On our journey of discipleship, mentoring and leadership development there will be times when we encounter challenging situations relationally which require an honest, perhaps difficult conversation to enable us and those we’re privileged to lead to move forward.
As Mike Breen and Steve Cockram note in Building a Discipling Culture
“Jesus created a highly inviting but highly challenging culture for his disciples to function and grow within. If we are going to build a culture of discipleship, we will have to learn to balance invitation and challenge appropriately. … Fundamentally, effective leadership is based upon an invitation to relationship and challenge to change. A gifted disciple is someone who invites people into a covenant relationship with him or her, but challenges that person to live into his or her true identity in very direct yet graceful ways.”
(Building a Discipling Culture – 2nd Edition, © 2011 by Mike Breen, 3 Dimension Ministries – Kindle Edition, location 172 and 207).
How do we invite others into relationship while challenging them - or better, one another - to change? Mac McCarthy helps us find our way in this helpful post from Gravity Leadership.