Imagine There's No Leader
Friday, December 10, 2010 at 4:00AM On the anniversary of John Lennon's death, on the day that Celine Dion appeared on CNN to sing Imagine (yikes!), Bill Kinnon came out with a provocative post More Disciples, Fewer Leaders Please. The whole post is worth reading.
Bill quotes Chris Wright. This is a brilliant quote and it deserves a lot of attention and thought:
I wouldn't start out with training leaders, I'd start out with making disciples.
I don't know what I can say to this except "Amen." It's brilliant and I think it's exactly right.
Bill also quotes Scot McKnight, who says:
...leadership too often places the pastor or some person in the front and having others be guided (and following) that person, and that, I dare say, distorts the entire gospel. Jesus was willing to say that his followers didn’t have a rabbi of their own, didn’t have a human father in a position of ultimate authority, and they didn’t have an instructor who was their teacher. They had one rabbi and one instructor, and his name was Jesus, and he was Messiah. They had one father, and he was Creator of all. They were to see themselves as brothers, not leaders. That’s straight from the lips of Jesus.
Again, a lot of truth here. And yet...
There's no doubt we're a little too fascinated with leadership. Leadership is important, as I'm about to argue, but it's not everything. I think Bill and the others are right to argue that we need a greater focus on discipleship than we do on leadership in our churches.
But one of the commenters gets it right:
I think sound leadership is crucial and always present in healthy churches. It’s sometimes hard to notice leadership until you find yourself somewhere where it’s very bad, or where there is none. I’ve seen churches that are dominated by a charismatic leader who holds the key to everything in the church. But I’ve also seen churches so eager to “democratize” all their practices, that no one is willing to make a decision or take responsibility for it.
I think much of our modern-day distaste for the word “authority” colors our perception of the role of leadership in the church. But I think the Bible explicitly and implicitly acknowledges how crucial leadership is.
All through Scripture we see leaders. One of the primary themes is that of shepherd, which is a rich leadership metaphor we need to take seriously. The question is not whether or not we need leaders. The question is what type of leader we need.
I'm all for reacting against leadership fads. But let's not imagine that there are no leaders. Let's instead begin to explore what a biblical leader is to do - and most of all to be.
Reader Comments (6)
Christian leadership: Follow Christ so that when others follow you they'll be following Him. Take the back seat at the banquet. Don't tell everyone the good you are doing. Be counted as garbage for the cause of the Gospel. Wash the disciples feet. Die for the sheep. Pray so that people ask you how to pray. Love your enemies. Submit yourself to others. Sleep in the boat while everyone else is in a panic. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Be patient. Rejoice when they credit Christ and forget you. Be surprised that they let you lead. Weep over your city. Touch the lepers. Maintain a reputation of hanging around all the wrong people. Say you're sorry - in public. Talk about your witnessing experiences. Forgive. Know your Bible. That's enough, though it is not all.
Darryl, Good balancing response to our beloved friend and prophet Bill. Thanks. And I think you get at the heart of the matter when you ask "what kind of leaders?" It continually befuddles me that us evangelicals can confuse business leadership with the leadership of Jesus (So Bill keep bull dosing on this!!). And then, when we make the point, often people of my ilk (evangelicals) will automatically default off that by talking about the problems of democraticizing the congregation. There will be no leadershiop they cry!! We simply don't get the nature of the radically submissive, radically subordinate nature of the practice of how we lead through the gifts in the church as modeled by Jesus and constantly displayed throughout the epistles. It is with Christ's character, patience, and carrying out our God given callings (whether it be teaching, preaching, shepherding, etc.) in submission to Christ, by the Holy Spirit unltimately in submission to the Lordship of Christ over the community and the world, that the church will led forward into His Mission. This is the way God works in the world, the way of the cross through to resuurection. This is what makes space for God to work in all His power in the world for His purposes.peace bro ...
Love the difference you mention, David . Church is the bride, the body, not a business. Unfortunately, this isn't separated. Jesus was a servant and generous lover. Being His sort of leader is signing up to be a slave. Period.
Darryl,You last paragraph is spot on.
Darryl, I always love your gentle push back.I would say that leadership must become an outgrowth of discipleship. Too often we look to the world to appoint leaders. As I've mentioned to you in conversation, the first elders board I served on saw me there as a result of my "cool" TV production background. I was barely a two year old believer. I had no business being there.The present CULTure of leadership is far too often, style over substance. We don't examine the fruit of the Spirit in the person's life - we (too often) simply look at the external.And in terms of shepherding, http://www.kinnon.tv/2008/06/so-you-wanna-be.html" rel="nofollow">I once wrote this. :-)
Leader as curator or gardener is the image that I always come back to. It is the message that I have been preaching to people as I move into more of a leadership role in church community. It is what I expect of myself and what I believe the church needs. Leaders who cultivate and nurture the space required for the church to follow the spirit. Not really a new idea anymore, but still slow in the uptake.