inspirational v. institutional leadership (take II)
INFLUENCE is a hard thing to quantify. But you know it when you encounter it. It is as interesting as well as profound that the NT word for authority is exousia, which quite literally means “out of oneself’ (out of one’s own substance.) When one probes the nature of spiritual authority in scripture, it is clear that authority does come primarily out-of-oneself, and only secondarily from external sources. Or, to be more accurate, moral authority arises out of the mix of personal integrity, one’s relationship to God, and out of the wealth of our relationships to others around about us. And it is these qualities that should characterize a leadership that gets its inspiration from Jesus Christ. So many of the problems in the world relate to the wrong use of power and authority—and in the history of Christendom it is to our great shame that the church has in so many ways led the way. One has only to look at the Crusades, the Inquisition, the persecution of non-Conformist Christians, and the treatment of Jews to see how we have so missed the mark in relation to authentic moral leadership.
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As a carry over from the previous post, lets compare this definition of spiritual influence with that traditionally wielded by the institutional leader, whatever the venue.
The institutional leader (at least those that I am dealing with) suggest that since they were elected a pastor or hired by someone who was elected as a pastor, that they have the spiritual authority to activity. Regardless of the fact that the work they are calling you to do is not directly spiritual in nature. It is cleaning the parking lot or being an usher for the 3 not full services that they operate in the name of ‘growth.’ And then they wonder why they do not have enough Sunday School teachers and other opportunities filled in ministry. Basically, they use up those that would fill these slots by having them to things that support the building, not the kingdom.
Compared to those that truly reflect ‘exousia’ for influence. Enough of a rant?
By the way Alan, how do you make the italics? Do you get access to a better editor than we do? Or do you cut and paste and it holds the formatting?
Just techie-nerd curious.
The italics can only be done from within the admin section. Sorry Richard!
I personally believe that leadership training is of huge importance in church ministry. We sometimes lack in this. We need to facilitate a community where people ‘look for timothys’, meaning a community of people who look to mentor rather than being mentored (though being mentored is extremely important). APEST to me is showing how different types of people can lead in different yet equally important ways. “To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” That is why we lead.
Well said Isaiah
When I teach on leadership, I stress that we are all leaders–because we all have influence. Sometimes we are leading “in front” based on our gifts and responsibilities and opportunities…the rest of the time we are leading “in the trenches” by how we live life moment by moment, bringing the sacred near at all times and in all circumstances.
The best “in front” leaders are those who are on the look out for the “in the trenches” leaders and then walking along side mentoring them…and then passing the experience down–the whole disciple-making disciple/mentoring paradigm that I believe is making a comeback!
And, yes, this is very much the APEST model.
And Alan…sadly, one need not go so far back to see poor examples of the church’s confusion concerning authentic moral leadership
“The institutional leader (at least those that I am dealing with) suggest that since they were elected a pastor or hired by someone who was elected as a pastor, that they have the spiritual authority to activity. Regardless of the fact that the work they are calling you to do is not directly spiritual in nature. It is cleaning the parking lot or being an usher for the 3 not full services that they operate in the name of ‘growth.’”
Good grief Richard. Christ have mercy.
I argue that if you’re going to “do” institutional church AT ALL it behoves one to do it well… and that to me involves a prolonged formation and discernment process to weed out or correct potential ministers who are actually personal empire-builders, those who have something of a Messiah complex, those who fancy themselves as the Great Leader, those whose views on leadership are more formed by corporate governance than the kingdom paradigm of “servant of all”.
I think the monastic orders did this fairly well because there was such a long process of discernment (and humble service) before one might be even considered as an Abbott / Abbess.
The thing I love about my Pentecostal brothers and sisters is that they are quick and responsive, ready to put someone in leadership who demonstrates leadership gifts. (God bless them). The thing that greatly concerns me about my Pentecostal brothers and sisters is that they are quick to put someone in leadership who demonstrates leadership gifts… without qualifications (and often with weak pastoral formation processes even in the Pentecostal colleges… I’m thinking in Australia, so no offence to any U.S. Pentecostals intended). I’m also detecting a bit of a “C.E.O.” and “the anointed leader” paradigm around Pentecostal church leadership that concerns me.
