Leadership is long debated to be innate or learned. I am sure that most if not all have an opinion related to one side or the other of that debate. I did at one time as well, and I guess that I still do, although it has changed. You see, I believe that leaders can be made or leadership can be learned, whereas I was of camp innate some time ago.

I have spent a good amount of time learning. And my learning has been in the area of leadership. I have learned that leadership is, or can be, a learned skill. It is just that, a skill, that can be picked up and developed, and mastered, just as others, like dribbling a basketball or playing the flute or drawing a puppy. Over time the skill of leadership can be honed in such a way that someone may be considered an expert or the master of the skill.

But, what about those who are naturally gifted in a skill you may ask, and that is a great question. I also believe there are those who are given talents by God for His glory. There are those who can sit down at the piano and belt out beautiful music without any knowledge. There are those who jump in the pool and can out swim all others without doing a single practice lap. There are those who open a paint tube and create amazing art with their first few strokes of the brush. These are exceptional talents that are given to them by God for His glory and should also be counted as one possibility in the debate of innate or learned when it comes to leadership.

Look at a couple of examples of leaders in God’s Word. Moses was resistant to leadership because he did not feel as though he possessed the skills. And yet God used him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He did as God asked him and even learned along the way how to throw is staff on the ground for it to become a snake. And what about Joseph. He was given the talent to dream and interpret dreams which gave him the chance to become a leader in Egypt in which he accomplished great things, like saving the kingdom from the famine that was coming.

Both of the above men of God were great Spiritual Leaders even as each acquired their skills in different ways. There are other examples on both sides of the debate and I lean on the side of learned, yet isn’t that a quality in and of itself that would be considered innate, the willingness and capacity to learn. In fact, in my reading there was the question of innate qualities that enhance leadership ability, and my eagerness to learn was the one that is part of me.

So, the debate continues, but one thing that I do know to be true, God uses us to do His will. We will either have the skills He needs or He will ensure that we receive the skills needed. Look back to Moses and Joseph to see the LORD work.

What do you fall in the debate of learned or innate leadership skills? Are you of one camp or the other? What if you were to open your mind and heart to the fact that the LORD will use you for His work regardless of what skills you have, as He will ensure that you learn them if that is what is needed?