As mentioned in the last blog, we are focusing on the leadership qualities of Nehemiah. The first 5 were covered in chapters 1 and 2. The rest will be covered in the next two blogs.

Nehemiah’s leadership—most notably demonstrated by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days—was defined by a mix of spiritual devotion, strategic planning, and hands-on courage.

Key Leadership Qualities

• 1 Deep Compassion and Empathy: Chapter 1 He mourned, fasted, and wept when he heard of his people’s suffering and vulnerability in Jerusalem. He had a comfortable position as cupbearer to the king. Many of those exiled in Babylon would have been slaves but somehow Nehemiah got a very good position.
• 2 Active Prayer and Reliance on God: Chapter 1,2 He turned to prayer and fasting immediately upon facing distress and sought divine guidance in every step. He then prayed again before telling the king his request to be allowed to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. This took a lot of courage. The king could have been displeased with him and removed him from being cupbearer.
• 3 He trusted in the providence of God and gave God the glory. Chapter 2:8 And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.” He saw the hand of God in this whole project.
• 4 Prudent Planning and Foresight: Chapter 2 He quietly surveyed the damage at night to keep the enemies Sanballat and Tobiah from knowing his plans, organized workers into logical teams, and secured letters and permits from King Artaxerxes before starting. 2:¹⁸ I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me.”
• 5 Clear Vision and Communication: Chapter 2 He concisely framed the goal to the people (“rebuild the wall”) and united a diverse community behind a shared purpose. He inspired them to commit to the task. 2:Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” So they put their hands to the good work.”
• 6 He knew how to organize workers and delegate responsibilities. Chapter 3 How do you go about building a wall that is 2.5 miles long around the entire city of Jerusalem, and it must be done quickly b/c of the enemies? The key was to organize and delegate small sections of the wall to responsible men. Nehemiah chapter 3 records 42 specific work sections or divisions assigned to various individuals, family heads, trade guilds (such as goldsmiths and perfumers), and community groups rather than a single counted tally of individual men. That’s about 300 feet of the walls that each was in charge of building and each man had several workers. That is a lot but can be done in 52 days time. The walls were probably at least 15-26 feet high and 6-8 feet thick.
• 7 Courage and Adaptability: Chapter 4 He confronted hostile naysayers who mocked the builders, armed the builders with spears and swords, and adjusted strategies (such as stationing guards) to protect workers from threats. He continued to pray asking God for safety for the workers. Nehemiah was a very prayerful leader.
• 8 Integrity and Ethical Justice: Chapter 5 As governor, he refused to exploit his position, cancelled heavy debts, and stopped the rich from oppressing the poor. Some were charging interest to fellow Jews during the famine which was forbidden in the Law. Nehemiah refused to take the daily “governor’s food allowance”. Instead he fed 150 officials daily at his own expense. When is the last time you heard of a leader, maybe a paid preacher, refusing to take money from the church. My wife’s father had a full time job. He was the preacher for a church and never took a penny for preaching for many years. He could have easily gotten a nice part time salary from the church.
• 9 He wisely detected the plots of the enemies and refused to compromise his mission. Chapter 6 The enemies tried to get him to come meet, plotting to kill him. They made false accusations that he was trying to make himself a king and rebel against the Persians who helped him with his mission They hired a man to try to get him to come to the temple so they could kill him. Nehemiah continued to pray and trust God. Church leaders today face all kinds of attempts to get us to compromise the Word of God. The LGBTQ issue has caused many church leaders to compromise. The split in the Methodist church shows that. Liberalism has atttacked many seminaries who no longer stand for the truth.
• 10 Role Modeling and Delegation: He worked right alongside the builders and delegated tasks across families and districts rather than trying to do everything himself.

Nehemiah 6:¹⁵ So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. ¹⁶ When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.” Nehemiah gave God the glory for completion of the wall.

Here is a slide showing how Nehemiah organized the builders of the wall. Notice all the gates.

The church in the US has so much money and resources. We need leadership like Nehemiah with vision for doing various missions of the Lord’s work Think of what could be accomplished in 52 days if the congregations were challenged like Nehemiah challenged the Jews in Jerusalem. We need leaders who weep over the needs of the poor worldwide, over children in Africa drinking dirty water every day, over people begging for Bibles in their own language, over the cries of the widows and orphans worldwide, etc. We need leaders who will challenge us to come out of our apathy and indifference. We need leaders who challenge the use of church money mainly for staff and buildings. We need leaders like Nehemiah who will sacrifice their preacher pay and get a vocational job so the money could be used to do the Lord’s work mentioned above. We need leaders like Nehemiah who pray constantly for wisdom in leading the church. God is working all over the world. He is using many charitable organizations to do great works, like building the wall. Church members can go on some missions, like our church sends 30 people to Baja, Mexico each year. We can’t go to most of the foreign projects like drilling wells, but we can get churches excited about giving money to those projects. You might hear of a church raising money for a building expansion or improvements, but when is the last time you heard of a church beginning a campaisn to raise extra money for printing Bibles? We need leadership who will not accept the status quo.