At the other end of the spectrum, some of the mainline denominations have this terribly heirachical and clunky system where the bishop makes decisions that aren’t particularly sensitive to local context. There may be strong ministerial accountability, but there can be poor responsiveness to local needs.
It’s just plain difficult to do institutional church well isn’t it? However, while enough grass-roots people have an imagination around institutional church I think it has a place… it just needs some redeeming.
Bring on the organic / chaotic / housechurch / third place missional movements. Less institutional power, less inherent danger of abuse of power.
“And Alan…sadly, one need not go so far back to see poor examples of the church’s confusion concerning authentic moral leadership”
Apparently a review of last Sunday is far back enough, alas.
Thanks for that note on ‘exousia’ - it makes so much sense!
Richard, you can do italics by inserting html into whatever text you are posting
See here http://www.tizag.com/htmlT/htmlitalic.php for the specific tags to use. I use the first type.
I’m uneasy when I hear people argue that flattened hierarchies, smaller organic etc housegroups/small churches will mean less abuses of power.
Do they?
I’ve seen power abused in small groups as well as larger ones, and they can draw in some dreadful predators who take advantage of the trust built up with the parents in the groups.
How do we create healthy understandings of power and control issues in small groups for ordinary church gatherings?
Eleanor,
I think we have all seen power abused in individual relationships…there doesn’t have to be a large group for it to happen.
In addition to what I said about leadership above, we must also really bring the priesthood of the believer back into proper perspective–where each one of us is responsible for knowing and doing what is right, rather than abdicating that place to someone else.
Power and control issues come into play precisely because people have not understood/been taught the very difference Alan is addressing here: any “power” we have is to come from the Holy Spirit at work “out of our hearts” as evidenced by humble and mutual submission to each other out of reverence for Christ!
Both Jesus Creed and Brother Maynard’s blog have been talking about these issues lately…it is a timely topic, it seems….
Specifically concerning families in small groups, it is a challenging thing to integrate the children into the activities–so they too often get sent out with some older children or one or two of the parents. This issue will not go away any time soon…children need appropriate teaching and activites, too, but shouldn’t have to be sent away to get them! I think we put too much expectation on what can actually take place in an hour or two a week, but that is another matter for another time….
It will sound trite to some, but we must be about getting back to the basics here…love God and love others. Period. I don’t care what you know if you don’t actually practice it.
So, what are our children learning? Let’s see…
**When children see their parents shirking responsibility for their own actions, what is learned?
**When children see their parents not willing to be mutually submitted to one another for each other’s best interest, what is learned?
**When children see their parents not willing to spend time wrestling with proper reading and meditation and obedience to God’s Word–but require someone else to tell them what to believe and do, what is learned?
**When children see their parents focus on “things” rather than “relationships”, what is learned?
**When children see their parents act possessively rather than sharing freely, what is learned?
**When children see their parents act one way at home and another way at church/small group, what is learned?
Children are very perceptive…they are not easily fooled. They will internalize what they see their parents DOING, whether it lines up with what they say or not! When the parents then yell, “What were you thinking?”, these children won’t know…because they weren’t thinking yet (they don’t really have that brain capacity working well until they leave home
), they were just instinctively acting out what they learned by life at home.
…pause for the horror of that reality to sink in with all the parents….
There is nothing more powerful than parents who are open and honest with the children; who will process life together–helping their children make sense out of the confusion and terrible images with which they are bombarded. Not is an irresponsible manner–expecting the children to be adults, mind you. But in a way that is loving and serves the best interest of the child. That helps them know that God in with them in all of their circumstances and will get them through, no matter how hard and painful it might be.
