Leadership in the Church

In a recent post on the Ablan Institute site, there was a lengthy post that was fantastic.  I will not go into details about the content, you can read the article here.

Rather I was very interested in one section of the article:

During the era of Christendom, clergy tended to have three roles: chaplain, scholar, and part of the authority structure of the town or community. Note that neither “leader” nor “congregational leader” is on the list. Today, however, clergy must be leaders. That is, they must be capable of helping their congregations identify and make progress on their own most pressing problems and deepest challenges. Moreover, clergy must be teachers of the faith and ministry mentors. Both of these roles mean that the ministry is not done primarily by clergy (as in Christendom) but by the people of the church, the members of the congregation. 



What captured my attention was the role of the minister is shifting and it seems like lay members get it but the clergy do not.  


Much of my time in clergy circles places emphasis on things revolving around a ministry paradigm which is fading away.  That is to say, many clergy circles I am in talk a lot about how to "do" hospital visits or what was preached last Sunday or different gossip around the conference about who is being appointed where and attempting to 'out know' others in the room in order to be the most "connected".  


This is not all that clergy talk about, but I have not been in many clergy circles in which leadership styles are deeply discussed.  I do not hear of many of my peers reading leadership books or taking note of some of the leadership trends or conferences around us.  There is a lot of leadership language, but not much leadership conversation.  

We use words like authenticity and transparency but we are not sure we know what these words mean.  We strive to be liked as we sacrifice the ability to lead.  Both Moses and Jesus were not liked all the time by all the people, yet they are the most pivotal leaders in our faith.  


How do clergy reclaim leadership?  


MLK said the church was once a thermostat to society setting the tone, but now has become a thermometer that reflects back the status quo.  How do we clergy help lead the church to become a thermostat again?


Perhaps it begins by taking leadership as seriously as we take theology.

Freakanomoics and Church

While not that ground breaking, there is a theory in economics known as the "Human Capital".  This is the idea that people contribute to the economic growth and not just machines and money.  Seems like a no brainer.  So we value eduction as a culture because education contributes to building up people's skill sets.  And people, unlink things like machines or buildings, are self-generating, transportable and sharable.  Meaning, that a person can learn more, does not loose their skills if they move or teach them to anyone.

In the UMC, we have a fascination with brick and mortar which come in the form actual buildings, or in assumptions like the minister is going to give me answers.  And ministers have help promote the idea that the work of the church comes in inspiring people to give money, time or resources to causes.

But it turns out we may have forgotten about the greatest asset in the Church beyond the Triune God.  People.

If we took seriously the idea of human capital in the Church then we would be working so hard to not inspire people to give money, time or resources, but we would inspire people to take initiative.

The Church ought to be in the "business" of training people to learn to see the world differently.  We ought to be equipping people to learn things like "how to build relationships" or "how to create something they dream about" or "how to identify ways to use personal gifts to co-create the Kingdom of God".  Too often Church leaders and Church attenders "go to Church" rather than "create Church."

What are we doing to create Church?

The first step might just be to build people rather than buildings.

I disagree with the Church, which is why I stay.

If you have not picked up anything in the "New-Monastic" movement, then I want to encourage you to do so.


I have been given the gift of the Prayer Book called "Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals".  It has quickly become my favorite devotional each day.


Each month takes one of the 12 marks of New Monasticism and explains it just a bit.  The "mark" for April is "Submission to Christ's Body": the Church".


I will not post the entire entry, but I think this is one of the more profound essays related to the '12 marks' in the book.  This is the first paragraph of this wonderful essay, and I share it for all those who have left the Church, those who disagree with the Church, and those who do not understand why some of us stay in the Church to ponder.  I would love any responses to this opening paragraph:

"Discontentment is a gift to the church. If you are one of those people who has the ability to see the things that are wrong in the church and in the world, you should thank God for that perception. Not everyone has the eyes to see, or to notice, or to care. Bur we must also see that our discontentment is not a reason to disengage from the church bur a reason to engage with it. As Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Our invitation is to "be the change" we want to see in the church. There are things, worth protesting, but we also have to be people, who  "pro-testify," proclaiming the kingdom that we're for, not just the evils we're against."

"I will pray for you."

Of the many phrases that ministers use, one that might be the most common might be "I will pray for you."

It has become aware to me that that phrase may be misunderstood by people.  

When I say "I will pray for you", I do not mean I will not just add you to a laundry list of people or situations.  I will not just pray "for you" as one might ask God to provide you something as just one of many voices that will also ask, and thus operate like nagging children to a parent.  I will not just pray for you as a way of thinking of you for a moment.  

I will not pray for you so that you do not have to pray.  

Rather, when I say I will pray for you I mean that in light of your situation, you may not be able to pray for yourself.  You may be in a situation that is difficult or troubling that results in your inability to pray.  Perhaps you are so overjoyed in life that you are unable to focus on praying for the least, last and lost of the world.  Perhaps you are so down that you cannot pray for new life, new creation and resurrection.  

It is in these situations that I will pray for you.

I will pray for you when you cannot pray for yourself.  

This ought to be part of the reason why we go to worship on Sunday regardless of your state of mind.  

Perhaps you cannot pray that day - the community of the Body of Christ will pray for you.  

Perhaps you cannot sing that day - the community of the Body of Christ will sing for you. 

Perhaps you cannot listen that day - the community of the Body of Christ will listen for you.

Perhaps you cannot lament that day - the community of the Body of Christ will lament for you.

I will pray for you when you cannot pray yourself, because we are the Body of Christ.  We are the Church.  

I know that there are days for which I cannot pray, sing, listen or lament...

and I know the Body of Christ will do that for me.