Leading the Congregation : Caring for Yourself While Serving the People [1 ed.] 9781426729959, 9781426711398

Citation preview

BBMU004201QC001.qxp:Layout 1

12/9/10

12:38 PM

Page 1

“Heuser and Shawchuck have done an outstanding revision of their classic volume, Leading the Congregation. The pursuits of excellence and spirituality are woven into a beautiful and practical guide for faithful ministry. This volume belongs on the desk of every pastor and in the curriculum of every school of theology. The authors are as courageous in naming the cost, demands, and dangers of ministry as they are faithful in making plain the abundant resources available to enable and enhance effective ministry in our time. Leading the Congregation is a book for everyone seeking a practical guide to excellence and faithfulness in ministry.” — B i s h o p R u e b e n P. J o b , author of Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living “Leading the Congregation is an excellent resource for those looking for authenticity and wholeness in leadership. Congregations desperately need the type of leader this book defines, that is, a Christ-centered leader whose sacrificial service provides the welcoming of the soul and the weaving of community in a wounded world.” — D r. J e s s e M i r a n d a , President of the Miranda Center and CEO of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) “Leading the Congregation is a captivating analysis of the life issues of a spiritual Christian leader and the congregation she or he serves. I relish the insights of the authors from spiritual formation, psychology, organization, and leadership analysis. It is a real help to the busily involved Christian leader so that one can understand the reality one is immersed in. It is an extremely welcome book.” —Elder Oscar Owens Jr., Christian Education Director of West Angeles Church of God in Christ “Young leaders, you will not just love this book; you will get it! Heuser and Shawchuck thoughtfully address perhaps the most challenging aspect of leading in the church today: the ‘with others’ part.” — C h i p E s p i n o z a , coauthor of Managing the Millennials

R O G E R H E U S E R (PhD, New York University) is Professor of Leadership Studies at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California. He has served as pastor, consultant, retreat guide, and adjunct professor in multiple settings overseas and in the United States, including Fuller Theological Seminary.

NO R M A N S H AW C H UC K (PhD, Northwestern University) has authored over twenty books on the subjects of spirituality, leadership, and conflict. He has led a distinguished career as pastor, consultant, trainer of US Navy and Marine military chaplains, and professor at Garrett Evangelical Seminary, McCormick Theological Seminary, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

LEADING THE CONGREGATION E HEUSER & SHAWCHUCK

C l a s s i c g u i d a n c e a n d a d v i c e o n h o w t o l e a d G o d ’s p e o p l e , revised and updated for a new generation of leaders.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4267-1139-8 90000

www.abingdonpress.com 01 02 03 FnL1 BFVNUEgEVU1QSABM/naTBTExLjk2Ajky ATQMSVNCTiBCYXJjb2RlDTEtNDI2Ny0x MTM5LTUA 03 0072

R

9 COVER DESIGN BY RICK SCHROEPPEL

781426 711398

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page i

Leading the Congregation Caring for Yourself While Serving Others Revised Edition Roger Heuser and Norman Shawchuck Abingdon Press Nashville

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page ii

LEADING THE CONGREGATION CARING FOR YOURSELF WHILE SERVING OTHERS Copyright © 2010 by Abingdon Press All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission can be addressed to Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, 201 Eighth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37202-0801, or e-mailed to [email protected]. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Heuser, Roger. Leading the congregation : caring for yourself while serving others / Roger Heuser and Norman Shawchuck. — Rev. ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4267-1139-8 (book - pbk./trade pbk., adhesive - perfect binding : alk. paper) 1. Clergy—Office. 2. Pastoral theology. 3. Christian leadership. I. Shawchuck, Norman, 1935- II. Title. BV660.3.H48 2010 253—dc22 2010038446 All scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations noted KJV are taken from the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible. Scripture quotations noted NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society. Excerpts appear from Joseph A. Tetlow, S.J., Choosing Christ in the World: A Handbook for Directing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatious Loyola According to Annotations Eighteen and Nineteen (1999). Used with permission: © The Institute of Jesuit Sources, Saint Louis, MO. All rights reserved.

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page iii

To Verna Shawchuck and Gayle Heuser— companion leaders personified in purpose, joyful travels, and loving service

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page iv

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page v

Contents PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi CHAPTER 1: The Dangers of Leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Danger of Serving Sacrificially . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Danger of Preserving the Institution for Its Own Sake . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Danger of Leading Others through Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Defining Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 PART ONE: LEADING FROM WITHIN CHAPTER 2: The Interior Attitudes of the Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Childlikeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 A Desire to Serve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Self-examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 CHAPTER 3: The Leader’s Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 The Relentless Demands of Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Spirituality Supports Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Spirituality Renews Vision and Restores Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The Spirituality of Jesus: A Model for All Religious Leaders . . . . . . . 40 The Three Elements of Jesus’ Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Spirituality for Religious Leadership and Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 A Spirituality of Action and Contemplation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 A Covenantal, Communal Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 A Holistic Lifestyle of Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Examen of Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The Means of Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 CHAPTER 4: The Leader’s Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Freedom to Respond to God’s Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 The Call to Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 The Testing of the Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 The Resistance and Acceptance of the Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 The Madness of the Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page vi

CHAPTER 5: The Leader’s Vision and Ensuing Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 The Three Dimensions of Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 An “Upward” View toward God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 An “Inward” View of Oneself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 An Outward View of the Circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Mission: Turning Visions into Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 CHAPTER 6: The Interplay of Light and Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Testing the Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 What Spirit Does the Leader Project upon the Congregation? . . . . . . . 87 Five Shadows of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Expressions of Neurotic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 The Dramatic Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 The Suspicious Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 The Detached Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 The Depressive Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 The Compulsive Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Deep Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 CHAPTER 7: Discerning Priorities, Making Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Discerning Priorities in Role Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 The Logic of Task Pursuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Connect Your Charisms with What the Congregation Needs Most to Fulfill Its Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 The Golden and Silver Threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Become Clear about Bedrock Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Communicate Your Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Manage Time in Light of Your Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Priorities of Urgency and Importance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Utilize the Influence of Your Own Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 PART TWO: LEADING WITH OTHERS CHAPTER 8: Team Ethos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 What Is Our Shared Purpose? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Who Is on the Team? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 What Are the Team’s Guiding Principles? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 CHAPTER 9: Team Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 What Makes a Team? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Team Maturity: Stages of Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page vii

Orientation to Team Purpose and Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Conflict with the Leader and among Team Members . . . . . . . . . . 137 Team Solidarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Individuality, Interdependence, and Team Effectiveness . . . . . . . 142 CHAPTER 10: Teams Working through Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Constructive and Destructive Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Conflict’s Social Construction of Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Conflict Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Dimensions of Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Conflict Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Reactions to Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Levels and Goals of Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 The Conflict Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Stage One: Tension Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Stage Two: Role Dilemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Stage Three: Injustice Collecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Stage Four: Confronttation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Stage Five: Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Nonproductive Competition versus Productive Cooperation . . . . . . . 158 Antagonists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Power, Rights, and Interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Conflict Intervention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Develop a Relational Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Filter the Assumptions, Rumors, and Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Establish Joint Collaboration for Problem Solving and Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Form Covenants to the Agreements Reached . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Bringing Peace into the Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 CHAPTER 11: The Team’s Emotional Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Family Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 The Team’s Emotional Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Attributes of Emotional Gridlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Characteristics of Chronically Anxious Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Emotional Reactivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 The Herding Instinct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Blame Displacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 The Quick-fix Mentality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Poorly Defined Leadership or Failure of Nerve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Self-differentiated Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page viii

CHAPTER 12: The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards . . . . . . . . . . . 182 The Roles and Responsibilities of Trustees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 The Guardian of the Institutional Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Create a Continual Climate of Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Empower Leadership and Ministry Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Formulate Guiding Principles That Begin with Broad Values and Move toward More Specific Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 The Chairperson of the Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Primus Inter Pares—First among Equals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Common Problems Confronting the Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 When Members Are Underutilized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 When Members Are Incompetent or Immature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 When Trust Is Replaced by Compliance or Control . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Ambiguity and Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 The Issue of Trust: Power and Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 The Ambiguity of Specialization versus Generalization . . . . . . . . 195 The Ambiguity of Belief versus Criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 A Spirituality of Church Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 PART THREE: LEADING TOWARD TRANSFORMATION CHAPTER 13: The Spirituality of the Congregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 The Western Model versus the Scriptural Model of Spirituality . . . . . 209 Espoused Spirituality versus Lived Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 The Leader’s Experience and Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 The Pastor as Spiritual Companion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 The Pastor as Knower of the Seasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 The Prerequisites for Spiritual Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 The Balance between Solitude and Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 The Means of Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 CHAPTER 14: A Clear and Compelling Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Mission Is Contextual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 The Local Church Mission and Its Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 A Creative Tension between Mission and the Environment . . . . . . . . 233 The Apostolic Church: A Frontier Mission within a Hostile Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 The Church in Christendom: Ministering within a Friendly Environment Whose Mission Is a “Far Off” Enterprise . . . . . . 234 A Current Challenge for Local Congregations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page ix

Discerning the Congregation’s Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 The Timeless and Timely Aspects of Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Three Questions of Missional Clarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Who Are We? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 What Is Our Business (To What Purpose Has God Called Us)? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 How Do We Decide on the Right Mission Priorities and Get Them Done? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Planned Abandonment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 CHAPTER 15: The Vision We Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 The Difference between Vision and Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Three Ways of Imagining the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 The “Wishing” Congregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 The “Dreaming” Congregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 The “Visionary” Congregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Alignment through Shared Vision, Mission, and Core Values . . . . . . 253 How Vision May Come to a Congregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 A Spiritual Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 A Divine Impulse or Blessed Hunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Seeing through a Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Bringing Together the Hopes and Dreams of the Members . . . . . 257 Practicing Foresight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Shared Visioning Is a Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Spirituality Is a Prerequisite for Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Encourage the Call in Individuals and Find Common Ground in a Shared Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Communicating the Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Empowering People to Enact the Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Vision Is Nurtured in a Climate of Trust and Communication . . . 266 Why Visions Do Not Succeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 CHAPTER 16: Transformational Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 Orientation, Disorientation, and New Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 The Nature of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Patterns of Growth and Decline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Coexisting Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Environmental Change: Threats or Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Types of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Denial and Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page x

Developmental, Transitional, and Transformational Change . . . . . . . 280 Transformational Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Wake-up Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 Chaos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 Death—Mindset Forced to Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 Re-emergence through Visioning and Learning . . . . . . . . . . 288 Proactive Leaders in Transformational Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 The Leader’s Conscious and Unconscious Awareness . . . . . . . . . 289 Change Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 Proactive Disciplines of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 Excellence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 Anticipation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 EPILOGUE: On Finishing Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 AUTHOR INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 SUBJECT INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page xi

Preface

Wgregation: Caring for Yourself While Serving Others after seven-

e are pleased to have the opportunity to revisit Leading the Con-

teen years in print; it was first published in 1993 in a series dedicated to those who serve in congregations and religious organizations. The other two volumes were Marketing the Congregation: Choosing to Serve People More Effectively by Norman Shawchuck, et al. (1992), and Managing the Congregation: Building Effective Systems to Serve the People by Norman Shawchuck and Roger Heuser (1996). In this revised edition, we have included more recent voices that have enabled us to reframe leadership conversations in previously published chapters from Part One: Leading from Within and from Part Three: Leading toward Transformation, in which we also included a new chapter, “Transformational Change” (chapter 16). In this volume, we also added Part Two: Leading with Others, which has four new chapters: “Team Ethos” (chapter 8), “Team Formation” (chapter 9), “Teams Working through Conflict” (chapter 10), and “The Team’s Emotional Processes” (chapter 11). The field of religious leadership is as complex as it is dynamic—an interplay of searching the scriptures, engaging especially in missional ecclesiology, embracing the rich wisdom of Christian spirituality, and gleaning insight from the social sciences. The logic of our main argument for a revised Leading the Congregation is this: in Part One, the heart of transformational leadership examines the rich interior spiritual life—giving oneself to spiritual disciplines and learning to shed layers of the false self in order to be more authentically human and Spirit led. In Part Two, the process of forming a leadership team as a purposeful community for the sake of others is naturally difficult, yet fruitful and nourishing. In Part Three, the compassionate vision of the church as a signpost of the kingdom of God is inherently transformational in its mission—it is among other things the good news of forgiveness, the experience of salvation and wholeness, the love of enemies and those on the margins, and the encounter of an abundant life in Christ. xi

BBMU004201QK000.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:05 PM

Page xii

xii / Preface

We are blessed in our relationships with students, clients, and colleagues who have interacted with us in the shaping of ideas put forward in this revised edition of Leading the Congregation. We encountered the rich dialogue of leadership issues with well-seasoned clergy—some over table fellowship and others who were enrolled in graduate work—and with undergraduates who were unafraid to ask the obvious questions that provoked a lively exchange of ideas. Whether the presenting issues are team building, strategic planning, conflict intervention, or a spiritual life retreat, the privilege of consulting and training offers the rare prospect for leaders and their congregations to become a learning organization— and for us to learn with them. The opportunities for action research with collaborators Marty Harris, Doug Petersen, and Andrew Stenhouse of the Judkins Institute for Leadership Studies have helped us more fully understand the nuances of best practices in non-profit religious organizations. Finally, we are deeply indebted to those who provided thoughtful critique and editorial acumen to earlier manuscript drafts, especially Zenobia Bereal, Byron Flaus, Cecil Miller, Mike McNichols, David Peddie, Ted Aston, Ron Falstad, Rick Zeiger, and Julie Jenkins. We have been friends together on a vocational journey of writing, consulting, and teaching for nearly thirty years, and during this time we have witnessed firsthand—and listened to countless others—about the challenges of leadership in a variety of settings. The journey of leading a congregation toward transformation is not for the faint or divided of heart; rather the journey is for leaders who—like the disciples on the walk to Emmaus—experienced the heart blazing truth of the One who opened the scriptures to them and who sat at their table while breaking bread with them (Luke 24:13-35). Such intimacy is sustenance for the leaders’ journey with the One in whom God “was reconciling the world to himself . . . and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (2 Cor 5:19). Roger Heuser Norman Shawchuck September 2010

