I found some interesting thoughts on church leadership recently. The quote was attributed to Henri Nouwen. I must confess I don't own a Nouwen book, nor have I read a complete Nouwen book - but I've read quite a bit from him here and there and he's certainly on my Amazon list - it will happen!
The quote by Henri Nouwen was on biblical servant-leadership, and this was it:
"The servant-leader is the leader who is being led to unknown, undesirable, and painful places. The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross."
That statemeent really hit home. One of the easiset things in the world to do is find fault in a church. A church is going to have difficulties of some type at it's very core on a consistent basis. It's either growing or dying. If it's growing, it will eventually need more land, more buildings and lots and lots of more money. If it's dying - which most are - it's got a whole new set of problems that have been discussed at length.
But, the core issue, and a core problem, I see in the church, is the lack of true biblical servant-leadership that Nouwen discusses. At it's focal point, the church's leadership is far too often either authoritarian or missing. Most church leaders either want to be a part of all decisions or no decisions.
Leaders need to get back to Jesus -- what is your true missional calling from Jesus? They need to make every effort to rid themselves of sectarian or secular-styled leadership - for it's fruits are not of God. Do all church leaders have it wrong? No, I am somewhat optimistic today that many leaders have been humbled enough to return to Jesus, but many more have not.
What's the answer? Nothing that is pristine and clean cut. It's a perplexing dilemma that requires much thought. More thoughts later.
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2 comments:
Great quote! Thanks for sharing that. I, too, am deficient in Nouwen. But I am familiar with some of is work etc. And the quote is priceless.
I think most modern, western Christians want "Jesus", some spiritual experience and/or "a personal relationship" with God etc, but they do not want to pick up a CROSS and follow him. And I think all those things they want are very important; I do not mean to short-change them one bit. I am pointing out that in pursuing them we tend to short-change cross-carrying.
If you sign up for the Marines, you must give your allegiance to them. If you are in, you are in to die if necessary. Death before dishonor and the like. Christians tend to do less, not more. And that is a shame. I think in our world today, the Marines are more a force to be reckoned with than Christians. But that is backwards.
When you sign up for this God's Army, you do not get to live through the battle. You will die. It will not be comfortable for you. However, you will live again. And it will be worth it. But our weapons are not of this world, nor our tactics. Rather we are on a mission to love the world at great cost to ourselves. That is a downward mobility.
I often encourage folks in the blog-o-sphere to read a book called COLOSSIANS REMIXED: SUBVERTING THE EMPIRE, but Walsh and Keesmaat. This book is so incredibly eye opening about what Christian living is really about in our world. It is nothing like the namby-pamby business-as-usual Christian books I sell every day. It will challenge you to turn the next page.
I have met 2 different preachers who repented after reading it. One said he was up all night crying and praying to God. The other said he agreed with the demands of the book, but felt he would never live the way it calls for. Neither do I. I am a work in progress myself. But at least I see clearly soooo much that was soooo cloudy before.
You have a wonderful blog, Kent. I really apreciate your heart. I appreciate your pushing and challenging us to live differently.
Many blessings....
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