Leadership: What the Church Needs Now.
The Church needs leadership, wouldn’t you agree? I used to think I wanted to be a Christian leader. Have you ever thought that you’d make a great leader? Seriously, I thought I had all the qualifications for being a great Christian leader. No, I don’t own any Hawaiian shirts with tan palm trees. (Okay, I own one with a giant martini glass, but it would not fly at the next conference.) First, I have a degree in management. I think that is important for one to have a basic understanding of how systems, organizations, and people function. So put a check in the box beside education.
Next, I have the experience. As an owner of a business development firm in one of the largest media markets in the world, I have successfully built and helped managed successful businesses. My clients were successful thank to my management, marketing and media talents. We always won.
Of course, I am spiritually mature. (Not sure what that means, but you know it when you see it.) I put God first in my life. (Not sure what it means, but I know it when I do it.) I qualify. Plus, I am a dynamic and gifted speaker. I can rally the troops and cast a vision. Toss in my Masters of Divinity degree and I really am the man.
Jesus changed my idea of being a leader. I used to think I wanted to be a Christian leader until I took a close glimpse of Jesus. I figure that if I am going to be a leader in the Church I ought to have a perspective on how the dude who started it all led.
And Jesus kind of blows it for Christian leaders doesn’t he? For if I really want to lead like Jesus then I get to die like Jesus. Dying sucks. Why waste death on someone with my talents. That seems a bit silly.
Looking for a role model as a leader? Look for the dude on his knees beside the bucket of water with holes in his hands and a towel draped over his forearm. Follow him.
Shouldn’t someone with my talents and experience sit at the head of the table at the banquet? . Seat me at the head of the table and I’ll share MY vision for the church with you. I love it when you gather around me and allow me to drop nuggets of wisdom from the depths of my vault of knowledge. I can even tell you what books to read; books that are not over your head, that is.
Again, Jesus kind of ruins it for people like me. I like the seat of honor way too much; I say this with a heart of humility.
Finally, the idea of washing your feet sucks. Come on now, I am way too important to get on my knees and wash your feet. (Laugh out loud at the thought!) I am actually good at casting a vision on how you and others can wash the world’s feet. I am a busy man with tons of talent. Go ahead and ask me something, I have answers. While you are at it, please stop putting me on a pedestal. I lose respect for you when you kiss my ass. Don’t get me wrong, I love it when you kiss my ass and it confirms for me how special I am, it just elevates me to a status where I really have no respect you deep down inside. Sorry to break the news to you. In ways, I actually feel sorry for you.
Jesus ruins it for Christian leaders like me. He requires me to serve, die and give-up my seat at the head of the table. For that, I am way too talented and gifted. God can still use leaders like me, can’t he?
Leadership is really what the Church needs now-- not more "Christian" leaders like me. If you are looking for a leader, don’t look up—look down, they are usually the ones with the dirty rag in their hand on their knees beside Jesus. As for me, I don’t have the guts to lead like Jesus so I settle for being a Christian leader.
6 Comments:
But what about MY aspirations? What about that day when MY book sells like hotcakes? Or the day that I'm the most wanted speaker at every conference? That's how we judge success, isn't it? Who pays attention to the "foot washer" anymore? Don't you have to have a great "act" to get an audience?
I want desperately to be content as a "foot washer" but like you said, my friend, I'm often more interested in how big of a crowd I can draw. We get so caught up in jostling for position as the experts on this or that or the voice for today's church that we forget that Jesus' message was a message of humble, quiet service to the leper, the blind man, the whore, and the village idiot. Those aren't the people that will get me on the Today Show or the keynote at the Emergent conference, but they are the folks that Jesus loves and loved hanging out with.
Thanks for the reminder...especially after my recent "leadership" issues!
chris
i'll never forget the day that i was going to do it...
i'd decided the nite before we met that i was going to wash all the kids feet in my class on sunday morn...
i tried to talk myself out of it a million times that nite...
'they're gonna think your nuts'...'this is nuts'...etc. etc.
i did it...
it rocked MY world...
they may still think i'm nuts & maybe i am, but i may've never learned more that morn than 1k before or since...
Rick...
one word...wow!
OK. two words...wow! and thanks!
Yeah - love this. I often pray that we will be leaders in dying, especially to the neighbors who live beside us. Anj
Doesn't *sound* like you're settling. And you'd better not.
Peace
Ah, my friend, you once again have me torn, a bit.
I agree that we have too many people who "have the answer" for the church, and for the world that needs Christ...usually presented as "7 perfectly alliterated points and a poem" to save everyone from everything in 58 minutes on a Sunday morning. Just come here, follow me (I'll lead you to Christ and salvation), buy in to my party line, buy my book, my tapes - one size fits all, come one, come all. It revolts me on an ongoing basis.
The first pastor to ever wash my feet was 70 years old, and it took him a while to get down on arthritic knees to do it. Like so many others, it blew my mind - and humbled me - and showed me just the tiniest taste of servant leadership.
I find so much richness in the shepherding model that Jesus used. The Shepherd doesn't stand above the flock, but walks the same rocky soil as the flock. And so often, the Shepherd doesn't work alone - there's usually a number of border-collies, nipping and barking, helping to herd the flock.
But the Shepherd does know where the flock needs to go - and does so because s/he stands a little taller than the sheep do, and can see a little further. The Shepherd cares for the sheep - even the fractious and disobedient ones, even the ones that seem to have a devil all to themselves.
And the simple fact is this - no matter how inspired or clever the Shepherd is, no matter how good their knowledge of the world is, if s/he doesn't lead the flock to food and water and shelter, the sheep will either scatter (and be lost), or they'll die.
I think that it's important for a "Christian leader" to not only have the knowledge and the skills, but to help each flock to develop a vision of the Kingdom - for that particular community, with their own special skills, blessings, and challenges. To be able to draw people toward that Kingdom vision seems to be the hallmark of leaders of truly-Acts-2-anchored faith communities.
And yeah - sometimes that vision means that suffering and (God help us) death is the result. Talk to Coretta Scott King about the price her husband paid for his vision of God's kingdom in America...
But I'll say this about you, brother - the church DOES need more people in leadership who even have an inkling that they aren't "all that and a bag of chips." If a level dozen of pastors I know could even recognize that their egos are the biggest part of their ministry, and acknowledge that this is a problem, the Church body would be so much less damaged... I think you're closer than you're willing to admit, brother.
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