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 1

Chapter One

The Dangers of Leading

1

The church exists in North America. It is a historical reality. Its rich diversity of traditions, beliefs, and experiences has accumulated over centuries, and there is no way to erase the board and start over. Any effort to develop a missional ecclesiology for the North American context needs to take seriously the church as it presently exists. Such an ecclesiology must address the new initiatives required to move the church forward. It must also identify the principles and processes required for rethinking churches’ identities and renewing their lives.2 Darrell L. Guder Why do people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? The tourists are having coffee and doughnuts on Deck C. Presumably someone is minding the ship, correcting the course, avoiding icebergs and shoals, fueling the engines, watching the radar screen, noting weather reports radioed in from shore. Alas, among the tourists on Deck C, drinking coffee and eating doughnuts, we find the captain, and all the ship’s officers, and all the ship’s crew. . . . The wind seems to be picking up.3 Annie Dillard

L and opportunities for each generation of leaders and for their congreeading a congregation has never been easy. There are new challenges

gations. The wind has picked up significantly, and churches and their leaders have already begun to feel the sustaining impact of this gale force. The above metaphor describing the church as deck passengers has limitations, and it certainly belies the fruitful work of countless congregations and leaders who are making a difference. The metaphor also speaks to a harsher reality—a time of serious attrition in church attendance, a time when the church is publicly known more for its controversy, hypocrisy, and scandal than for its sacrificial service, a time when generational differences produce questions and complexities, and 1

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 2

2 / Leading the Congregation

a time when individual interests in spirituality have replaced denominational loyalty and commitment to institutionalized religion. The mosaic of church patterns in North America is diverse, bright, worn, and tattered; some of the older patterns in this mosaic of church life will pass away, previous forms will reappear, existing patterns will mutate, and new approaches will emerge. The mosaic ranges from storefronts to megacampus congregations, from denominational churches— large and small, declining and tenacious—to simple house churches. Some congregations have learned how to attract unprecedented numbers of followers by utilizing effectual technologies and by implementing ministries that produce a greater quality of service than most denominations can provide, and with the help of media, their global reach extends far beyond the local community. Congregations are learning how to reinvent themselves—some radically and others perceptible with time. Emerging congregations are reintroducing ancient Christian spirituality and liturgy while connecting their mission with culture in highly creative ways. Australian missiologists Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch suggest that a latent apostolic imagination is awakening leaders and their congregations “to courageous missional engagement for our time— living out the gospel within its cultural context rather than perpetuating an institutional commitment apart from its cultural setting.”4 But not enough congregations have moved outside their own sanctuary walls. During an era that is exciting as well as perilous, church leaders in our time must not answer their call half-heartedly. There is too much at stake. Annie Dillard, drawing on poignant metaphors, describes the current crises in the church: On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.5

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 3

The Dangers of Leading / 3

Expanding church metaphors to include catacombs, TNT, crash helmets, and signal flares must seem abrupt, especially for those sipping coffee on deck of the cruise ship. Annie Dillard’s images confront the North American church leaders who—refusing to remain in denial about the true condition of their obsolescent congregations—will embrace the potential dangers of moving into uncharted waters of change and missional engagement. Many metaphors identified thus far convince us that there is no safe place for church leaders to hide, or to run. They also reveal how far we have strayed from the biblical images that portray a deeper spiritual authenticity, communal commitment, and missional engagement, such as vine and branches, family of God, body of Christ, salt and light, harvest, journey, and colony of heaven. The nature of these images reinforces the seamless blend of life together with God for the sake of others. Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, expanding on the colony of heaven metaphor, view the church as an alternative “island” of one culture located in another culture. Therefore, “The church doesn’t have a social strategy, the church is a social strategy.”6 The values expressed in the above metaphors, though they may be deeply cherished and alarmingly simple, are not easily applied within Christian communities as people attempt to faithfully embrace and live them out—daily. The mission of Jesus is life giving—making known the good news to the poor, freedom for the oppressed, release for those imprisoned, and recovery of sight to the blind, and proclaiming the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19). Declaring a message of liberation and hope, amidst suffering, alienation, and brokenness, is the church as a faithful witness in extending the mission of Jesus. This is what Christ asked of his disciples, and of us. Leaders who embrace deeply cherished values of the kingdom, and who accept the challenges of mission in an increasingly complex culture, are engaged in a steep learning curve—what worked in the past or in a neighboring community is no longer helpful. Easy solutions evade well-meaning intentions and desired results. Thus, the church is a prime contender among other organizations to raise up a special quality of leaders who, according to theorists Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linksy, will put their “leadership on the line while staying alive through the dangers of leading.”7 The dangers for today’s religious leaders are multiple; by way of introduction in this chapter we have identified three of them:

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 4

4 / Leading the Congregation

(1) serving sacrificially, (2) preserving the institution for its own sake, and (3) leading others through change.

The Danger of Serving Sacrificially Jesus accepted the risks that are involved with serving others. After telling his disciples that his mission would lead to betrayal and death, they simply could not understand what Jesus meant until after his crucifixion. They were afraid to ask, and at one point they argued who among them would occupy the greatest position in a kingdom. Jesus explained to James and John that “whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35b). Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright explains further: “For Mark, Jesus becomes King when he is crucified, publicly placarded as ‘King of the Jews’. And on his right and his left there hang two brigands, two insurrectionists. No wonder Jesus told James and John they didn’t know what they were asking for.”8 Following in the surrendered footsteps of the Lamb of God is fraught with grave dangers and little safety—it is a venture with no guarantee of success. At the same time, those considering ministry as a vocation should ponder whether not answering God’s call to ministry carries with it more risk, perhaps for different reasons. Regardless of the dangers, however, God still calls women and men for the purpose of proclaiming the good news that is authenticated primarily through sacrificial service. Of all the stories in the New Testament, we have more details about Paul’s sacrificial consequences in accepting his call to follow Christ. Paul writes: as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (2 Cor 6:4-10)

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

2:13 PM

Page 5

The Dangers of Leading / 5

Paul’s list is too familiar to those in the world who have suffered peril because of their faith, but it is not exhaustive for most leaders today, nor is it the same for most of us, thankfully. Nonetheless, it remains difficult for us to say with Paul, “I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:11b-13). Though we live in a much different time and place from that of the early apostles, the dangers of serving sacrificially are real and constant. Leaders in today’s turbulent environment may be confronted with a choice that places them at great risk. Great leaders distinguish themselves from the ordinary when they become willing to risk the cause as paramount, and themselves as servants of it. Regardless of diminutive notoriety, we know many leaders from different generations in our contemporary world who have risked comfort, security, popularity, and even life itself in pursuit of their God-given vision. This is what Jesus did; ultimately he died for his vision. His death-filled sacrifice may seem preposterous, but there may be no other way for some to follow in his footsteps. The journey can be exhilarating—and ultimately terribly dangerous. For some time before his assassination, the word was out that Martin Luther King, Jr., was a marked man. Many of his friends and advisors counseled him to “cool it” a bit, for the sake of his own safety. To these warnings Dr. King responded with renewed zeal, refusing to give up the cause or to become less public. As a result, he died for a noble cause and an inspiring vision for his country. How similar to King’s legacy is that of Oscar Romero’s sacrificial leadership, the slain Archbishop of El Salvador. While administering the sacraments in a quiet, little chapel in San Salvador, Archbishop Romero was murdered in cold blood. The wealthy wanted him in their pocket, and the young Marxist priests wished he would bear arms with them. Ultimately, Romero died for the cause of the poor in his country, being caught between two different factions. As with Martin Luther

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 6

6 / Leading the Congregation

King, Jr., Romero risked life itself for the good of the more noble cause. Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement, first went to prison as a young twenty-one-year-old. She was one of forty women in front of the White House protesting women’s exclusion from the electorate. Being roughed up in a rural workhouse, the women responded with a hunger strike, and eventually they were freed by presidential order. In 1973, at the age of seventy-five, Dorothy Day was jailed for taking part in a banned picket line in support of farm workers. Mother Teresa of Calcutta came to visit Dorothy Day when she was no longer able to travel. On Day’s dress Mother Teresa pinned the cross worn only by Missionary Sisters of Charity. Perhaps Dorothy Day’s best-known words were in her response to those who regarded her as a saint: “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.”

The sacrificial examples of King, Romero, and Day serve as reminders that religious leaders are not immune to the burdens of leadership. Such sacrifice runs parallel not only to Jesus’ ministry, but also to that of Old Testament prophets, who lived and prophesied in great tension between obedience to God and the rebellious fury of those to whom they were called to prophesy. Selfless suffering was commonplace for those called to do God’s bidding. The present generation of American religious leaders finds itself in uniquely complex and often confusing conditions, which is a sobering commentary on the social context in which religious leaders live and work. Societal values impose tremendous pressures upon the ideas and behaviors of clergy. Even as the clergy seek to influence society, in turn, society also seeks to lull clergy into a certain complacency that ultimately domesticates them to the extent that they become ineffective witnesses. For leaders, the society is no longer a safe haven, and perhaps it never was—at least not for its greatest leaders, such as Jesus, Paul, and Peter, who met their own death in the first century, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and countless others who continue to die for a cause greater than themselves.

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 7

The Dangers of Leading / 7

People still desire leaders who inspire them to express their passion and gifts toward a collective effort and to grow in grace against all odds. Such leadership requires vision, strategy, and a tenacious spirit, while maintaining the courage to lead the congregation toward the realization of a vision—even when the way is uncertain. For leaders who have decided to give ministry their best effort every day, the temptations and struggles are plentiful. And for this, the forces of evil—at times ever so subtle—unleash their relentless furies and alluring temptations upon these leaders, day after day. The struggles described in the accounts of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness continue to this day in the lives of women and men who daily go forth to meet the fray.9 In the sixteenth century, Saint John of the Cross aptly described the journey of the soul through a dark night toward the divine light of perfect union with God. He explains: “The darknesses and trials, spiritual and temporal, that fortunate souls ordinarily undergo on their way to the high state of perfection are so numerous and profound that human science cannot understand them adequately. Nor does experience of them equip one to explain them.”10 According to St. John of the Cross, the dark night of the senses—different from the rare dark night of the soul— is a normal spiritual dryness when intellect and previous affections for spiritual matters no longer nourish our walk with God. The state of dryness and distaste for spiritual things points toward a paradoxical reality of God inviting us more deeply into intimacy with God. Thus, the meaning of these storms and trials is sent to those who are on a “journey along the road of the spirit, which . . . is referred to as the illuminative way or the way of infused contemplation, in which God Himself pastures and refreshes the soul without any of its own discursive meditation or active help.”11 But there are also dangers of serving of our own choosing. Besides the “cold sins,” which chill the spirit and dull the senses, some among us have succumbed to the “warm sins,” which excite the passions, such as adultery, grasping for power, and craving excessive material comforts. Urban Holmes observes: “What we fail to realize is that the pastor or priest who succumbs to the sins of passion is fallen in the same manner as a fallen soldier. These are the demons that threaten anyone who sets upon the path through chaos. Some will lose.”12 In keeping with this, many of our colleagues in ministry are not faring well in this milieu. Religious leaders are hurting enough, almost as

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 8

8 / Leading the Congregation

reflections of the hurt and confusion in the social context to which they wish to bring hope. In our time, many of the forces that imprison clergy come from within themselves, reflecting the realities of ministry pressures and private failure. To survive in ministry unscathed without some crisis seems to be the exception rather than the rule.13 However, perhaps some of us do not hurt enough; we can easily coast along to manage the status quo of ministries and subtly lose our passion for the pure religion that James, the brother of Jesus, described as caring “for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27b). Like King David—though perhaps for different reasons—we stay at home, letting others go to war while the battles rage and the troops wait for a leader. Those who remain on the sidelines rarely take risks, seldom ask for help, find it difficult to possess a vision worth the sacrifice, and sidestep the courage to take the unpopular stand. Remaining too long on the sidelines of ministry, we can easily become distracted and find ourselves progressing toward a second danger that plagues religious leaders: preserving the institution for its own sake.