There is more power in a humble apology (repentance doesn’t just happen once during our initial conversion, you know!) than most people are willing to admit! But the control freaks of the world believe that they can never apologize because that looks like weakness. Well, when we are weak in the eyes of the world, we can summon the strength of God. But we have to be willing to take the initial hit of ridicule…and not that many are up for that!
Well, Patrick and others looking for a good rant, did that give you your fix for the day?
And so I come full circle to the five-fold APEST leadership model…where clusters of Christ-followers recognize the gifts of the Spirit to the church in their midst…where the gifts are used in humility and obedience for building up the church rather than the individual…where the leaders are leaders because their lives are growing fruit that feeds and nourishes others…where the apostolic vision is clear and Christ-centered…where the prophetic word both prunes and nourishes…where the “good news” is actually good news to those who are searching for God…where the pastoral ministry sparks a “pay it forward” mentality rather than a passive consumer one…where teaching stems from intentional activity as well as words…and the net outcome is the equipping of all the saints for the work of the ministry of reconciliation to which we have all been called when we name Christ as LORD.
I know that the Spirit is stirring hearts all over the world to rise up to simple obedience to our liege LORD’s simplex command to LOVE. Everyone knows how to love…the life-long challenge is to learn to love like God loves.
…one last caveat…the most important component of this is that we not live in day to day physical isolation from brothers and sisters in Christ. Life is too complex for us to be able to get it all figured out on our own. Just as we need to be examples for our children, we need examples in our lives as well. This is what drives the vision for CovenantClusters–that we have around us a cluster of disciples who are committed to living life together…intentional incarnational-missional communitas needs to be embraced so that it’s counter-cultural reality can be fostered in the liminality that is daily life on Planet Earth!
…used up all my quota of words for today. Be blessed and encouraged!
Peggy, yes, now that’s a full-fledged rant - and a lively read too!
I wonder…can “power” in any way be positive? Or is it something that will always get abused regardless of how much power one has? For example, if I think I have power, haven’t I already crossed over to holding it over another? Does realization of power make it negative?
In other words, wouldn’t I prefer to have authority, need authority? As opposed to having power…
Oh, John…didn’t know you were lurking here, too!
My son arrives home from school in 10 minutes, so this one won’t be quite so long…. 
Power, in my view, is only positive when it is viewed as energy/strength to serve others that comes from God for the purpose of doing his will/work in his way and his time according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
As soon as we think it is “ours” to wield as we see fit, no matter how well intentioned, it turns down the dark path.
Every time I have presumed to wield power that I actually had authority to wield, I’ve been burned–from singed around the edges to flaming out and in between! We do not have the wisdom in and of ourselves to wield such power. We must walk humbly with our God so that we may, truly do justice and love mercy.
Go back to parenting…I have all sorts of power as mother of my children–and if I use the “because I said so” line friviously and not in life and death situations of danger, then my children will tune me out…I am no longer just. Sigh….godly parenting is hardest job on the planet, yet the most rewarding and insightful in terms of understanding what God is on about.
Every ounce of power and authority one has must be totally submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and used according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We have to be proactive and listen to the Spirit speak to us through the brothers and sisters around us in Christian community. We must listen to those who agree and to those who disagree with our plans. But in the end, we must move only in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we don’t get some clear sign of “GO” than we must wait.
Are you good at waiting?
Most of us are not. And yet this is another area where my parenting informs my discipleship. If I had a dollar for every time I require my children to wait, I would be the richest person on the planet!
Life is full of delayed gratification while we wait on the right time and the right place for the right thing.
When we get to the place where we are determined to only want what God wants, then this process gets more straightforward, but it never gets easier…intentionality is the key. And here is where our children learn best from us. If we ask them to wait, but they never see us waiting, what does that teach them?
Bingo.
Okay…there’s the bus!
Blessings!
One could argue spiritual authority actually is a form of personal power… but true spiritual authority is always in full submission to the Holy Spirit. So in one sense spiritual authority IS personal power… but it is never self-serving power.
