The leader’s knowledge is the relevant information that the leader applies to his or her leadership situation. The Cambridge dictionary defines knowledge as awareness, understanding, or information that has been obtained by experience or study, and that is either in a person’s mind or possessed by people generally. According to Mike Myatt, successful application of knowledge at the right time, for the right reasons, and with the proper emphasis, results in certainty of execution that creates influence and adds value.

Knowledge was an important part of God’s preparation of Moses for leadership. In Exodus 4:15 God said to Moses, I will help both of you (Moses and Aaron) speak and will teach you what to do.

When King Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and besieged it, he asked the chief of his court officials to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility. The king of Babylon wanted, young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians (Daniel 1:4).

Leaders require three kinds of knowledge to lead effectively.

a) Intellectual knowledge, which is the conscious knowledge a leader gains about leadership and ministry from study (whether formal or informal).

b) Experiential knowledge, which is the conscious knowledge a leader gains from experience in life in general, and ministry specifically.

c) Intuitive knowledge, which is an inner knowledge in the unconscious mind that seems to come when a leader needs it. Intuition is the unconscious knowledge that is likely gained through the leader’s study and leadership experience, and is stored in the unconscious mind. When the leader needs it, the mind pushes this information up from the unconscious to the conscious level. For a Christian, this is the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Knowledge develops through continuous learning, be it formal, non-formal or informal. It comes out of an unceasing appetite to improve and change. Knowledge is more of a process rather than a specific incident. Leadership knowledge develops to the extent leaders remain open to new ideas. Leadership becomes exciting only when leaders accustom themselves to acquire and apply new knowledge. Conversely, leadership can become traumatic when leaders choose to remain comfortable with only one leadership method.

Aubrey Malphurs suggests that leaders need to know God, understand themselves (their divine design) and know people and how to work with them.

Part one of this module will focus on following God’s leading, that is, the divine empowerment of leaders by the divine leader who is God. Jesus said that apart from him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

A spiritual leader needs to know and experience God, study the Bible, cultivate a prayerful life, and fellowship with others as a way to maintain spiritual growth and accountability.

The focal point of part two is leading self before attempting to lead others. It addresses the importance of self-discovery, emotional and physical health, and strategic leadership as a way of enhancing leadership effectiveness.

Part three will equip the leaders with some of the habits they need to cultivate in order to lead their families well, and raise and develop other leaders using Jesus’ model. There is also a section on leading change and problem-solving as part of one’s leadership role.