Leadership Is The Key
4/29/02

There is a reason The Jesus Connection focuses first on clergy commitment to the process of transformation. Nothing is going to happen without it because leadership is the key factor in any endeavor involving more than one person. When two or more Christians gather together, not only is Jesus is present. The need for gifted leadership is as well. On the wall of the office of a colleague are two quotes that are arresting in their simplicity and truth. One reads: Churches reflect the personality of their leadership. The second says, "God does not take churches past their leadership."

I find both of these encouraging and challenging. The second one affirms the opportunity congregational pastors have to make a difference in the life and ministry of a community of faith. Churches may not follow us, or if they do, lag behind rather than keeping pace. But they do not go past us for one simple reason - they can't. The position of leadership we have does not allow us. They can work with us, help us to see things we do not see, encourage us, even stretch us, and they can also challenge us, upset us, gather factions against us, and seek to have us dismissed. But the one thing they can never do is go around us to accomplish to change the nature and direction of the congregation. On ocaasion it would be a good thing of they could, though I think the instances of this are rare. And there are examples where it has been tried. Yet it will never be effective simply because leadership plays too crucial a role. This, of course, places an enormous responsibility on us as clergy to be the most effective leaders we can be. That is what The Jesus Connection knows and seeks to build on. We take your role as leader seriously. We reject the notion that the way to raise the role of laity is to diminish the role of clergy. Our goal is to offer a process that good leadership can use to move a congregation from mediocrity to effectiveness, from maintenance to mission, from languishing to vitality. We cannot make anyone a good leader, but we can help those who are.

The first quote presents all of us with a sobering challenge. Groups have a way of taking on the personality of their leadership, and churches are no different.  It was Edmund Burke, I think, though I am not sure, that an institution is the lengthened shadow of one person. We might hope that is not entirely the case, but it make the valid point that if we lead people long enough they will as a group begin to reflect some of the character of who we are as leaders. This is not to suggest we should make this a goal, only that this is how leadership works, and that we and our people are better served when we understand this is the case rather than ignoring it. In small congregations this reality manifests itself on a large scale. In large churches it does so within smaller units. But in one form or another I am convinced it does happen.

Both of these statements about leadership underscore the sacredness of our calling as ministers. We make a difference in the lives of individuals, but we also make a difference in the life of a community of people called the church. So do others, and we can be thankful for the diversity of influence about us. But nothing should diminsh our awareness of the sacred calling that has been placed upon us as leaders in the body of Christ. We probably did not understand any of this when we responded to the Spirit's prompting to enter ministry, but it can be a good thing that we do now. Some fear and trembling to go with our work is healthy. Yet neither should make us timid about the leadership we offer. Churches need bold, albeity humble, leaders. The Jesus Connection depends on it.   

Jan G. Linn, Spirit of Joy Christian Church