Last February, I had a chance to speak to 40 Christian students from the University of Queensland. It was a great three days of thinking about Christian leadership and planning for the coming year. I presented three talks over the three days on leading in weakness. I was incredibly encouraged by the students and their love for Jesus and love for the lost. Special thanks to Steve Lister for inviting me.
Strength and Weakness - 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5
God intentionally uses what appears weak and foolish (the message of the crucified Christ) to display His power and save people.
The cross divides humanity: to some it seems like foolishness, but to believers it reveals God's wisdom and power.
God chose mostly ordinary, uneducated people in Corinth as believers to demonstrate that salvation doesn't come through human wisdom or status.
Paul deliberately avoided impressive speech techniques, coming instead "in weakness and fear," so people's faith would rest in God's power, not human persuasion.
God's pattern of working through weakness prevents human boasting, ensuring that salvation is clearly seen as God's work rather than human achievement.
Walking in Weakness - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
I share my journey with Parkinson's disease, burnout, and other challenges, illustrating how weakness became central to my spiritual growth and understanding of God's purpose.
Weakness (including insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities) comes ultimately from God's hand with purposeānot to punish but to foster humility, dependence on God's grace, and Christ-likeness.
True spiritual growth is not moving from weakness to strength, but allowing God's power to be perfected through our continued weakness, as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.
Five practical ways to walk with God in weakness: being personal with God (genuine conversation rather than performance), groaning (wordless expression of suffering), crying out for healing, reframing weakness as strength, and practising lament.
Lament involves a three-part process: "vomit the hard" (express raw emotions/confusion/grief), "confess the ugly" (acknowledge sin revealed through weakness), and "remember the good" (recall God's character and faithfulness).
Serving in Weakness - 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 and 2 Corinthians 4:7-8
Embrace weakness by despising shame - Rather than hiding or being ruled by the shame of weakness, Christians are called to follow Christ's example of "despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2), recognizing that God works through our vulnerabilities.
Boast in weakness to display God's power - Following Paul's example in 2 Corinthians, Christians should boast not in strength but in weakness, as this highlights God's strength and power working through human frailty.
Learn dependence through weakness - Weakness teaches us to rely on God and others rather than ourselves, which is a valuable spiritual lesson. Sometimes we display Jesus more clearly when asking for help than when giving it.
Serve with God's energy, not your own - Paul writes about "struggling with all his energy" (Colossians 1:29), suggesting that God provides both the work and the energy to complete it, preventing burnout from trying to do more than God has enabled.
Minister to weak people effectively - When serving others in weakness: (a) embrace opportunities for connection, (b) listen deeply, (c) ask good questions, (d) speak the gospel to the good, hard, and ugly aspects of life, and (e) call people to repentance with gentleness and humility.