Janet…I look forward to meeting you some day, sister! We are so on the same page so very often
Ditto. It’ll happen one day… maybe in eternity, but maybe sooner! You and I were writing at the same time so I missed your longer reflection.
I have occasionally had a prophetic word for people, and occasionally a strong one… and I have that awful feeling when it happens… “God, that had better be You… because if I’ve just imagined this it really is a manipulative use of power over others.” It’s that awful dilemma of “if I don’t say this I may be disobeying God… if I do say this and I’m wrong that wouldn’t be flash either… aargh.”
“…maybe in eternity,” Janet, should I be worried? Is this a prophetic word? Hehehe
I WILL see you in eternity, but sooner would be grand! Stranger things have happened….
I think that as you struggle with obedience to God and concern for justice and mercy and truth and humility, it helps safeguard everyone.
Of course, if you’re wrong, you have a grand opportunity to model a sincere, humble and timely apology
100% of humanity end up in eternity… but I think it will be later not sooner for you Peggy!!!! You’ve got some covenant clusters to birth first.
You’ve have reminded me (speaking of prophetic utterances) that my prayer partner of many years asked me how my trip overseas had been. “I haven’t been overseas” I replied. “Oh that’s right… but you will” she said.
She’s been right on lots of other things so… you never know. Strange things do happen.
What is a covenant cluster????
I liked some of the points made earlier. I think church leaders do need to have the powers to occasionally make an executive decision, but there is a marked difference locally between the approach of one minister and another, which is very obvious as I move around the churches.
Facing up to issues of power and control get us to the roots of struggling with understanding how to be/do/create church in postmodern context, as I see it at the moment, not claiming to be any kind of expert!
So many problems do arise from the wrong use and the wrong understanding of power and authority.
Power, influence, and authority are often used interchangeably, which makes it sometimes difficult to interpret what people mean when they use these words.
While power is often said with a negative slant, it is actually neutral. Power is our ability to influence, and based on circumstance and gifting.
Although we have equal status within the kingdom of God, we recognize that in relationships, sometimes one person has more power. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it requires of that person honest and careful use of their power.
Typically power is used to secure one’s position. However, in the kingdom of God, the dynamics of power have been subverted, and the way of Christ and those who follow Him is to use our influence in the service of empowering and including others.
Authority is usually misunderstood in the church. We all have delegated spiritual authority to carry out the mission and purposes of God. However, this is not authority over other people.
We may find that we have relational authority in the lives of other people, but we must be careful to remember that this is a voluntary submission on their part rather than a presumed right on ours, also realizing that there should be a mutuality of submission in all of our relationships.
The fact is that some of us are further along on the journey than others. What this means is that we have the privilege and opportunity to share what we can with others. If we are willing to take the time and effort, we can help our brother along the way. This produces relationships that we know as overseeing, pastoring, eldering, and mentoring.
It is so incredibly sad that in the midst of self-serving, self-promoting leadership within the body of Christ, we have missed the incredible opportunity of fathering in a way that builds worth and identity into a person, especially at a time when there is such a great need for fathering. Instead, due to a need to control, models of discipleship have been the most extreme models of abuse in the church, with the fathers hoarding participation in ministry for themselves.
We can raise up, equip, and release without assuming rulership. When we are willing to lead in a way that serves another without demanding subservience to ourselves, we get the incredible blessing of standing on the sidelines and cheering at the growth and success of those we’ve had the opportunity to give a hand to along the way.
Ah great, ok, I understand where you are coming from.
There are some great words up there. I have the challenge of finding I need to lead in two completely different ways as a parent - parallels with church situations. My teen son, with what is effectively a form of dementia due to refractory epilepsy, cannot remember commands or specific instructions. His short term memory is very limited. So my power/influence there is to simply keep reminding of the deep memes - to be caring, gentle and remember he is loved greatly by God and us, and to feel safe in the love of God. All I can do is create an atmosphere of calm, safe and loving reassurance. (My mother commented on that that I was great at creating atmospheres as a teen!). I sometimes wonder if God feels like this as he deals with a church that has difficulties learning even the simple lessons of faith?