The Danger of Preserving the Institution for Its Own Sake Jesus minced no words when confronting hypocrisy. He said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!” (Matt 23:23-24). The temptation is to concentrate on what we can manage with least difficulty, which often turns out to be the neglect of the most important matters. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day are not alone. All around us we see examples where preserving the culture of an institution is meant to provide longevity and security—but through the misguided efforts of the congregation and its leaders. There may be much effort and activity, but little is connected to an eternal purpose or direction. Thus, when the organization becomes an end in itself, it can easily fall into what George Odiorne calls the “activity trap.” He says: The Activity Trap is the abysmal situation people find themselves in when they start out toward an important and clear objective, but in an

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 9

The Dangers of Leading / 9

amazingly short time, become so enmeshed in the activity of getting there that they forget where they are going. . . . Once-clear goals may evolve into something else, while the activity remains the same—and becomes an end in itself. In other words, the activity persists, but toward a false goal. . . . Meanwhile all this activity eats up resources, money, space, budgets, savings, and human energy like a mammoth tapeworm. . . . While it’s apparent that the Activity Trap cuts profits . . . and fails to achieve missions, it has an equally dangerous side effect on people; they shrink personally and professionally.14

For leaders who have traded their fading idealism for personal security, managing to get by does not seem to be a bad alternative to the perceived heavy demands placed on a pastor who chooses to lead in the spirit and pattern of Jesus. Interestingly, those who choose to lead in accordance with Jesus’ model ultimately find that his “yoke is easy” and his “burden is light” (Matt 11:30). Those who experience the yoke as difficult and who take on heavy burdens are primarily institutionally focused in their roles and priorities, eventually becoming containers of the congregation’s anxiety with too many to serve—and to please. Well-intentioned leaders may be victimized by the nature of the institutional profession and demands. Unrestrained ambition reveals the leader’s allegiance to an institution at the sacrifice of intimacy with family and friends—the seminal relationships that are congruent with spiritual wholeness. However, too little ambition points to another weakness, as described by Derek Tidball: There are thousands of ministers today who continue to function more or less in a traditional way and who gain much job satisfaction in doing so. . . . Maybe some of that contentment is due to the fact that they do not have very great ambitions. . . . Some of the satisfied try to [bury] themselves in the frantic life of the flock. And since they are adored by their flocks they derive warmth from them and a degree of insulation which protects them from the harsh winds of the outside world. In this way [however] they actually cease to be shepherds. Instead of leading the flock to richer pastures, they become caretakers, befriended and pastured, themselves, by the flock.15

The congregation whose implicit desire is to preserve itself—and nothing more—may publicly desire strong leadership while, at the same time, exerting pressure upon the pastor to become a domesticated manager of

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 10

10 / Leading the Congregation

the status quo. Consequently, because the congregation has predetermined what the manager should do, the question becomes, how well do they perform? Thus, the vicious cycle of domestication in some congregations continues in contrast to those whose leaders have vision and passion and cannot be fully tamed. Pastors can eventually wind up as caretakers, or settlers—complacent and lukewarm—a peculiar clergy disease that the desert fathers and mothers called acedia.16 Described as the “devil of the noonday sun” or “spiritual sun stroke,” acedia was a common malady among monks, priests, and laypersons who lived under the desert sun. They experienced spiritual dryness, soul-weariness, boredom, and loss of passion—a wandering about listlessly with no compelling goal in mind.17 Acedia, as a clergy condition, afflicts many religious leaders—primarily those who have lost their passion. These pastors settle down to get by until a better appointment or call comes along, or until the pension kicks in. Leaders in their middle years can be especially vulnerable “when life has been daily for a long time and promises to be exceedingly daily for a long time into the future. . . . A person in the grip of acedia has drifted so far out of the current of things that from where he lies motionless by the shore he hardly bothers to watch life go by.”18 Colleagues who succumb to acedia’s hold should be neither scolded nor scorned; they need our compassion. Ministry can be a tough, lonely vocation with few immediate rewards. It is understandable why many stay in the temporary comfort of denial while others hesitate and waver, failing to take on the risks of leadership in the church—especially when essential changes are necessary.19

The Danger of Leading Others through Change Beyond the leader’s self-discipline to stay out of the activity trap is the danger of leading others through change. (We explore more fully the topic of transformational change in chapter 16.) People experience comfort and less stress when settling into familiar traditions, routines, and habits. Thus, change that upsets the normal patterns becomes painful for people who experience loss, feel threatened, or believe they are compromising their values. By nature, deep change implies sacrifice and risk, as does maintaining the status quo in a rapidly changing environment. Change-agent leaders, who are willing to take risks, learn how to disturb

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 11

The Dangers of Leading / 11

the system without destroying people in the process. Change is meant to enliven the human spirit, not dampen it—change is for the common good, not for winners only. Leaders may choose to make personal sacrifices for a cause, but should take careful thought in asking this of others. Jesus set the highest expectations for followers, and it came with personal cost to each of them, uniquely, for their good and the benefit of others. When challenging what others value—their routines, loyalties, habits, and ways of thinking—leaders often meet strong resistance that is expressed through fear, anger, and anxiety. People who lead change efforts do well when they respect—and not ignore or patronize—others in the change process. Change often divides the community—perhaps severely; this is why Heifetz and Linksy describe the hope of leadership as “the capacity to deliver disturbing news and raise difficult questions in a way that people can absorb, prodding them to take up the message rather than ignore it or kill the messenger.”20 Those who champion a change effort should not be surprised when they are attacked, diverted, or marginalized. People are often prone to “kill the messenger.” This was the horror, grief, and bewilderment of Jesus’ crucifixion witnessed by his closest friends (see John 19:25-27). On the other hand, when people catch sight of the vision that is attainable only through deep change, they find it much easier to accept the necessary sacrifices. Another way to describe the tensions of leading others through change are leaders who venture too far ahead of others on the journey— who find themselves alone on the path with no followers. The prophetic role of change leaders is to realign ministry priorities with God’s purposes while staying close to the people whom they serve. The dangers of relationships becoming stressed and torn apart through change efforts are real. Change also implies a willingness to confront power, and the choice of pursuing change becomes an ethical issue. Several decades ago leadership theorist Robert K. Greenleaf described our world as “a time when holders of power are suspect and actions that stem from authority are questioned. Legitimate power has become an ethical imperative.”21 The conditions warranting an ethical imperative for leaders continue to ripen, as leaders consider the following questions: What is my motivation in leading others through change? Is the cause worth the sacrifice? Do I have the patience and wisdom to bring people alongside me? It is

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 12

12 / Leading the Congregation

understandable that some will choose convenience over sacrifice, safety over danger. While these questions create a necessary tension for change leaders, the absence of honest conversations points toward a harsher reality that, “Without an ethical purpose, leadership is simply an instrument for bending the efforts of the many to the will of one.”22 Thus leaders embark into dangerous territories when they engage in sacrificial service, when they preserve the institution for its own sake, and when they lead others in change efforts that especially threaten the status quo. More than ever we believe that leading from within is the surest way for leaders to engage in change efforts and in sacrificial service that is other-directed because it taps into a profound connection that happens, as described by Frederick Buechner, when a person’s “deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”23

Defining Leadership Leadership continues to capture the interest of practitioners and researchers alike. Since the burgeoning study of leadership around the beginning of the twentieth century, leadership has been defined by clarifying the leaders’ traits and personalities, charisma, behaviors, and skill patterns—and through a deeper understanding of the leader’s power and influence, interactive relationships, situation and contingency, and ethical aspirations through transforming relationships.24 A common definition of leadership that attempts to summarize its complexities is this: Leadership is a process of influencing others toward a common purpose. Our colleague Carole Becker, who has written extensively on mixed-gender teams in religious organizations, proposes a description of leadership that is insightful and creative; she writes: I know that leadership creates community. It breaks down barriers between people. It communicates, and it creates synergy. At the same time, it engenders respect and builds a following among the people for the leader or leaders who have authority. Leadership also creates something new—something that was not there before. It does so because leaders are not afraid to be creative, to think outside the box, to name something new. At the same time that leadership creates synergy, it also creates controversy, because real leaders are willing to take risks, to be prophetic to the community.25

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

2:15 PM

Page 13

The Dangers of Leading / 13

Underneath the surface are the dynamics within a leadership community that are rich and complex regarding individual motives, needs and values, expectations and aspirations, the use of power, and the unique challenges within the surrounding environment. The study and practice of leadership in religious organizations cannot afford to ignore these dynamics. Now is the time to envision the triune God who takes delight in creation and whose mission is revealed in reconciling all things through Christ; to embrace the call of Jesus to live fully and freely in God’s kingdom that is already and not yet; and to respond to the daunting challenges of the current historical period that provide a unique opportunity for Christian leaders to offer their wisdom and gifts of leading in order to serve for the sake of others. Leaders do well to nourish the ultimate hope in a vision that makes all sacrificial ministry on this earth worthwhile because it trumps evil through God’s love, beauty and power that permeates the entire cosmos.26 Followers need leaders who possess the character to lead from within (Part One); congregations deserve leaders who express humility and commitment to lead with others (Part Two). The world needs congregations and leaders who sustain spirit, courage, and stamina to lead toward transformation through divine witness and sacrificial service (Part Three).

Questions for Reflection on the Dangers of Leading 1. Which of the metaphors used by Annie Dillard at the beginning of this chapter connect to your experiences of the church? 2. What are some examples that illustrate the dangers of serving sacrificially? Can leaders have too much “fire in the belly”? If so, what are the danger signs? 3. Which of the biblical metaphors most accurately describe your ministry and your congregation? Specifically, what do you observe to make this claim? 4. List examples that illustrate the dangers of preserving the institution for its own sake. What are the signs of acedia, and what can be done to help those who suffer from soulweariness (prevention and intervention)?

BBMU004201QK001.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:08 PM

Page 14

14 / Leading the Congregation

5. List examples that illustrate the dangers of leading others through change. What lessons have you learned from “dangerous” change leaders? 6. Are there times when leaders must be prophetic even when potentially sacrificing their relationship with followers? 7. Do you agree with Buechner that “your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need”? What would it take for this to be true for you, and others? 8. How do you relate your own experience to the ways leadership is defined in this chapter?

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:11 PM

Page 15

PART ONE

LEADING FROM WITHIN

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:11 PM

Page 16

PART ONE

Leading from Within I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Eph 3:16-19

Sfor spiritual formation. It is also a key to understanding leaders who aint Paul’s prayer for the church of Ephesus is a hallmark passage

seek the inner strength required to deal with the pressure and dangers of ministry, and to nourish an intimate relationship with God. Intimacy and fruitfulness go hand in hand, as an uncompromising dynamic introduced by Jesus when he said to his disciples: “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me” (John 15:4). Abiding in Christ is a daily invitation to fruitfulness, but maintaining this freedom requires contemplative discipline, courage, and self-awareness. A likely alternative to abiding in Christ is the leader’s drive to accomplish. But the needs are too many, and we easily fall behind, feeling caught in the pattern of reacting to external urgencies. Leaders who are driven by their compulsions no longer possess the freedom to choose, relying entirely on “leadership by rote” or on their persona—the public image that is well conditioned to look good in ministry situations. Thus a leader can maneuver through the so-called proper actions in response to the wide-ranging demands of ministry. One pastor described the inner wars that eventually led up to personal acknowledgment of a severe depression; he writes: “More than once I have stood in a pulpit and delivered a sermon in a style that exuded confidence and authority, some would even say power, while my mind was confused, my rubbed-raw 16

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:11 PM

Page 17

Leading from Within / 17

emotions hurt like third-degree burns, and my spiritual life seemed to be sagging severely, on the verge of hitting bottom and splintering into a thousand pieces.”1 External pressures and internal compulsions mitigate the freedom of abiding in Christ. The care and feeding of the religious leader’s interior life is not auxiliary to ministry—it is the very basis of ministry. Without this foundation, all leadership efforts can eventually become sterile, and ultimately lead to apathetic boredom and insipidness. Neglecting the interior life reflects an identity that is often wrapped up in external accomplishments that are the hallmarks of an increasingly blind ambition. Eventually pressures consume leaders to the extent they lose control over their lives and ministries.2 However, relying on one’s public persona while being caught up in the rat race of ministry will eventually run its course; sooner or later, the leader will be forced to come to the truth about her interior life. In a pastoral theology text written in 1885, James Hoppin stressed that, “the greatest and hardest preparation is within.”3 This lesson is still challenging and perhaps even more relevant to today’s religious leaders. In keeping with this, Michael Cavanagh illustrated with the following metaphor: A violin is a musical instrument that is both sensitive and strong. It is sensitive in that it is affected by the slightest touch, and it is strong because its strings can withstand a good deal of pressure. A violin must be continually and properly tuned to be played well, for if it is not, even the finest violinist cannot call forth beautiful music from it. . . . When ministers are in tune with themselves, they can touch people in beautiful ways, but when they are out of tune with themselves, not even the Lord can make music with them.4

Ultimately, how we take care of ourselves relates to, and greatly influences, our spiritual health and fruitfulness in ministry. The young theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer espoused living one’s faith through relational commitments and sacrificial ministry, and he also believed that people would recognize the leader’s spirituality in conversations when “the pastor’s words overflow out of the fullness of his heart.”5 Simply put, leaders cannot give to others what they themselves do not possess from within. For many leaders, it will require a deep change experience, often a crisis that wakes people up to the possibility of leading from within. For

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:11 PM

Page 18

18 / Leading the Congregation

others, the invitation to abide with Christ becomes a way of life through spiritual hunger, covenant relationships, and adherence to the disciplines that deepen our intimacy with Christ. Both crisis and discipline serve to draw religious leaders into a more authentic journey, thus reinforcing the claim of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who aptly points out that, “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.” Assuming that the leader is fundamentally responsible for what happens interiorly, reflect on the following questions: 1. When you are alone, what happens? 2. What thoughts and feelings occupy your aloneness? 3. How confident are you in sharing your weaker, false self with God? 4. To what extent have you kept your early promises to God, and how well has God kept promises to you? 5. How has your call been strengthened; how has it been tested (Acts 5:40-41)? 6. Specifically, by what means do you nurture an awareness of God within your secret self? 7. To what extent do you experience a sense of personal fulfillment as a result of your time alone with God and your service to God in ministry? In developing the theme of leading from within, chapter two examines the interior attitudes that relate to the leader’s spiritual character, followed by a chapter on spirituality for leaders that nourishes an awareness of Christ’s formative presence. In chapters four and five we explore the leader’s call as well as the dynamics of a personal vision and the ensuing mission of the leader. Chapter six examines the interplay of light and shadow as part of spiritual discernment, and chapter seven investigates the leader’s process of discerning priorities and making right choices.

