Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The Nature of True Leadership
Jollyblogger quotes Tim Keller:
When we choose leaders on traditional, worldly models for the church, we get traditional, worldly institutions that do traditional, worldly things. The church, like we as individuals, is supposed to be ODD! It is supposed to be something radically, weirdly different.
Which raises and interesting question - Can we even know what the church is really supposed to look like? Is strategic planning wise? God is calling us to something so very different that I wonder if we can sufficiently comprehend it enough to be deliberate in moving towards it?
Now, even as I write those words, echoes of the hippies of my youth ring in my head and warnings of "down that path lay chaos." And indeed, there is weight to that argument for we remain sinners bound to screw up and get lost on that ill-defined journey. But what is at stake if we do get lost?
Which brings me back to leadership. The kind of leader that Keller calls out is a relational leader that knows what matters and what doesn't. You see, we may fail the institution, but if we are confessing, humble leaders we will not fail our Lord or each other. The institution is at stake, and I grant there is expense in that, but there is not fatality.
The apostle Paul says:
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Most churches make the mistake of selecting as leaders the confident, the competent, and the successful. But what you most need in a leader is someone who has been broken by the knowledge of his or her sin, and even greater knowledge of Jesus' costly grace. The number one leaders in every church ought to be the people who repent the most fully without excuses, because you don't need any now; the most easily without bitterness; the most publicly and the most joyfully. They know their standing isn't based on their performance.I am currently attending a class on I Peter and Hebrews, themed loosely on the ideas of holiness and maturity. The teacher, a recent Princeton grad roughly half my age (How did that every happen?) is fond of translating the Greek for "holy" as "ODD." His intention, of course, is to emphasize that as Christians we are to be radically different. He points out that Peter's call to holy behavior in unjust situations (oppressive Rome and as slaves) is really a call to evangelism. He contends something that I have said repeatedly on this blog - who we are and how we act says more than our words ever can.
When we choose leaders on traditional, worldly models for the church, we get traditional, worldly institutions that do traditional, worldly things. The church, like we as individuals, is supposed to be ODD! It is supposed to be something radically, weirdly different.
Which raises and interesting question - Can we even know what the church is really supposed to look like? Is strategic planning wise? God is calling us to something so very different that I wonder if we can sufficiently comprehend it enough to be deliberate in moving towards it?
Now, even as I write those words, echoes of the hippies of my youth ring in my head and warnings of "down that path lay chaos." And indeed, there is weight to that argument for we remain sinners bound to screw up and get lost on that ill-defined journey. But what is at stake if we do get lost?
Which brings me back to leadership. The kind of leader that Keller calls out is a relational leader that knows what matters and what doesn't. You see, we may fail the institution, but if we are confessing, humble leaders we will not fail our Lord or each other. The institution is at stake, and I grant there is expense in that, but there is not fatality.
The apostle Paul says:
But examine everything carefully hold fast to that which is good; 1Thes 5:21(b)To what do we as leaders hold - our institution, or each other? If the former our doom is sealed, but if the latter, our institution may still die away, but the church will most definitely not.
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