But with my other child, I can now and again give clear directions with reasons and encouragement, and it is growth all the way.
Different believers, and different congregations need different styles of leadership/influence.
Grace, may I quote from your post above on a Salvation Army discussion thread on authority in the church? I think it would give us a good direction for discussion,
Many thanks,
Eleanor
Sure Eleanor.
I was just thinking this week how common it is within churches to have people striving for positions of leadership, yet at the same time having young people bemoaning the fact that they don’t have mentors in their lives.
It seems so often we are more eager for position than service.
Yes I think that hits the spot - I just read your posts on spiritual abuse, and appreciated that clarity, I will have a go at finding David Johnson’s book which one of your commentators recommended.
There are people striving for positions of power in churches - no doubt about it, but also there are those striving simply for communitas, for something meaningful to do, a challenging missional task to engage in as part of a healthy team. I found it curious recently that people around me were so unprepared for that desire in a group of young people they felt they had to interpret it as a desire for leadership. They couldn’t interpret it any other way - ie the assumption is that we have actors (professional clergy and recognised lay leaders) and audience (the rest).
I’m trying to argue church does not equal theatre, it equals God’s kingdom building journey-quest, where we travel as groups as well as individuals.
Eleanor,
CoventantClusters is the church planting vision that I have been working on for the past 20 months or so, which finds its way into the conversation now and again here and there!
One day soon I will have a website up and those who have been wondering will have a better chance to see…as we eagerly anticipate this “birth”
And your stories of motherhood echo my consistent comments about parenting as one of the most powerful things that God uses to help us mature and become more aware of how he works.
Grace,
Have you heard of the research project being started by Barb Orlowski about people who have been hurt by domineering church leadership–but have managed to recover?
Barb is looking to find folks who have recovered in the hopes of finding common threads in their recovery stories that might be helpful–both to those who have also been injured and to those who continue to just not get that they are part of the problem.
Blessings…
Peggy,
Do keep me posted about covenant clusters,I look forward to learning!
Blessings
Eleanor,
Stay tuned to this channel, sister; any “birth announcement” will break here
Barb Orlowski’s work sounds fascinating. I care that we should come to understand very clearly what creates an atmosphere of trust in a church/group/gathering etc. This is linked to understanding spiritual abuse clearly as well as understanding teamwork.
Here in the UK we seem to have realised there is a huge trust issue re Christianity and church, but there are no clear leads in how to address that.
Hi all, sorry I have not been able to join in. Been very busy. I spoke at a Willow Creek conference on cell groups. About 3000 people there. they don’t do things small there. But they really do it well. It was really very good.
And its great to see the girls on fire on this blog. Love it!
First time poster, love the book love the blog.
For about a year or so I have had visions racing around in my head about a different kind of “church”. I am part of a very large US church, and I think the ideas/tensions in my heart tend to spring from the rejection of the attractional/programatic nature of the church I am part of leading. Now in finding the book, reading the blog…well, lets just say it’s like a white water rafting trip inside my head.
Thanks, and I will keep reading. I am not sure what to do with my life right now…like I said, very large church, very prominent position, very dissatisfied with where it all leads. Looking for mission and meaning. The book is fantastic, now I just have to figure out what it means in my world.
peace
Welcome Sancho. I hope you have a great ride. I am!
I am so happy to see you here, Sancho!
You will find that your story is shared by many here…visions of what church could look like popping up more and more over the past year or two–contrasted with that which you are responsible for propagating…with less and less assurance that you are doing the right thing in the right place in the right way for the right reasons….
You are in my prayers…and I am sure that others here will join me. What I know with certainty is that God is leading you, in the same way he has led so many others, here into the liminality of The Forgotten Ways for a reason. And the disorientation will, in God’s good time, pass as you forge new alliances with others here who have walked where you are walking and yet perceive that following Jesus is taking them somewhere else.