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:11 PM

Page 19

Chapter Two

The Interior Attitudes of the Leader Can there be an evil greater than being ill at ease in our own house? What hope can we have of finding rest outside of ourselves if we cannot rest within? . . . Peace, peace, the Lord said, my Sisters; and He urged His apostle so many times. Well believe me, if we don’t obtain and have peace in our own house we’ll not find it outside. Let this war be ended. . . . I ask those who have not begun to enter within themselves to do so; and those who have begun not to let the war make them turn back. . . . Let them trust in the mercy of God.1 Saint Teresa of Avila I prepare myself for the game [of creation and meeting God] by stripping down to the greatest possible sense of freedom. For example, if I came down here to the desert in good clothes, I’d immediately feel a slave to them. I’d have the usual fear of getting dirty or losing the crease in my trousers. No, I come in old rags so that I can roll in the sand every time the joy of God takes hold of me. If I brought with me all kinds of mechanical and electronic gadgets, I should lose the joy of gathering wood . . . and seeing the living flame between the two stones, simple and true, like creation. . . . But I must go still further to enter into a serious game of nature. I must accept the wind, the sand, the night’s cold, and the day’s heat, the discomforts, poor health, disappointments, as speeches made by God to teach me poverty and patience, not as provocations for useless complaining.2 Carlo Carretto

A

n essential condition for religious leaders is to love what they do with a desire that burns like fire in the belly.3 However, unbridled passions can also draw leaders to running in all directions, as Saint Teresa of Avila described in the sixteenth century with “souls and minds so scattered that they are like wild horses no one can stop.”4 In order to 19

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:11 PM

Page 20

20 / Leading the Congregation

fulfill the many demands of contemporary ministry, it is natural that leaders may lose touch with their real selves—a condition Parker J. Palmer termed “the pathology of the divided life.”5 A life in ministry can predispose one to compartmentalize the public life from the private one— believing that the public role is the essence of the spiritual life in offering oneself to others in the many tasks of ministry. But those who attempt to fabricate their identity and survive at the fast-paced circumference of their lives, according to Franciscan Richard Rohr, “often end up with hardened and overly defended edges, easily offended.”6 Leaders who become solely identified with their role and especially in its success have much to live up to in the face of self-criticism, and much to defend in the face of external criticism. Any attempt to piece together one’s identity solely from external sources is fraught with dangers. Henri Nouwen eventually had to admit that success at Harvard University was putting his soul in danger—the lack of contemplative prayer, feelings of loneliness, and the constantly changing involvement were symptomatic of the Spirit being gradually suppressed.7 This confession from one who is known for his insight concerning the spiritual life illustrates how subtle—and intense—the struggle can be in many of us between what we desire to have as a satisfying intimacy with Christ and our longing for an external validation of our ministry.8 To remain true to our call, we must continuously and honestly examine our inner motivations in the light of four predispositions of religious leadership: childlikeness, humility, the desire to serve, and self-examination.

Childlikeness The eager disciples asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matt 18:1). To their utter amazement, Jesus put before them a small child, and as they listened he said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me” (Matt 18:3-5).9 The hearts of the disciples were filled with ambition; they wanted a kingdom that would bring the honor due to them in their new career. Not

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:11 PM

Page 21

The Interior Attitudes of the Leader / 21

only were they fully aware of their glorious past history as a people— which yet promised hope and restoration—they had also left their previous vocations and families and immediately followed after Jesus, who had demonstrated to them the authority and power to get things done. The aspiring disciples thought that children would only waste Jesus’ time—and theirs. Besides, what role could children possibly play in this new enterprise? How could children keep up with the competition among the adults? Jesus’ surprising response to the disciples’ question was sincere, for he came to announce the reign of God in which there is no rigid hierarchy or superiority among his followers. His response must have shocked and offended them. Time after time, and to the very end, they raised the question of greatness in the kingdom (see Matt 18:1-5; 20:20-21; Mark 9:33-37; Luke 9:46-48). So poignantly did this question concern the disciples that Luke painted it on the canvas of the Last Supper. After Jesus announced his passion and impending death, the disciples knew the time was near, though they did not fully understand the implications. As a consequence, their humanity was revealed when a dispute arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest; thus Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves” (Luke 22:25-26). To the very end they raised the question, and Jesus gave the same reply: The greatest will be the youngest, and the leader as the servant. Beyond this, we are not asked “to remain a child but to become one. . . . living toward a second innocence: not the innocence of the newborn infant, but the innocence that is reached through conscious choices.”10 The disciples asked a sincere question, for their environment had conditioned them to believe that when the kingdom of God was to be established, there should be a prominent hierarchy among its inhabitants. However, the disciples’ question opened up a theological discussion with Jesus about the nature of the kingdom of God. It is interesting to ponder what might happen if a child were placed in our midst while we were discussing the practice of leadership within the kingdom. What might the child teach us in relation to the kingdom?11 Again, Nouwen’s insight is that becoming a child is living in the Beatitudes in order to find the

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:11 PM

Page 22

22 / Leading the Congregation

narrow gate into the Kingdom. He writes: “Isn’t the little child poor, gentle, and pure in heart? Isn’t the little child weeping in response to every little pain? Isn’t the little child the peacemaker hungry and thirsty for uprightness and the final victim of persecution? . . . The eternal Son became a child so that I might become a child again and so re-enter with him into the Kingdom of [God].”12 Perhaps childlikeness becomes an important doorway for the leader’s freedom to play out one’s own life in imagination, wonder, and living in the here and now. Like the aspiring disciples, many religious leaders take themselves too seriously, which can be a signal of our own insecurity. As stated earlier, when operating from an insecure place leaders experience less freedom when feeling defensive and devastated by the slightest criticism. Joyce Rupp explains: “We become serious and competitive. We focus on obeying and agreeing and being accepted. We get our applause by working hard or by living up to others’ expectations. Much of the joy in life is missed.”13 When Jesus suggested childlikeness as the model for leadership, he meant it as good news. Childlike spirituality is not to be confused with infantilism or a childish psychological state; rather it is a reliable way to lead others into the kingdom of God. The leader who remains open to this reality receives a gift; the one who ministers to the least in other directed services expresses a radical value inherent within the kingdom. Childlike spirituality and authentic leadership demonstrate the paradoxical power of weakness.14 Children take their play seriously, but not themselves—they are transparent without shame and curious without boundaries. Thus the quality of life improves when adults claim their childlike nature, as illustrated by Michael Quoist, who imagines God saying: I like children because my likeness has not yet been dulled in them. I like them because they are still growing, they are still improving.15

Adults who think they have arrived have also learned to hide behind their public masks; this is not so with children, who are not ashamed to show their feelings. The child’s face that transparently shows emotions is something that is unlearned by most before reaching adulthood. Thus children, who openly reveal themselves to others—and are genuinely present in the moment—offer a special gift that is difficult for most of us to recognize, much less relearn, for its own value.16

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:11 PM

Page 23

The Interior Attitudes of the Leader / 23

Leaders who reclaim their childlike qualities bring humility, playfulness, curiosity, trust, and perhaps a naiveté into ministry settings that are also the most challenging. Jesus combined childlikeness and humility in his own life and ministry as asserted by A. B. Bruce: “The higher we rise in the kingdom the more we shall be like Jesus in humbling himself. Childlikeness such as Jesus exhibited is an invariable characteristic of spiritual advancement, even as its absence is the mark of moral littleness.”17 Carlo Carretto lived in the African desert as a Little Brother of Jesus. After many successful years as an educator and activist, he chronicled his first experiences as a novice monk. In the first of many letters to his sister, Dolcidia, he writes: “Don’t worry, Dolce; it’s God who’s calling me. I know His voice. . . . Just think: I’m sailing the same African sea as St. Augustine: over there is his diocese of Hippo. I’m going to the desert, my desert. . . . I wrote to you that I have always found my guiding star. I feel I’ve found it this time too. God loves me like a baby and is guiding me like a child.”18 Carretto journeyed through his entire life in order to experience a freedom one might experience as a little child in the care of God as he described the “divine littleness to which Jesus invites: ‘Become like this child’, which allows us to contemplate the Father, the giver of life and happiness!”19 Carretto arrived at this conclusion after he experienced a radical change from his earlier career as President of the Italian Catholic Youth Action; he came to believe that the fatal error of Christians was to “think of themselves as saviors, when they get worked up as if everything depended on them.”20 Believing a peasant woman could know as much about God as the greatest theologian, Carretto describes the hideous influence of pride that burns the soul and dries up everything. And pride is all the greater in spiritual people: in us. I can understand why Jesus took a bitter line when dealing with us (the professional religious): sinners and prostitutes will take their place ahead of us. It’s because we don’t want to become little! On the excuse that the religious life is a great, very great thing, we no longer dream of becoming nothing, nothing, nothing. Dear Dolce, I would ask that if you pray at the crib for your brother Carlo, ask with enthusiasm for this gift for me: make him little, little, little. All right?21

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:12 PM

Page 24

24 / Leading the Congregation

Throughout the correspondence between Carretto and his sister, he emphasized becoming childlike, more Christlike. He saw this not as a punishing hardship, but as a privilege in and through leadership positions as well as entrance into the kingdom. Becoming little provided Carretto the freedom to “run more swiftly towards the great final fire. Go on, sister, no holding back, just trust in the immense mercy of One who immolated His Son to save a slave.”22

Humility According to Trappist monk Thomas Merton, “Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul. It is the only key to faith, with which the spiritual for faith and humility are inseparable. In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself.”23 Thus, for Merton, humility serves as a mirror of the true self, reflecting the paradoxical extremes of personal praise and despair. A leader with humility receives praise gracefully and does not despair because, as Merton points out, in the humble person there is no longer any such thing as self-pity. On the other hand, self-pity that is absent of humility flourishes in the one who deliberately rejects help from others while remaining alone.24 The One who “‘humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death’ (Phil 2:8a) remains the ultimate essence of humility. Through the example of Christ, humility is intimately related to faith and is the surest sign of strength.”25 What is often misunderstood is that humility is not a contrived surrender to being overpowered; rather the humility of Christ is firmly rooted in faith and confidence in God. Jesus taught the crowds, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:3). With this promise Jesus introduced the Beatitudes—the attitudes that can shape our thoughts and lives, and usher in the kingdom realm. Each disciple was called by Christ, thereby having renounced everything. However, Jesus called them “blessed,” not because of their privation and renunciation of many things, for these are not blessed in themselves. Rather, as Bonhoeffer suggests, “Only the call and the promise, for the sake of which they are ready to suffer poverty and renunciation, can justify the beatitudes.”26 Do we dare to believe that those who do their small part to bring the kingdoms of the world under the reign of God are to stand as “poor in

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:12 PM

Page 25

The Interior Attitudes of the Leader / 25

spirit” amid the riches of wealth, power, prestige, and worldly wisdom? Yes, in our better moments we do believe. Contemplating the wonder of our call, we realize our impoverished condition. Inherent in our call to ministry is the realization that we are not by nature equipped to bear the burdens of leadership that God has laid upon us—we all embrace our experiences and our blessings when we are poor in spirit. The apostle Paul expressed a particular humility for leaders in his letter to the Corinthian congregation when he wrote: Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, the things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1:26-31)

Desiring littleness, obscurity, and compassionate respect for the least is difficult in a world obsessed with possessions and positions—especially when many around us are scrambling for upward mobility. The temptation that afflicts most religious leaders is not that of monetary wealth, as many clergy who struggle with their limited retirement resources would testify. Instead the “to be rich temptations” among most clergy are not merely for money but also for admiration, respect, adulation, prestige, and power. These are some of the riches we must guard against if we are to experience the freedom to be poor in spirit. God offers this poverty as spiritual freedom and blessing—not as a burden or a restraint—upon those whom God has chosen to be leaders in the church. The desire to be poor in spirit has been planted in the deep soil of our inner being, but so has the desire to be acknowledged for dedication and hard work. The conflicting desires and motives reside side-by-side in our deepest interiority—they do battle with one another, each seeking to gain ascendancy over the other. Richard Foster claims that “within all of us is a whole conglomerate of selves. There is the timid self, the courageous self, the business self, the parental self, the religious self, the literary self, the energetic self. And all of these selves are rugged

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:12 PM

Page 26

26 / Leading the Congregation

individualists. No bargaining or compromise for them. Each one screams to protect his or her vested interests. . . . No wonder we feel distracted and torn.”27 The spirit of poverty embraced by the religious leader, according to Nouwen, is the way of the cross; it is downward mobility versus upward mobility. Life is often dichotomized between winning and losing, and making it to the top is applauded.28 What a stark contrast is this to God’s way. The Word of God came down to us and lived among us in order to serve us, not seeking divine equality (and power) as something to be exploited. The leader is set apart as a living hermeneut in the midst of a world obsessed in its pursuit of comfort and upward mobility—a way that can never be satisfied, for it only increases the ravenous desire for another, and then another. The world is better off when leaders have gone to the bottom of the social ladder in order to give simple witness to poverty and when people at the margins begin to believe in them.29 The leader who is poor in spirit stands as a sign of hope that by seeking the way of the cross—symbolizing an individual’s desire to fulfill a God-given purpose—every human passion can be satisfied and every inner longing fulfilled. In his advice to a friend who was weighing a call to the ministry, Bishop Walpole provides a reminder of what motivates our ministry, saying: “If you are uncertain of which of two paths to take, choose the one on which the shadow of the cross falls.”30 The words of Carretto, Nouwen, and Bishop Walpole are possibly too heavy for us to bear. However, this is the way of the poor in spirit to which every religious leader is called—an invitation filled with promise.

