he muddled along until it came time to harvest season. He also had no idea how long the growing season for each crop lasted or when each crop would reach maturity. As a result, the grains harvested early were still somewhat green, while those harvested late fell to the ground. In the end, in spite of it all, the crops were harvested, the grains were finally stored, and the farming activities for the year were more or less over.

How did the farm supervisor do with his work? (He made a mess of it.) Why was it such a mess? Find the root cause of this issue. (His caliber is extremely poor.) This supervisor has extremely poor caliber! When faced with matters, he didn’t make accurate judgments, couldn’t find the principles, and had no way or method of handling things. This led to him handling such a simple task as planting crops in an incredibly disorderly manner, and making a big mess of this work. What are the main manifestations of poor caliber? (Lacking accurate judgment and being unable to find the principles.) Aren’t these words critical? Will you remember them? When a person is faced with matters, lacking accurate judgment and being unable to find the principles indicates extremely poor caliber. The more suggestions and hints other people provided, the more confused this supervisor became. He thought it would be great if there was only one suggestion, then he could treat it like a regulation and abide by it, which would make things so simple and mean that he didn’t need to think or exercise judgment. He was afraid of multiple people making suggestions because when he heard them, he didn’t know how to handle them. Actually, people with brains and good caliber aren’t afraid of other people making suggestions. They think that their judgment becomes more accurate and the margin of error grows smaller when more people are making suggestions. People without brains or caliber fear varied opinions and suggestions from multiple people; they become perplexed when faced with advice from many sources. Didn’t the farm supervisor I just mentioned have extremely poor caliber—wasn’t he not good enough to shoulder this work? (Yes.) Some argue, “Maybe he hadn’t farmed before. You insisted on having him do farm work—wasn’t that like forcing a duck onto a perch?” Does not having previous farming experience mean that a person can’t farm? Who has the innate ability to farm? Could it be that farmers are born with this ability? (No.) Have there been any farmers who, lacking experience and not knowing how to farm, didn’t reap a harvest and didn’t have any grains to eat the first time they planted crops, leading to a year of hunger? Does this kind of thing happen? (No.) If that really were the case, it would be a natural disaster, not the result of human actions. Such situations are extremely rare! Farmers make a living by farming, and even those who have farmed for a year or two learn to do it. Individuals with good caliber can yield a bit more from farming the land, while those with poor caliber might have a lesser harvest. Moreover, with the current advancement and abundance of information, if a person has caliber, this information is sufficient to serve as a reference for making accurate judgments and decisions. The more extensive and accurate the information, the more precise their judgments and decisions become, and the fewer errors they make. However, individuals with poor caliber are the opposite; the more information there is, the more confused they become. In the end, every step becomes a struggle and so very difficult for them. Farming is a race against time; it won’t work if you are too early or too late. If you are late and miss the right time, the final harvest will be affected. Over the course of carrying out the farming, this supervisor was overwhelmed, hurried along by the passing of time, and forced along in every step. Even though he still managed to take each step, it was very tough for him, and in the end, it resulted in him making a mess of the work. Such individuals have extremely poor caliber!