White water rafting, indeed! Get used to the spray and be warmed by the fellowship and the keep your eyes on Jesus and not the swirling water and hear him speak peace into your soul.
But you will never be the same and will never be able to go back to the old paradigm…this is the “wide-awake” reality that comes with taking the “red pill.”
Be blessed and welcomed.
Hey, Alan…saw your stuff at the Willow website (Scot McKnight was there, too) and saw that your session leader was also at the organic church conference in Long Beach last January…small world, indeed, eh?
I am gratified to see that you keep up with us as much as you do, with your busy schedule. Blessings on you, brother, as you serve the church in our neck of the woods!
Blessings to Debs, too
Hey, I was looking at the website of “Mike” on the latest thread (What Would Jesus Brew shirt)and saw his link to this post of his friend’s. It is certainly something that I resonate with, experience-wise and I’m sure it will resonate with you as well!
http://out-on-a-limb.blogspot.com/2007/07/leadership-that-makes-you-puke.html
…hmmm…I believe it qualifies as a “rant” by TFW standards
Eleanor,
Len has a post about Barb’s work over at his blog. You can connect up with Barb or get more information about her research here:
http://nextreformation.com/?p=1801
Hey Sancho,
I add my welcome.
There are some people whose engagement with the ideas of organic approaches to mission have led them out of institutional church leadership into birthing something new (ie Peggy).
There are some who remain in church leadership, but who facilitate something new… they seek to initiate “missional offshoots” of the church, supported as a mission, but with the understanding that those who are reached for Jesus may not ever connect with the life of the “main” congregation. eg. a missional church developed among people with mental illness issues might not ever integrate with the main congregation… a lunchtime business “cell church” might always simply stay as a lunchtime cell church, that seeds other lunchtime cell churches. (etc.)… but does not ever integrate with the main congregation.
This is kind of a hybrid model… but the leadership of your current church would have to really “get it”, because this kind of approach does not necessarily put bums on seats on Sunday, or money in the central coffers. (Mind you, a church that is serious about mission is more likely to be growing and healthy than one that is not IMO).
It might be worth asking Phil McCreddan to share about his experience of a hybrid model Alan… he has closed Signposts so might have a bit more discretionary cyber-time. My own minister likens this approach to a strawberry patch… you might have a largish central plant, but it sends off runners all over the place that develop of a life of their own.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I am in need of both!
Thanks for the link Peggy.
Janet I just got off the phone from having an identical conversation to your post above! In the end so much comes down to money. There is money shored up here in property - old church buildings with just a few elderly people remaining as the congregation, and the fact is they put that money in. They don’t easily part with it to put the kingdom and the future of the church first. But to grow the church really the buildings need to be sold and the capital ploughed into new initiatives, risky attempts to birth new forms of church. I’m arguing money here because the most gospel hungry group of people round here are the children, and you can’t expect them to self finance, and for logistical/security reasons, a lone worker is very limited in what they can do with a group of young people.
Very hard indeed. I’m suggesting all we can do is offer effective discipleship and nurture leadership and missional stance in the few young people we can help, and allow the growth to begin from there. No buildings need to be sold, no heavy church conflicts. But it all seems too small, too little, too late.
I am not convinced. Jesus chose a pretty dodgy, and small, bunch of people to start with? :0)
Actually Eleanor, the Church of Christ in my suburb did precisely that… sold their property in order to invest in ministry. It was pretty much a case of take drastic action or close anyway. And the congregation did grow considerably while meeting in alternate places. (although it’s been through a period of leadership conflict so some people have now left… another story altogether).
In short… it can happen if the leadership has a bit of courage.
But you’re also right… Jesus began with a small rag-tag bunch of volunteers… we are more in need of imagination and spiritual passion than money.
Eleanor, I’m glad you got to the link. Brother Maynard has it up as well!
http://www.subversiveinfluence.com/wordpress/?p=1425#comments
And I second Janet…imagination and courage and spiritual passion are much more important (and in less supply) than money!
You…and all of TFW crusaders…are in my thoughts and prayers!