A Desire to Serve St. Paul’s hymn expresses one of the deepest mysteries in describing Christ’s desire to serve and to express his obedience even to the point of death. Paul wrote to the Philippians: If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:12 PM

Page 27

The Interior Attitudes of the Leader / 27

who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. (Phil 2:1-8)

What does the desire to serve have to say to us as we seek to carry out our ministries in the same mind as was in Christ Jesus? The desire to lead may conflict with the desire to serve. Robert Greenleaf explains the difference between leader-first and servant-first. The servant-first begins with a desire to serve followed by a conscious, aspiring choice to lead; this is in sharp contrast to the leader-first, whose service to others is absent or overshadowed by the need to assuage power or to acquire material possessions. Inherent in the call to servant-first leadership is an underlying value that makes certain other people’s highest-priority needs are met.31 The best test for Greenleaf, but one that is difficult to administer in evaluating one’s own servant-first leadership, is to ask if “those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit or, at least, not be further deprived?”32 Choosing to be a servant leader in a materialistic and power-grabbing society is difficult since it runs countercultural to values within a society that defines the end game in terms of power, position, and financial well-being. Becoming a servant leader requires a desire to reflect throughout all of one’s ministry the profound and provocative nature of service we see manifested in Christ. Carretto explains: That God is beautiful is no secret. It is written on every flower, on the sea and on the mountains. That God is immense is no secret. All you have to do is look at the universe . . . what is the secret? Here it is: God is a crucified God. God is the God who allows himself to be defeated, God is the God who has revealed himself in the poor. God is the God who has washed my feet, God is Jesus of Nazareth. We are not accustomed to a God like this.33

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:12 PM

Page 28

28 / Leading the Congregation

Religious leadership is fraught with its own unique temptations, which leads us to a fourth essential condition: self-examination. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” According to Socrates, to look after and care for the soul is more important than money, honor, and even reputation. The first duty is “to know thyself. . . . For once we know ourselves, we may then learn how to care for ourselves, but otherwise we never shall.”34

Self-examination O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:12 PM

Page 29

The Interior Attitudes of the Leader / 29

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you. (Ps 139:1-18) You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. (Ps 51:6)

There are two forms of self-examination: examination of conscience and examen of consciousness. King David practiced the examination of conscience after his encounter with the prophet Nathan, who confronted David about his tryst with Bathsheba. His confession was “an explicitly penitential practice” in which he named and acknowledged his failures.35 He became conscious of a trust broken that cried out for healing. It is not surprising that crises and failures should drive moral leaders into selfexamination. Perhaps the discipline of self-examination of consciousness practiced before the crisis might have prevented the crisis. This is a hard lesson for leaders with inflated egos, because in many cases they feel themselves to be invincible and incapable of such failures. The examen of consciousness is a discipline that enables us to become more deeply aware of the condition of our character and the patterns in our lives that “sharpens our awareness of both positive and negative aspects of our attitudes and behaviors.”36 One of the greatest dangers defying religious leaders is that of becoming so busy or so bored, so proud or depressed, or so successful that the things they desire most, as well as their actions, go unexamined.37 Our reasoning is because we want it so much, we assume it is right for us, so therefore we will do it with no questions asked. This mentality totally rules out any possibility for critical analysis. Accordingly, an essential practice in becoming an effective leader is to continually examine our own lives. First, examine the character and

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:12 PM

Page 30

30 / Leading the Congregation

structure of our lives when out of the public eye: What are my heart’s desires? What thoughts do I entertain? To what private and secret activities do I give myself? Second, examine the quality and character of one’s life and work when one is in the public eye: How would others describe my values as a leader? How would others describe my motives and desires? How would others describe the results of my leadership—and what I wish to be known for? Without exception the Reformers sounded the call and set the example of self-examination. Martin Luther taught that the last activity of each day should be to examine one’s motives and actions of the day, and then give the day to God and go to sleep, that while we are out of the way in the hours of this “momentary death,” God may finish our work and do for us as we sleep what we could not accomplish in our wakeful hours.38 Calvin tellingly describes the need for selfexamination when he says that “without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God . . . [and] without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self.”39 John Wesley modeled self-examination as a continuing essential for the religious leader. In his early years he set aside time in every day for the “examination.” Later, he began the practice of setting aside each Saturday for self-examination. Finally, in his later years, he developed the habit and inner clock to pause for the first five minutes of every hour to examine the hour past.40 Our colleague Mike McNichols remarked that in a sermon on self-examination, he estimated that he had lived at the time more than 20,000 days, yet he could only recall a few moments within specific days. If nothing else, selfexamination invites us to live in awe of the journey of life, at how God transforms us over a lifetime. Congregations expect competency and integrity in their leaders—a congruency between what they profess and what they do. For a variety of reasons, many resist the inward journey. Some are afraid or preoccupied, feeling guilty for taking the time as the urgent problems press in on them. However, the interior life of the leader is revealed in all aspects of ministry. Thus the religious leader “must not be a slave to one’s own unexamined passions. Otherwise the souls entrusted to one’s care may be subject to manipulation by the supposed career, whose passions are projected on to the relationship.”41 The foundation blocks—of growing into childlikeness, of becoming poor in spirit, of

BBMU004201QK002.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:12 PM

Page 31

The Interior Attitudes of the Leader / 31

desiring to serve, and of examining one’s private and public life—form the vortex of deepening one’s leadership character. These qualities are not leadership impediments; rather they are doorways to freedom. They are to be enjoined not with fear—though challenging—but with expectancy, spontaneity, and joy. The possibility of each disposition is given to us as a promise from God. The promises of God are further illustrated throughout the chapters that follow: the spirituality of the leader, the call to ministry, the leader’s vision and ensuing mission, the interplay of light and shadow, and discerning priorities, making choices. O Lord, give me beauty of my inner soul, and let the outward person and inward person be the same.42

Questions for Reflection on the Interior Attitudes of the Christian Leader 1. Do you know leaders who are childlike? Is this disposition valued in our culture and in congregations? When reading the various descriptors of childlikeness, which would others say characterize your own leadership? Which would you like to develop? 2. How do you respond to the interior attitude of being “poor in spirit”? How do you demonstrate this trait in your weekly responsibilities as a leader? 3. How does your desire to serve permeate your ministry and leadership responsibilities? 4. Do you relate to the difference between the examination of conscience and examen of consciousness? 5. What are the means by which you examine your interior moods and attitudes, thoughts, feelings, and desires? 6. Is your leadership position strengthening your relationship with Christ or hindering it?

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 32

Chapter Three

The Leader’s Spirituality Ministry is service in the name of the Lord. It is bringing the good news to the poor, proclaiming liberty to captives and new sight to the blind, setting the downtrodden free and announcing the Lord’s year of favor (Luke 4:18). Spirituality is paying attention to the Life of the spirit in us; it is going out to the desert or up to the mountain to pray; it is standing before the Lord with open heart and open mind; it is crying out, “Abba, Father’; it is contemplating the unspeakable beauty of our loving God.1 Henri J. M. Nouwen I consider that the spiritual life is the life of [one’s] real self, the life of that interior self whose flame is so often allowed to be smothered under the ashes of anxiety and futile concern. The spiritual life is oriented toward God, rather than toward the immediate satisfaction of the material needs of life, but it is not, for all that, a life of unreality or a life of dreams. On the contrary, without a life of the spirit, our whole existence becomes unsubstantial and illusory. The life of the spirit, by integrating us in the real order established by God, puts us in the fullest possible contact with reality—not as we imagine it, but as it really is. It does so by making us aware of our own real selves, and placing them in the presence of God.2 Thomas Merton

S

pirituality is gaining attention in a variety of contexts—religious and otherwise. Increasing numbers of leaders are learning the benefits and challenges when they endeavor to integrate all of life’s experiences in a gifted relationship with God. When we neglect to integrate our personal and vocational life with a conscious awareness of God’s involvement, our souls continue to fragment into the hypocrisy of teaching others about their spirituality at the neglect of our own. Orthodox church leader Anthony Bloom poignantly describes what happens when we desire God only for God’s gifts—of wanting something from God, and 32

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 33

The Leader’s Spirituality / 33

not God at all. Bloom explains the “absence” of God when he writes, “As long as we ourselves are real, as long as we are truly ourselves, God can be present and can do something with us. But the moment we try to be what we are not, there is nothing left to say or have; we become a fictitious personality, an unreal presence, and this unreal presence cannot be approached by God.”3 A religious leader being a fictitious personality in prayer seems preposterous, but nonetheless it is true. Thus we define the leader’s spirituality as follows: Spirituality is a growing awareness of God and receptivity to God’s Spirit in our lives, and the means by which we keep that receptivity alive and vital toward the end that the Spirit of Christ is being formed in us for the sake of others and for the world.4

The Relentless Demands of Ministry Nouwen aptly observed that we are obsessed by a plethora of activities to the extent that we have no time for prayer and no time to attend to our own needs, even when they have become deepening wounds. Likewise, “Our demon says: ‘we are too busy to pray; we have too many needs to attend to, too many people to respond to, too many wounds to heal.’”5 Jesus and his disciples experienced the whirlwind of ministry demands to the extent that, according to Mark’s Gospel, so many people kept coming and going that Jesus and his disciples “had no leisure even to eat” (6:31). The promise of a few days’ rest was denied the disciples as the throngs of people continued to press into the cherished aloneness that the weary disciples hoped for, a time for solace and rest. Consider the exchange of opinions between Jesus and Martha in Luke 10:38-42, as Jesus levels a rebuke that also stings us as we slug it out with ministry’s stress and strain. Jesus said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her” (vv. 41-42). Do we really want to be at Jesus’ feet when there are so many other demands pressing in upon us? Why must the urgent things that are calling for our attention distract us? Think of the

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 34

34 / Leading the Congregation

small but nagging demands that are not so pressing, but we respond to them anyway. Nouwen speaks for many of us when he says: “It seems that when there are no deadlines to meet, I organized them for myself. . . . Something as simple as a language course can play demon with me. Why speak different languages if my heart remains dry and angry, upset and lonely?”6 Nouwen describes a condition all too common as he offers his lament. But why do we condone all the clutter in our lives? Are we helplessly caught in the jaws of an unrelenting fate? One can hardly think of another profession in which the leaders have more space to call their own, or more freedom to set their own schedules than that the parish pastor does. Sooner or later we must admit that we tolerate or initiate the clutter in our minds because it keeps us from having to face a reality we dread even more—that of coming home to ourselves. Then we discover that we ourselves cause the clutter in our minds; our own souls are running full force away from the voice bidding us to find rest for our weary souls. For a variety of reasons, spiritual leaders deny themselves the process of becoming more fully formed in the Spirit of Christ; they both claim and resist this in their ministry. Some are afraid; others see no need. Yet others are preoccupied with giving themselves to the work of the church, the ministry being their only thought, their only care. Proactive leaders are necessary in the ongoing life of the church, but not to the exclusion of intimacy with God. We serve a church that honors frenzied activity and long hours. However, this is often a condition of our own making when we want people to see us as rushed achievers, as if these were the signs of how worthwhile our ministry is. Too many of us see ourselves as the necessary hub of the church’s activities, even as we scurry around with our “fuel gauges” on empty. We are often recognized and rewarded for our doing the work of ministry, and not for being in an intimate relationship with God. Thomas Merton poignantly asks: “What is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our prayer?”7 The clergy profession, asserts William R. Nelson, is a balance between knowing “what it means ‘to do’ ministry and at the same time ‘to be’ God’s person.”8 Without an awareness of this balancing act, it is too easy for pastors to join the company of what Eugene Peterson calls shop-

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 35

The Leader’s Spirituality / 35

keepers who “are preoccupied with shopkeeper’s concerns—how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money. . . . I don’t know of any other profession in which it is quite as easy to fake it as in ours.”9 How different from us are the great Reformers and initiators of God’s kingdom, such as Martin Luther, John Wesley, and John Calvin. Among the voluminous writings, Wesley left us two brief insights into his spirituality. The first he wrote of his own discipline: “Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone;—Only God is here, in his presence I open, I read his book; for this end, to find the way to heaven.”10 Wesley was there every morning at 4:30 or 5:00 A.M. for a daily retreat that he practiced for over fifty years. A second correspondence was penned to one of his lay pastors serving a small parish who complained that he was too busy to find time for prayer and reflection. Wesley sent this reply: “O Begin! Fix some time each day for prayer and scripture. Do it; whether you like it or no. It is for your life! Else you will be a trifler all your days.”11 The urgency of Wesley’s words need not produce guilt that paralyzes or condemns us. Rather, they can become a means of grace to free us, reframing our own lives and ministries in a new way that restores energy and brings hope where it has been long forgotten.

Spirituality Supports Ministry The desire to be faithful in the demands of ministry brings us to an earlier invitation from Jesus to his disciples: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28-30). This can also be true for us if and when we practice the disciplines as Jesus did. After being baptized by John, Jesus spent a month and a half in solitude and fasting while being tested in the wilderness. Throughout the remainder of his life, Jesus spent much time alone, praying through the night before attending to the needs of his followers the next day. It was out of a leader’s wilderness preparation that Jesus was so effective in his public life of service, and the same became true for his early disciples as they too passed through their own

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 36

36 / Leading the Congregation

wilderness preparations into the maturity and vision that a disciplined spirituality birthed in them. According to Dallas Willard, herein lies the secret of the easy yoke— that in order to effectively follow Jesus in public ministry, we must also follow Jesus into the lonely desert and mountains to be alone with God. It is true that “a successful performance at a moment of crisis rests largely and essentially upon the depths of a self wisely and rigorously prepared in the totality of its being.”12 Athletes and musicians are among those who have learned the secret that good habits in the discipline of training will help prepare them for the “high stakes” performance. Thus the necessary relationship between the leader’s disciplined preparation and a fruitful public ministry is nourished when we encounter God in private intimacy and prayer, enabling us to also partner with God in the marketplace of ministry.13 According to Nouwen, the alternative is that “when we have not met him in the center of our hearts, we cannot expect to meet him in the busyness of our daily lives.”14 The connection between spirituality and ministry is portrayed in the meeting between Jesus and a demoniac boy. When the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast the demon out of the boy, Jesus replied that this kind could come out only through prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). The delights of prayer, fasting, contemplation, and caring for the least privileged are more than good intentions; they remain for us the spiritual practices that lie at the core of our ministry.15 Therefore, any ministry that we do in our own effort has limitations. Ministry that is beyond our efforts requires that we abandon ourselves to the mysterious actions that God is able to work in us, and through us. But this also involves a stripping away of our last vestige of hope that we can somehow accomplish the task solely on our own. It entails giving up the gifts that are important to our identity, and that have carried us through thus far. It requires giving up our cherished ways of doing things, surrendering the helm, and staying in place—waiting—without making plans or taking any provisions, and thus we journey until we come to our nothingness. It can be a painful reality to assume a ministry that is beyond our own capacities; therefore, many will never “cast their nets into the deep waters,” preferring to navigate on their own rather than to risk the deeps where all may be lost. Perhaps even more terrifying than risking the loss of the things dearest to us, we might discover the wonder of God. The

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 37

The Leader’s Spirituality / 37

apostle Peter discovered that he was in over his head; while kneeling over the greatest catch he had ever made, he bemoaned, “Get away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful person.” Had anyone asked him, he might have said, “It is a fearful thing.” For this reason many of us are careful not to let God come too close—a friendly visit once in a while? Yes! An abandonment to a consuming fire that strips away everything that we hold in trust—our education, possessions, skills, false selves, position, everything? No—at least not yet. This is the invitation of Jesus to all who accept the call to ministry as a leader; it comes with a costly spirituality. But in calling us, Jesus has already planted the possibilities of this spirituality within us. We have only to give ourselves to it. Carlo Carretto described this penetrating spirituality as a “Suffering [that] is the great treasure of life, especially when it is spiritual suffering, mature and solitary, lightened a little at a time. Everything else is like a preparation, but altogether more superficial, light and insubstantial.”16 We may study such spirituality and join the apostle Peter’s request, “Get away from me, my Lord.” Or we may see it for what it is: God’s way of providing the means of grace to sustain us throughout our ministries.

