I am not done reading this book, but trust me, I would love to recommend it to anyone who would be interested in reading. This book is specifically for a leader in any position who wants loyal people as partners.
This would be the first physical book I would be reading this year, and I must say, I am fortunate to have received it.
The book is titled "Loyalty and Disloyalty" by Dag Heward-Mills. This amazing book caters to the needs of church leaders, pastors, and church members alike. Dag Heward-Mills is the founder of the United Denominations (UD), which currently has over 3,000 churches on all continents of the world.
I received this book in church on Wednesday from my youth president; he said it was a gift from our pastor, who wants us to read and learn. The purpose of this book for us was to understand the nature of people in our group. This is because we are the youth of the church, and I am the assistant youth president, which means I have to read through the pages of this book to have better teamwork in the youth church.
This book has 12 chapters, and I am already on chapter 3. I should finish this by next week because I am enjoying the stories in there. The first chapter opens up with a verse from the scripture in Proverbs 20:28, which says, “A king who is loyal and true will keep his power. Loyalty will keep his kingdom strong.”
This is so true!
These days, hardly anyone would find a person out of ten who is loyal, because everyone wants to do things their way and does not mind if they are not following the principles that guide their organisation. Even in church, it’s so sad to see disloyal people who pollute others with a wrong perception.
This author had experienced many cases of disloyal people and the ways he had to deal with each of them, going by the Word of God without violating its rules.
Chapter one talks about the reason for loyalty and why it’s important. Trust me, where there are loyal people in a group, everything goes smoothly as expected, but when there is always a Judas or Joab in there, things turn upside down and would not be a good thing for the group. The church should be a place of unity and not division.
This book focuses mostly on church leaders and ministers, and loyalty is very important to the church's growth. Loyalty is the principal qualification for every minister.
There are disloyal people in the church today who go around spreading false rumours about their pastors and would almost take more than half of the people out of the church. The author emphasised the urgent need to carefully examine them and remove them from the church before they infect other members.
Just like the word of Jesus, “He that is not with me is against me.”
Here, the author explained how a brother in his church formed a group in his home where he welcomed all discontented people, who would gather, discuss, and criticise him. God revealed to him what had been happening and instructed him to get rid of the brother as soon as possible. He successfully sent him out of the church.
There are pretenders everywhere, even in church, and as a leader, if you want unity and orderly governance, you need to spot the disloyal ones and fish them out.
The next chapter goes on to explain the stages of disloyalty and why it’s necessary to keep an eye on them before they get to the last stage, which is always a destructive one. Loyalty is a process, and no one suddenly wakes up one morning and turns to that. It begins little by little until they turn wild.
Here are the stages of disloyalty:
The Independent Spirit: Someone with this is part of the church but does what he wants despite contrary instructions.
Offence: This is the second stage. This is when people begin to hate and betray one another when they are offended. These ones won’t talk when they are offended, but choose to keep quiet and do what they want.
Passivity: This is the third stage. For this kind of person, he does not involve himself much. He sits, watching unconcerned and uninvolved. No matter what you tell them, you are only wasting your time because they won’t do anything.
The Critical Stage: From being passive, a person moves to this stage, where they notice and magnify faults. Such a person finds fault in almost everything in church - from the preaching of the Word, to the order of service, even analysing the building and noticing all the deficiencies of the surroundings.
The Political Stage: At this stage, the person seeks to involve others in ideas and philosophies, just as politicians operate on the power of people’s opinions. A person becomes loyal when they try to involve other people in their treacherous ideas.
Deception: The sixth stage. The author explains that those who rebel are mostly deceived. He noted that many rebellious people are deceived into thinking they are greater than their seniors, and from there, they become disloyal when they believe the lies.
Open Rebellion: The seventh stage. This is the stage at which those deceived fight openly against authority. This results from the confidence such a rebel develops over the months and years. For such a person, he had successfully had time to analyse the merits and demerits of the person against whom he is rebelling. And then, he exposes himself.
Execution: The final stage and the end of all rebels. The author referenced the scripture that rebellion is as witchcraft and the punishment is execution, just like the scripture says, “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.” (Exodus 22:18)
Reading up to this level has given me the impression that the rest of the chapters would be worth reading, and my time spent reading won’t be wasted. I recommend you get this book, too and enjoy each page as you learn something.
The images are mine