People with extremely poor caliber cannot even do a single, solitary task well; regardless of what work they are doing, they make a big mess of it. If the leaders of these supervisors have good caliber and are able to fulfill their responsibilities, they should be able to see these things. They should assist supervisors who have poor caliber with guidance, standardization, and checks. However, false leaders fail to do this; they are also unable to do the things that supervisors can’t do, and when supervisors find their work difficult or feel unsure and hesitant in their work, false leaders hesitate along with them. They are even unaware of how supervisors are doing in their work, where they have gotten with it, what challenges have arisen, or what confusion they are having. When someone asked that leader about farming, she said, “I am a leader, I am not in charge of farming.” They replied, “You’re a leader, so what’s wrong with asking you about farming? This work falls within the scope of your responsibilities.” She said, “Let me ask about it for you.” After asking, she replied, “We are currently planting potatoes.” They asked, “How many potatoes are you planting?” She responded, “I didn’t ask that, let me go and check for you.” After asking again, she responded, “We planted two acres.” They asked: “What variety did you plant? Is that plot of land suitable for planting potatoes? Did you apply fertilizer when you planted them? How deep were the potato seeds planted?” She didn’t know any of this. She didn’t know these things, but she didn’t inquire about them and find someone to ask about them—didn’t this delay things? Was she even a leader? What work was she doing as a leader? If she couldn’t even lead people to do this bit of external work, what was the use of her being a leader? Even though the supervisor’s caliber was this poor, this false leader failed to discover it, and when she was asked how the supervisor’s caliber was, how the crops were doing, and whether a harvest was guaranteed, she believed: “It’s unnecessary for you to inquire about these things; farming is such a simple task! We’ve already planted crops in the field, haven’t we? How could there not be a harvest?” She didn’t consider anything, didn’t inquire about anything, and she didn’t have any brains at all. What kind of leader was this? (A false leader.) Whenever he faced anything, the supervisor was as clueless as a chicken with its head cut off. He didn’t know who to ask, or how to find information, or which side to choose when different sources of information presented lots of different ideas. This leader didn’t look into these circumstances. She thought that the work had been handed over to this person, and so she didn’t concern herself with it at all. Do you think that a supervisor having such poor caliber would have an effect on the results of the work? (Yes.) Then what should the leader have done to resolve this problem? Through looking into this and making indirect inquiries, through the events that took place around her, and through the planting of that season’s crop, she should have discovered that the supervisor was of extremely poor caliber, that he was unable to do anything. He couldn’t summarize any experience even after years of farming—by that point he wasn’t even sure about how to plant crops—it should have been clear to her that he had poor caliber and was not up to the task, and such a person should have been dismissed! She should have inquired about who was suitable to be the supervisor, who could take on this job and do it well, thereby ensuring that the work of God’s house was not harmed. Did the false leader have this mindset? Could she see these issues? (No.) Her mind and eyes were blind; she was completely blind. This is a manifestation of false leaders. When it comes to people with poor caliber, they don’t know how to guide them in their work, they don’t know how to help them by carrying out checks or how to promptly resolve their difficulties, and they certainly don’t know that someone with poor caliber can’t shoulder the job and should be quickly replaced with a suitable person. False leaders don’t carry out any of these tasks; they are not up to it, and they can’t see any of this. Are these not blind people? Some people say, “Perhaps they are busy with other tasks. Why do You keep asking them to take care of these inconsequential, miscellaneous tasks?” These are tasks that leaders must do, how could they be considered miscellaneous? These matters are within leaders’ scope of responsibilities—would it be okay if they neglected them? If they did, it would be a dereliction of duty. Difficulties and problems in their work arise each day right under leaders’ noses, and people bring them up every day. However, false leaders’ eyes and minds are both blind. They can’t see, feel, or sense that these are problems, so, of course, they can’t resolve them. That false leader wasn’t able to discover that the supervisor’s caliber was extremely poor. She also couldn’t identify the various problems that arose in his work. This supervisor couldn’t handle issues and when something happened, he acted in as disorderly a fashion as ants on a hot pan, lacking principles, and making chaos of the work, and that false leader couldn’t see or discover any of this. There is one principle for how false leaders do their work: As long as they have arranged for someone to be responsible for each task, they consider it done, and regardless of whether the supervisor’s caliber is good or bad, whether they can do the job well, or how many problems arise in the work, they feel that it has nothing to do with them. Can such a leader still get work done? Do they understand how to work? (No.) If they don’t understand how to work, then why are they acting as a leader? If they serve as a leader despite this, then they’re a false leader. False leaders can’t see or discover the various manifestations of people with poor caliber or the various problems that arise while they do their duties. Their hearts are extremely numb. Aren’t their eyes and minds both blind? Some might say, “They are not blind. You are always slandering and maligning them.” The problems with this farming supervisor were so severe; that false leader lived alongside him every day, and she could hear and see everything that happened. How then was she unable to discover or realize that these were issues? Why didn’t she handle or resolve these issues? Were her eyes and mind not blind? Was this problem serious? (Yes, it was.) This is another manifestation of false leaders—blindness of the mind and eyes.

When you assign a task to someone with poor caliber, you can tell from how they usually speak, their attitude and viewpoints when discussing work, and the way they handle tasks, that their caliber is too poor, that their thinking is chaotic, and that they approach everything with a bit of blindness and recklessness, and lack any goals. You can determine that this person has extremely poor caliber just by looking at their way of doing things, so do you even need to observe them for that long? No, you don’t. However, false leaders have a fatal problem; that is, they believe that since a person has kept working for all this time without quitting, and they haven’t heard anyone reporting them for doing something bad, or for causing a disruption or a disturbance, or for being negative or lazy, it means that this person can still do the work. They don’t know how to judge a person’s caliber or their ability to do a good job based on their speech, their attitude and viewpoint toward matters, or the way in which they do things. They don’t have this awareness; they are numb to and lack any perception regarding this matter. They have one viewpoint: As long as a person is not idle, everything is fine and the work can proceed. Do you think a leader who harbors this kind of viewpoint can do a good job? Are they up to the task? (No.) Allowing such a person to be a leader would mess up the work, wouldn’t it? When a person indulges in eating, drinking, and entertainment, and neglects their duties, false leaders don’t bother to look into or handle this, and they can’t see whether a person’s caliber or character is good or bad, no matter how long they have been in contact with them. Do these leaders possess the capability to do the work of a leader? (No.) These are false leaders. False leaders cannot discern whether a person has good caliber or not, and they are incapable of doing these specific tasks. They think this is not part of their job. Isn’t this a dereliction of duty? What do you think, can a person with poor caliber shoulder the work, or a person who has some caliber? (A person who has some caliber.) Therefore, assessing a person’s caliber and their competence for the job is an issue that leaders and workers should care about and have a grasp on, and it is also a task that leaders and workers should perform. But false leaders don’t understand that this is part of their job, they lack this awareness, and they cannot fulfill this part of their responsibilities. This is where false leaders are derelict in their duty, and it is also a manifestation of false leaders not being up to the task. This is the second kind of situation: supervisors having poor caliber, lacking work capability, and not being able to shoulder their work, which is an issue concerning their caliber. In this situation, false leaders similarly fail to play the role of a leader and aren’t able to promptly dismiss supervisors with poor caliber.

Would you like to learn God’s words and rely on God to receive His blessing and solve the difficulties on your way? Click the button to contact us.

Connect with us on Messenger