Spirituality Renews Vision and Restores Energy Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; But those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isa 40:28-31)

The spirituality of those who experienced despair provides important lessons for leaders who are engaged in sacrificial ministries. The crises of dislocation that characterized the exiled Jews of the Old Testament

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 38

38 / Leading the Congregation

impacted the core of their daily existence. Similarly, though perhaps to a lesser degree, the perils we experience may cause us to “become so preoccupied with self that one cannot get outside one’s self to rethink, reimagine, and redescribe larger reality. Self-preoccupation seldom yields energy, courage, or freedom.”17 However, those whose spirituality embraces a solitude that “waits upon the Lord” eventually experience the renewing of their strength and the capacity to see reality through a new interpretive framework. This became the amazing outcome in the midst of the Jewish exile, whose poets penned the “doxologies of defiance”—hymns that were “assertions against the evident, insisting that Yahweh’s saving power is at the break of new activity.”18 Some years ago, Norm Shawchuck conducted a retreat that was held in a New England monastery. The monastery seemed to be almost totally bereft of priests, and those who remained were elderly. On the office door was posted a long list of events to be conducted by Father George. Late one night, Father George and Norm sat down for a visit, commenting that the monastery seemed empty and that most of the events on the list were conducted by Father George. The Abbot then leaned back in his chair and began to reminisce. For many years the monastery flourished. Facilities were expanded to meet the needs of the growing community. However, after many years of growth, no new persons sought entrance into the community; those who were members were growing old, some had already died, and many left for residence in a house in Europe. Finally, all who remained were eight to ten elderly men and Father George, who was in his forties. From its inception the community was organized around a spirituality requiring the priests to pray together three times a day. As the number of able-bodied persons declined, the community reduced its prayer and worship, complaining that with the added responsibilities each remaining person had to assume, there wasn’t time for as much prayer. Finally the few remaining older men decided to give up the daily prayer routine altogether. They were old; they had prayed enough.

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 39

The Leader’s Spirituality / 39

By now Father George was carrying the weight of the maintenance of the properties and the necessities required in the care of the elderly. In order to meet the financial needs, Father George began scheduling more and more retreats and seminars, which he led for outside groups. For a while Father George maintained a daily prayer discipline, but it was not the same, for the other brothers were no longer praying with him. Finally, he stopped his daily prayers and gave himself entirely to his work. After a couple of years, he found himself tired, lonely, and bitter. Only his commitment to the care of the priests kept him going. But now he was too tired to spend the long hours each day conducting events, and his mind had grown dull; study was difficult and fruitless. Everything turned from bad to worse, and he worried about a complete collapse of the entire operation. Then Father George recalled the joy and strength he used to receive from the times of prayer with his brothers. Though there were none who now prayed with him, he would begin to spend a half hour each morning in prayer. Once again he would contemplate the beauty of the sanctuary. After some time, his recall of materials studied previously became clearer, and new ideas came with less effort. Thus he decided to increase the prayer time to include a half hour after the evening meal. Again, after some time, he was more able to lead the many events and care for the house with fewer hours of preparation. He decided to increase his daily prayer time to two hours a day, and his entire life and work took on a new meaning and vitality. He now believed once again that God was working with him. Father George ended the conversation saying, “What you see me doing in my long days and nights is only possible because I have returned to the disciplines.” Then he quoted a statement attributed to Martin Luther, at the height of the Reformation: “I am so busy that unless I pray more hours every day I won’t get my work done.”

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 40

40 / Leading the Congregation

There is a unique spirituality for leadership and ministry. The apostles were not being trite when they decided not to neglect the word of God but instead give of themselves “to prayer and to serving the word” (see Acts 6:2-4). They concluded that the best service they could offer the church included their prayers; unless the Word lived in them, they could not birth it in others. Thus waiting on God for forty days was a precondition for the transformative experience at Pentecost, a time when a radical, new vision for Jesus’ followers and divine energy could not be contained. The early church leaders who disciplined themselves in prayer and study of the scriptures fundamentally changed the course of history.

The Spirituality of Jesus: A Model for All Religious Leaders Consider a short span in the ministry of Jesus, according to Matthew: Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. (Matt 4:2325)

Jesus announced, “The kingdom of God is at hand!” The radical good news for humanity brought relief to the suffering and downtrodden even as it angered religious leaders and puzzled others—including the most committed followers of Jesus. And it is still demanding to live up to the kingdom’s countercultural values and sacrificial service to others. But if we hope to live within the reality envisioned by Jesus, then we must also learn the spirituality of Jesus—the discipline to be in solitary prayer, to be in community with others, and to be empowered for active ministry within intimate settings of homes and the gathering places of the larger crowds. As we consider the substance of Jesus’ spirituality, let us ask ourselves this question: If Jesus, being the Son of God, felt he needed to adhere to the means of grace in order to sustain his ministry, can we possibly hope to respond fully to our call without living within these means?

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 41

The Leader’s Spirituality / 41

The Three Elements of Jesus’ Spirituality 1. Jesus established a rhythm of public ministry and private spaces. Before Jesus began proclaiming the good news of God, Mark describes a time when “the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him” (Mark 1:12-13). After feeding the multitudes, Jesus invited the disciples to “get into the boat . . . [while] he went up on the mountain to pray” (Mark 6:45). According to Luke, Jesus “would withdraw to deserted places and pray” (Luke 5:16). He also “went out to the mountain . . . and he spent the night in prayer” (Luke 6:12). It is clear that Jesus ordered his private life and public ministry around a rhythm and a discipline of moving from public ministry to solitude and prayer. Even though Jesus had drawn people closest to him in a small community, he continued to find “lonely places” where he could be with God. Being alone in the mountains or in the desert can be therapeutic, but the experience can also be chaotic as leaders wrestle with issues that are hidden from them in their active life. M. Scott Peck suggests that the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness are illustrative of the temptations inherent in leading an organization.19 So into the wilderness he went to face the issues. They were three. The first was the temptation to use power for food, money, and security. The second was to use it for what Scott Peck called “spiritual flashiness.” The third was to use it for the pleasure and glory of rulership. And then, having rejected these temptations and having emptied himself of all ambition, he immediately came out of that empty place to preach full of godly authority.20 Silence and solitude create a personal space for the Spirit to break through stubborn resistances and defenses of the false self that desires safety and security, recognition and approval, and greater control. To move beyond the false self, leaders must enter the biblical desert to search for “the deepest kind of physical and mental rest in order to restore to our bodies their natural capacities to evacuate the harmful material that blocks the free flow of grace.”21 Digging deeply into the soil of one’s character is difficult work. Cistercian monk Thomas Keating describes the Holy Spirit as a divine archaeologist who “digs down . . . to investigate our whole life history, layer by layer, throwing out the

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 42

42 / Leading the Congregation

junk and preserving the values that were appropriate to each state of our human development.”22 Living in sixteenth-century Spain, Teresa of Avila explored the metaphors of watering a garden and entering into an interior castle to describe the private spaces of the soul where God dwells. Central to one’s awareness of the divine presence is prayer, which Teresa described as the means of watering the garden in order for the flowers to grow and be nourished. At times prayer is as difficult as using a small bucket to water the entire garden. At other times prayer becomes more natural when there is a water wheel or a stream that provides nourishment for the garden. Finally prayer is experienced as effortless as the gentle rain God sends to provide the garden’s sustenance. For Teresa of Avila, tending the garden and journeying more deeply within the soul demand sheer discipline and often our most strenuous efforts. However, at other times we may experience those “spiritual delights” that have nothing to do with our own efforts.23 But what we can do is provide the time and space within our own soul for a divine companionship without requests, expectation, or any agenda. 2. Jesus carried out his ministry within the context of a small, intimate covenant community. The Gospel writers make it clear that as soon as Jesus announced his mission and ministry, he set about to form a community with whom he would live and minister. Why? Perhaps because he felt drawn to intimate friendships on which he could count during the difficult times. He recruited those with whom he wanted to be in relationship. He did not create this community only for the disciples; he formed this companionship also for himself, desiring to live out his ministry within the character of authentic friendships, banded together into a community that was closer than most families. From within this community of twelve, Jesus formed an even more intimate relationship with three disciples—those with whom he desired to be in communion during his highest ecstasy (the transfiguration) and during the trials of his deepest agony (the passion in the garden). Perhaps there were moments in Jesus’ life that he felt were too intimate to share with a group so large as twelve; thus he relied on these three. Jesus would choose others to work with him, but these three he chose to be with him in celebration, solidarity, and the sorrow of his impending death. However, Jesus’ appearance to the seven disciples after his resurrection, and then alone with Peter and John, had its own quality of intimacy (John 21).

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 43

The Leader’s Spirituality / 43

Beyond the twelve disciples, Jesus spent the last weekend before his week of passion in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. According to Luke’s Gospel, Mary spent time learning from the Rabbi (Luke 10:3842), and Jesus, who was deeply disturbed in spirit, began to weep when he saw where they had laid the body of Lazarus (Luke 11:33-35). After his resurrection, Jesus had intimate conversations with his followers, especially with Mary Magdalene (John 20:1-17), Thomas (John 20:2729), and Peter (John 21:15-23). Not long before his week of passion, Jesus said to his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13). This is the ideal he hoped for in the relationships among his followers. We ask of ourselves: Is it any different for us? 3. Jesus taught by example that six “graces” were vital to his life and ministry: prayer, fasting, the Lord’s Supper, the scriptures, spiritual conversation, and worship in the Temple. These Jesus incorporated into the fabric of his life in order to sustain his ministry. Prayer: Jesus demonstrated that prayer was vital to his life and ministry. Jesus was a teacher, the very best, and he taught that prayer was vital to the ministry of those whom he chose, explaining to them that some things can happen only by prayer and fasting. The best known of Jesus’ teachings regarding the kingdom of God include ten verses that are devoted to teaching about prayer, including the Lord’s Prayer that is cited by congregations each week in their worship (see Matt 6:9-15). During the intimacy of his passion, Jesus “took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want’ ” (Mark 14:33-36). Jesus instructed the disciples, “whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt 6:6). In addition to the discipline of saying prayers, it can also be the opening of our lives to God in ways that express all human experiences that touch us, or as Nouwen described prayer, as thinking and living “in the presence of God.”24 Even when God does not seem present, as described in the fourteenth century

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 44

44 / Leading the Congregation

as the cloud of unknowing, its anonymous author says to “Pierce that cloud with the keen shaft of your love, spurn the thought of anything less than God, and do not give up this work for anything.”25 Of all the possible requests the disciples made of Jesus, what stands out in the Gospels is “Teach us to pray.” There is nothing recorded about requesting Jesus to teach them how to bring about change or build a dynamic team, how to preach or heal the sick, or how to discern the future and expand the kingdom in other cultures. Why were the disciples so interested in prayer? What did they learn? Being in the presence of Christ for the early disciples was a transformational journey, and it still is for those who embrace prayer as a relationship of love, a way of being. Fasting: After his baptism by John the Baptist, Jesus fasted forty days as his beginning preparation before going public with his ministry (Matt 4:2). The first temptation for him was to make the stones around him become loaves of bread, to which Jesus responded, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ ” (Matt 4:4). The discipline of fasting reminds us of our ultimate dependence upon God, even as we learn the hard lesson of “how to suffer happily as we feast on God.”26 Following his teachings on prayer, Jesus included the topic of fasting (Matt 6:16-18), a profound realization that “when we have learned how to fast ‘in secret,’ our bodies and our souls will be directly sustained by the invisible kingdom.”27 Fasting can be viewed as a tangible expression of self-denial for anyone who decides to follow Christ (Matt 16:24)—a discipline that Jesus taught others and practiced in his own life. However, fasting does not mean there is no room for celebration at meals. Later in his ministry, Jesus provocatively described himself as “the Son of Man [who] has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ” (Luke 7:34). The Lord’s Supper: At the time of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said: “I have eagerly desired to eat this [meal] with you” (Luke 22:15). It is striking that—as his last free act before his terrible passion and death—Jesus chose to eat at a table with his community and desired the tradition to be continued in his absence. He knew that the meal was a healing and restoring event: “Whenever you eat this meal, you will re-member me— you will put the body back together again.”28 Luke describes the grace and celebration Jesus found in common meals with others; thus Luke’s theology is at times referred to as a “meal theology.” The Eucharist is not

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

2:17 PM

Page 45

The Leader’s Spirituality / 45

ultimately meant to be a sign of our devotion to God; rather it is God’s ultimate affirmation of us through the bread and wine that nourish us in the spirituality of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Thus the Lord’s Supper is central to our intimate union with Christ.29 The Scriptures: As a youth, it was said of Jesus that his parents “found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Luke 2:46-47). Matthew’s comment about Jesus’ teaching at the Sermon on the Mount was that “the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt 7:28-29). After Jesus’ death and resurrection, two disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus, and as they sadly pondered the recent events of the past days, Jesus greeted them on the road. He talked with them and asked them many questions, but none of them had the courage to ask him who he was. But after Jesus left them, the disciples were excited and asked themselves: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32). Shortly after this incident, Jesus came to the disciples and “opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45). Like the disciples we are left to wonder, “Why are we afraid? Why are we afraid to ask Jesus who he is, and what he might claim of us? When our minds are confused, why do we not ask him for clarity? When he comes close to us, why do we run from him?” We must also pray that Jesus open our minds, that we might fathom the depths of the scriptures’ meanings. Spiritual Conversation: The Gospels are filled with serious conversations of a spiritual nature, conversations that Jesus had with his twelve disciples, and others who were curious about life’s conditions and choices: Mary of Bethany, Zacchaeus, the woman at the well, the rich, young ruler, and others. Spiritual conversations were an important way that Jesus shared his spirituality with all who wished to be in relationship with him. In order to transform his disciples, Jesus applied many forms of teaching, and it was difficult because the disciples were slow learners. Only after his crucifixion and resurrection did they begin to comprehend, but not without struggle and resistance. They turned their backs and wandered mournfully toward Jerusalem; along the way Jesus came to them, and he asked them many questions. But they could not comprehend the answers to these questions—their minds were dull with fear and sorrow. According to Luke’s Gospel, their eyes were opened,

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 46

46 / Leading the Congregation

and they recognized Jesus as “he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them” (Luke 24:30). Jesus had conversation with and ate with sinners, much to the dismay of the Pharisees and scribes (Luke 15:1-2), but this provided the impetus for the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the parable of the two sons. Thus we ask of ourselves: Who is invited to our dinner table? Would people accuse us of eating with “sinners”? Do we have a friendship with those outside the faith who ask tough questions? Do we travel frequently within the marketplaces of our community as well as outside our community? Do people intimately trust us with information about their particular station in life? Leaders who stay only within the safety of the sanctuary and prayer chapel—church offices and conference rooms—miss the opportunity to follow Jesus where he loves to roam, seeking to save those who were lost. Worship: The tempter left Jesus after these words were spoken, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’ ” (Matt 4:10). The grace of worship was a natural part of Jesus’ life as “he went to the synagogue . . . as was his custom” (Luke 4:16). It was also said of Jesus that he “continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea” (Luke 4:44). Leaders who actively participate in worship “dwell upon, and express the greatness, beauty, and goodness of God through thought and the use of words, rituals, and symbols. We do this alone as well as in union with God’s people.”30 Therefore, worshipping God involves our whole being—heart, soul, mind, and body—in the experience of divine beauty and celebration. Worship touches us in our quieter moments of contemplation and study, it lifts us up through the divine encounter in nature and the arts, it connects us intimately with others when celebrating in a community of faith, and it probes the heart’s desires to ultimately surrender itself to God’s will. Robert E. Webber proposes that, “if we situate spirituality in ourselves and not God’s divine embrace, we feel responsible to nourish our own spirituality . . . when we situate spirituality in God’s embrace, the church and its worship are seen as sources that nourish the spiritual life, not by what the church and its worship demand of us but what they reveal to us.”31

Spirituality for Religious Leadership and Ministry In addition to the spirituality of Jesus recorded in the Gospels, we offer additional fundamentals of spirituality for the religious leader: a

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 47

The Leader’s Spirituality / 47

spirituality of action and contemplation, a covenantal, communal spirituality, a holistic lifestyle, and the examen of consciousness.

A Spirituality of Action and Contemplation32 The active life of the Spirit can be exhilarating; it offers us something to live for that is beyond ourselves. The active life puts us into a world of exciting pursuits, uniting people to accomplish more together than what they could do alone. The active life can move fast, to a degree that time divided in days, months, and years becomes almost indistinguishable. However fast-paced our existence, the active life, according to Parker J. Palmer, is expressed through one’s work, creativity, and caring.33 Work can bless the community when opportunity opens a space for each individual’s gifting, but the community becomes less than God calls it to be when individual gifts lie dormant. Creativity implies that something new is birthed, not out of external demands or obligation, but from one’s inner desire to make something new. Caring is nurturing others through one’s tenderness and attending love. The role of the Spirit is intimately related to the leader’s spirituality in these forms of the active life: work, creativity, and caring. Denying ourselves from involvement in some form of the active life implies an ultimate diminishing of our selves. God calls and desires for us to be fully alive in the active life. Palmer points out, however, that the active life may also carry a curse. The same actions that energize a leader can also lead to a frenzied condition that eventually results in the leader’s exhaustion and a potential violence to the body, the breakup of relationships, and the disintegration of the organization she or he cared for, and sacrificed to serve. Thus the active life may bring the deepest joy as well as a most profound spiritual crisis.34 In a society that accepts (and sometimes honors) frenzied activity, religious leaders feel the pressure and guilt if they are not running the maze as fast as they can. In such a milieu, we may be reticent to confess that we sacrifice time to wait upon God, and many of us don’t. However, taking the necessary time for prayer and reflection is also part of being fully alive.35 Contemplation is not a form of waiting that is stalling or procrastinating, nor is it sitting with empty heart or succumbing to acedia, the “devil of the noonday sun.” The waiting that is needed is contemplative prayer that prepares us for a deeper “yes” to God daily.36 In the scriptures, the discipline of waiting is accentuated

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 48

48 / Leading the Congregation

in the lives of those who are called to leadership; thus waiting upon God is a precondition for effective ministry. The waiting periods may be brief, for example, Jesus’ regular retreats to a quiet place with God. They may also take place in the most surprising places, such as Jonah’s dramatic three-day retreat. Waiting often accompanies the leader’s despair before a breakthrough; recall Elijah’s experience of God in “the sound of sheer silence [or a gentle whisper]” (1 Kings 19:12). However, when withdrawing from the active life becomes escapism, we have ceased to be contemplative. Parker Palmer defines contemplation as “any way that we can unveil the illusions that masquerade as reality and reveal the reality behind the masks.”37 When spirituality no longer bears the truth, there may be serious consequences (2 Sam 12:115; Matt 7:21-23). Action and contemplation together contribute to the richness of the leader’s spirituality, and the integration of both is a paradoxical breakthrough for effective leaders. Contemplative action may be preparing a sermon, visiting a dying friend in the hospital, engaging in a sport or a hobby, conducting a planning retreat, writing in our journal—all the time contemplating divine grace while potentially reframing realities. Active contemplation may be walking along the beach, celebrating the memory of a friend, reading poetry, or being on a silent retreat.38 Perhaps there is no better food for our souls than to enter into retreat, whether a one-, three-, seven-, or thirty-day retreat, in which we go into silence except for our conversations with the retreat master. Thus we are better prepared to return to life’s challenges with a clearer vision to recognize new opportunities that before were clouded or perhaps seemed nonexistent. The spirituality of action and contemplation for religious leaders is discussed in different venues. Leadership theorist Warren Bennis, for example, advocates that true understanding for leaders comes from reflecting on their experience, claiming that if leaders do not take time to retreat, return, and refocus, they will be dominated by organizational problems.39 The quandary for leaders who desire contemplation is that organizations, including congregations, do not sufficiently provide opportunities for reflection. Therefore, religious leaders must discipline themselves to create spaces in their daily routines that allow them to get away from the daily grind and find time for prayer and solitude. Without the discipline to contemplate, to reflect on experience, to wait on God, and to think things through, leaders may find themselves

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 49

The Leader’s Spirituality / 49

stuck on the treadmill of running faster, trying harder, and falling back from more essential priorities. Carlo Carretto describes waiting as the ability to “walk standing still. That is, be terribly active and at the same time totally passive. Incline your will, but keep still before God. Don’t move. Don’t even move your lips, listen in silence. It’s up to Him to speak; it’s up to Him ‘to carry you.’ It’s not easy, I can assure you, because silence frightens us and stillness seems like a waste of time to us.”40 Palmer summarizes the difference between solitude and community when he says, “Solitude . . . is not about the absence of other people— it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others. Community . . . is not about the presence of other people—it is about being fully open to the reality of relationship, whether or not we are alone.”41

A Covenantal, Communal Spirituality One of the main reasons for living in covenant with a small group of leaders is that the community does for our faith what we cannot do for ourselves. We must not take lightly the poignant words of Jesus to his disciples on the night of his deepest agony. He asked of his friends, “Pray for me.” Is it not amazing that even our Lord in his deepest trial begged his disciples to pray for him; is it not perplexing that the disciples could not do so? Rather, when Jesus returned from his lament, he found the disciples sleeping: they could not pray with Jesus, and they could not sustain him through his most agonizing moments. However, before we accuse the disciples, we must think of ourselves also among those who sleep while Jesus and others suffer through agony. Can we believe that what happened that night on the Mount of Olives is happening in us, in the depths of our soul? Then we may see ourselves in a true light. But it is not likely that we can suffer these moments alone; we need the security of a soul friend, someone who can accompany us through the dark night, and into a new and brighter day. To whom can you confess your sins and lament your failures? With whom can you be in covenant as you do battle with the temptations that beset you in ministry, and the disciplines you so sorely need— but cannot seem to master? With whom can you “let your hair down” without fear of criticism? There is probably only a small group of other

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 50

50 / Leading the Congregation

leaders—whose experiences are comparable to your own—who are neither appalled nor angered by your confessions. A covenant community is not an escape from the fear of being alone. The community helps us to risk going into our real selves. The one who seeks fellowship as an escape from oneself does not desire community, but desires only a temporary diversion. Dietrich Bonhoeffer urges us: “Let [the one] who cannot be alone beware of community. . . . Let [the one] who is not in community beware of being alone. . . . Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, selfinfatuation, and despair.”42 The days together must be in balance with our days alone, or solitude and community will suffer from neglect. We engage in a struggle of constant repair to the covenant, says Walter Brueggemann, to avoid two temptations that dog covenant spirituality: “On the one hand, to grow so close that one disappears into the other. On the other hand, to grow so distant that the other has no voice in the self. Either way is death. . . . The dominant agenda of spirituality is to keep covenant, to live in the tension between freedom and community.”43 We know there are exceptions, but generally the religious leader in covenant relationships joins a community of other pastors—failing to do this, the pastor may have no such intimate community. The alternative to belonging to such a community is too often loneliness, anger, and a lingering sense of desperation. The example of Christ, the witness of the founders of the church, and many of the reformers teach us that we are to live within small groups who are in covenant regarding ministry and a life of faith. We often say that the clergy group to which we belong is our covenant community. It is true that we as clergy are to be in covenant with soul friends. Our ordination vows are covenantal in nature. It is also true, however, that the church community is too large and impersonal to offer the sense of the daily support and connectedness we yearn for and sorely need. Soul care comes from a small, covenant group meeting regularly to celebrate and rehearse the meaning of the covenant, and what the covenant requires of us. Drawing upon the Wesleyan class meetings of the eighteenth century, L. Gregory Jones comments about the nature of holy friendship, suggesting that:

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 51

The Leader’s Spirituality / 51

Holy friends are those people who challenge the sins we have come to love—they know us well enough to see the sins that mark our lives. . . . Holy friends also help us discern God’s work in our lives and affirm the gifts that we are afraid to claim. They help us to dream God’s dreams in ways we otherwise never would have. . . . When my life has been healthiest and most faithful, I have been able to point to holy friends who sustain me . . . [having] friendships that provide a faithful antidote to our culture of pantomime and its lifeless cardboard of public presentation.44

A Holistic Lifestyle of Spirituality The “lifeless cardboard of public presentation” stated above is a metaphor of the leader’s false self, a divided life with no center. Living a divided life has consequences for us, and for others—we subtly manipulate to get our way, control others, are jealous of others’ success, carry inside a fuse that easily explodes with the slightest spark, or exude a general anxiety about life. These are in sharp contrast to the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22b-23). The spiritual fruit becomes a clear witness that the leader has embraced her own brokenness on a journey toward wholeness and freedom. The process is not a head-trip, nor is it trouble-free or painless. According to Annie Dillard: In the deeps are the violence and terror of which psychology has warned us. But if you ride these monsters down, if you drop with them farther over the world’s rim, you find what sciences cannot locate or name, the substrate, the ocean or matrix or ether which buoys the rest, which gives goodness its power for good, and evil its power for evil, the unified field: our complex and inexplicable caring for each other, and for our life together here.45

If we “ride the monsters all the way down,” we may be surprised to find “Our true self clasped in God’s love. . . . God comes to us in our false self in order to offer God’s self to us to be our true life.”46 Now the leader’s decision to live a divided life no longer becomes the central focus of her spirituality. The divided life that props up the “lifeless cardboard of public presentation” is the antithesis to true freedom. Thus integrity calls us to an alternative journey, though difficult, because the

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 52

52 / Leading the Congregation

public persona is maintained by the skills we have garnered throughout our lives to get us where we are. Perhaps this is why certain aspects of our spirituality seem forced on us through the crises throughout our lives, but perhaps especially during the middle years and beyond—when we become more prepared to let go of our false securities. The spirituality of the leader is not separated from the activities that relate to ministry roles. The separation of professionalism from spirituality, as Nouwen points out, “is one of the main reasons for the many frustrations, pains, and disappointments in the life of numerous Christian ministers.”47 Neither should spirituality be separated from the rest of human experience. God desires a relationship with us that has everything to do with our families, friendships, politics, conversations, bodies, hobbies, exercise, and travels. A holistic lifestyle of spirituality stresses the multiple connections among the leader’s personal interests, responsibilities, and experiences in life. It is said that Ralph Waldo Emerson commented on his pastor’s sermon: “He had lived in vain. He had no word intimating that he had laughed or wept, was married or in love, had been commended, or cheated, or chagrined. If he had ever lived and acted, we were none the wiser for it. The capital secret of his profession, mainly, to convert life into truth, he had not learned.”48

The Examen of Consciousness49 Integral to a spirituality of leadership is the daily exercise of discernment in a person’s life that invites us to ask of ourselves: How aware am I of being open to God’s presence this moment? Am I being drawn to God’s love? How am I resisting it? How is my human nature tempting me, luring me away from God? Within each of us are movements—some healthy, others not. Nevertheless, these spontaneities happen in all of us. The primary concern in the daily examen is to notice how God is moving and affecting us—in the present moment. Often, such movements are so deeply imbedded in our affective consciousness that they go completely unnoticed. However, unconscious motivations greatly influence and ultimately determine our actions. Therefore, consciousness is prior to our actions, events, or conditions. The examen, or the examination of consciousness, is a time of prayer, perhaps fifteen minutes once or twice daily,50 and is concerned with what happens in our consciousness prior to our actions, events, or con-

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 53

The Leader’s Spirituality / 53

ditions. John Wesley advised the morning and evening hours for such a review: Be serious and frequent in the examination of your heart and life. . . . Every evening review your carriage through the day; what you have done or thought that was unbecoming your character; whether your heart had been instant upon religion and indifferent to the world? Have a special care of two portions of time, namely, morning and evening; the morning to fore—think what you have to do, and the evening to examine whether you have done what you ought. Let every action have reference to your whole life, and not to a part only—let all your subordinate ends be suitable to the great end of your living. Exercise yourself unto godliness.51

The daily examen is not a striving for self-perfection. Rather it is “an experience in faith of growing sensitivity to the unique, intimately special ways that the Lord’s spirit has of approaching and calling us. . . . [The] Examen assumes real value when it becomes a daily experience of the confrontation and renewal of our unique religious identity, and how the Lord is subtly inviting us to deepen and develop this identity.”52 Faith seeks to make the examen an intensely personal experience, as a specific person with a unique vocation and spiritual journey. The examen is also a time of contemplative prayer.53 Without contemplation, the examen is futile. The aim of this contemplation for the leader is to develop the heart—a consciousness with a discerning vision that is a gift from God (see 1 Kings 3:9-12). The examen is listening and being open to God, who reveals ways that are different from our own (see Col 1:27; Isa 55:8-9). Without the intent of a discerning heart for vision, the daily examen is fundamentally misunderstood. Based on the writings of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, five steps can be identified to help the leader develop a discipline for inner listening in discerning a Christ-centered self. 1. Prayer for enlightenment. The first part of the daily examen is abiding in the moment, asking for the grace to be open to receive what God wishes to give. It is not introspection through memory recall or a review of the leader’s calendar—it is a prayer that stays in the present moment. The prayer for enlightenment is being open to the present moment with a personal awareness of my own response to God’s call within my life.54

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 54

54 / Leading the Congregation

It is fundamentally asking God for help that we may see ourselves more clearly as God sees us. A prayer: “Help me to see and hear you more clearly, that I may respond more fully to your love and follow you more closely through the claims of your call upon my life. Help me to be aware of those times when I have been blind and deaf to your presence and to your gifts of love. Amen.”

2. Reflective thanksgiving. After a petition for enlightenment, the leader can rest, thanking God for gifts given in the most recent part of the day—recognizing that even the smallest gift soon grows to include the awareness that all of life is a gift. “The stance of a Christian,” says George Aschenbrenner, “in the midst of the world is that of a poor person, possessing nothing, not even himself, and yet being gifted at every instant in and through everything. . . . Only the poor person can appreciate the slightest gift and feel genuine gratitude. The more deeply we live in faith the poorer we are, and the more gifted: life itself becomes humble, joyful thanksgiving.”55 A prayer: “Thank you for all the ways you make yourself present to me—through nature, persons, events, situations. Thank you for accepting my love for you. O God, how great you are! Amen.”

3. A personal examination of actions.56 The third step leads us to examine our interior moods, feelings, urges, and movements of the Spirit since the last examen—all of which are discerned in order to recognize the Lord’s call at the most intimate core of our being. The questions for us to ask are these: What has been happening in me and to me? Do I recognize the subtle, affective ways the Lord is with me? What is my “yes” to God—today? What has God been asking me and of me? What changes are to be made, and which ones now? What is God’s personal challenge to me? What during the day has consoled me; what has brought me desolation?

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 55

The Leader’s Spirituality / 55

There may be special parts of our hearts where God is seeking to bring about a conversion. God is “nudging . . . and reminding us that if we are really serious about [God] this one aspect of ourselves must be changed. This is often the one area we want to forget and (maybe) work on later. We do not want to let [God’s] word condemn us in this one area so we try to forget it and distract ourselves by working on some other safer area which does require conversion but not with the same urgent sting of consciousness that is true of the former area.”57 With God’s help, we probe the previously “closed-off” area of our hearts in the honest attempt to be open with the Lord, and to stay in the moment with God. For this part of the examen to take place, it is necessary to have an interior quiet time and a place for ourselves—a place where we can be alone with God. A prayer: “I really do love you, my Lord, in spite of the ways I have missed your presence and have not responded to your love and actions in my life. Help me in these moments to be conscious of the ways that I may become sensitive to your desires in all my ways. Amen.”

4. Contrition and sorrow. Christian joy may not fully deepen until it is touched by sorrow so that our brokenness is converted into joy and gladness. Since the last examen, the leader’s regret can spring from a lack of courage and honesty to respond to the Lord’s call. Such confession is not of shame, depression, or weakness. But, mindful of shortcomings, the leader’s heart experiences security in the person of Jesus Christ. A prayer: “I’m sorry, God, for failing to respond to your love and for my failures. But I rejoice in your generosity and gladly receive your many gifts—and heartily eat at your table with joy and celebration. I’m not worthy of the many gifts you give me, through your constant love. Amen.”

5. Hopeful resolution for the future. This final prayer of the examen grows out of the previous four steps. The present discernment of the

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 56

56 / Leading the Congregation

recent past helps to set a concrete course for the immediate future. Now there is openness to the possibility of a renewed perspective. In the light of personal discernment during this part of the day, how do I view the future? What do I hear for what lies ahead? Am I depressed, fearful, anxious, peace-filled, angry, hope-filled, or excited? Trusting God more completely—and allowing God to lead us in spite of our weak efforts and present circumstances—we begin to experience trust and hope in the future. As Paul penned in his letter to the Philippians, “But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal” (3:13b-14a). A prayer: “Be with me, Lord, ever helping me to respond more authentically to your love. By your help I will see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day, and serve you from this moment on. Amen.”

These are the fundamentals of the leader’s spirituality—action and contemplation, covenantal community, a holistic spirituality, and the examen of consciousness—all of which are sustained by the means of grace.

The Means of Grace None of the fundamentals of spirituality for leadership is possible without reliance on the means of grace that become a life stream of spirituality for leadership and ministry. Without the means of grace, there is no truly Christian spirituality. The elements of Jesus’ spirituality have been long described as the instituted means of grace—those taught by Jesus in word and deed as the means by which we make ourselves open and available to grace that God is seeking to pour into our lives and upon our ministries. Jesus taught us to order our lives and ministries around these instituted means of grace. We depend upon them for our ministries, even as Jesus did. We see in the means of grace a rhythm of conversation and silence, community and solitude, eating and fasting, waiting and action. In addition to the instituted means of grace, the church, especially the groups led by the Reformers, pursued the prudential means of grace—

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

2:18 PM

Page 57

The Leader’s Spirituality / 57

those things that are simply prudent in the life of the Christian. The prudential means of grace are: (1) acts of mercy: do all the good you can, to everyone you can, whenever you can; (2) avoid all harm you can, to whomever you can, whenever you can; and (3) attend all the ordinances of the church (for example, baptism and communion). These fundamentals of spirituality for the religious leader are illustrated in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1 The Fundamentals of Spirituality for the Religious Leader

Here is a model for us in the ordering of our lives, now that we have accepted the call. It is a model originated by Jesus through his actions as recorded in the Gospels, and it is available to us for our spiritual

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 58

58 / Leading the Congregation

wholeness and fruitfulness—though we do not control the outcomes. What matters is what we do with the model—one can imagine that John Wesley would respond, “Oh, begin!” In the following prayer Wesley expressed his struggle between the daily demands of ministry and his own spiritual life: Deliver me, O God, from too intense an application to even necessary business. I know how this dissipates my thoughts from the one end of all my business, and impairs that lively perception I would ever retain of your standing at my right hand. I know the narrowness of my heart, and that an eager attention to the earthly things leaves it no room for the things of heaven. Oh, teach me to go through all my employments with so truly disengaged a heart that I may still see you in all things, and see you therein as continually looking upon me, and searching my reins; and that I may never impair that liberty of spirit which is necessary for the love of you.58

We often believe that experiences we face in ministry cause us to feel and act in certain ways. However, to a far greater extent than most of us are willing to consider, our interior world creates our contextual reality. The quality, character, and results of our ministry are a reflection of our spirituality that is projected on the screen of the organizations we lead. The Prayer “Soul of Christ” I choose to breathe the Breath of Christ that makes all life holy. I choose to live the flesh of Christ that outlasts sin’s corrosion and decay. I choose the Blood of Christ along my veins and in my heart that dizzies me with joy. I choose the living waters flowing from His side to wash clean my own self and the world itself. I choose the awful agony of Christ to change my senseless sorrows with meaning and to make my pain pregnant with power. I choose You, good Jesus, You know. I choose You, Good Lord; count me among the victories that You have won in bitter woundedness.

BBMU004201QK003.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:14 PM

Page 59

The Leader’s Spirituality / 59

Never count me among those alien to You. Make me safe from all that seeks to destroy me. Summon me when I come to You. Stand me sold among angels and saints chanting yes to all You have done, exulting in all You mean to do forever and ever. Then for this time, Father of all, keep me, from the core of my self, choosing Christ in the world. Amen.59 Joseph Tetlow, S.J.

Questions for Reflection on the Leader’s Spirituality 1. How would you describe spirituality in your early Christian life? How was it presented? What was emphasized? 2. How do you respond to the definition of spirituality presented in this chapter? What changes would you propose? 3. How does Willard’s approach to “the secret of the easy yoke” fit with your own experience? 4. Do you agree with the following premise? Spirituality supports ministry by renewing vision and restoring energy. 5. When you look at the elements of Jesus’ spirituality and the spirituality for religious leaders, which of these were emphasized in your church tradition? Which are more natural for you, personally? Which are growing areas for you, personally? 6. How do you see spirituality as a means of grace in your daily life and ministry? 7. Is there a possibility that you would daily practice the examen of consciousness, if you don’t already? If you do, how would you describe this experience for your own spiritual life? What stands in the way of this prayer as a daily discipline? 8. What is the best service you can offer the congregation? How will this impact your interior life and practice of the disciplines?

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 60

Chapter Four

The Leader’s Call Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. . . . So Abram went, as the LORD had told him. Gen 12:1, 4a Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. As he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. . . . “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” Mark 2:13-15, 17b In sum, my sisters, what I conclude with is that we shouldn’t build castles in the air. The Lord doesn’t look so much at the greatness of our works as at the love with which they are done. . . . But during the little while this life lasts . . . let us offer the Lord interiorly and exteriorly the sacrifice we can. . . . Even though our works are small they will have the value our love for [God] would have merited had they been great.1 Teresa of Avila, 1515–82

E

ach of us would do well to answer some basic questions throughout our lifetime: Who am I? Where am I, now? If I continue on this present journey, where will I be when I finally arrive? Is the life I am presently living the same as the life that wants to live in me?2 Expanding the Quaker saying, “Let your life speak,” educator Parker Palmer explains vocation not so much as our willfulness to follow a goal, but rather a calling we hear from deep within to become the person we were born to be—interestingly, the Latin root for vocation means “voice.”3 Hearing vocation this way, we might ask ourselves: Can we 60

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 61

The Leader’s Call / 61

still hear the voice of the one who calls us, daily? Who is the true self who wants to live through our desires and leadership gifts? Perhaps the voice is clear and unmistakable, as it was for the Apostle Paul when he heard a voice speaking, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4b). Paul’s radical conversion from leading persecutor to missional leader resulted in a convergence of God’s reconciling purpose in the world through Paul’s passion, spiritual gifting, and leadership acumen. But what happens when the light does not shine directly upon us or when we do not hear an audible voice? Spiritual discernment is needed in the array of more common voices and experiences, if only we have ears to hear. Pastor and community organizer Cindy Weber describes her call to ministry among the poor, which happened as she listened to a high school teacher reading a paper that described the needs of people caught in poverty who lived less than a mile from the school. Weber explains what happened: I was just overwhelmed. . . . I remember that day just wandering around the school and feeling like Jeremiah when God put a burden into his heart. It was like God had just slam-dunked this burden into my heart. God was telling me that I was going to work with the poor. It was just that clear. Up to that point I thought I’d be a marine biologist or a Christian counselor. That night I told my parents about my decision. We were walking through Montgomery Ward. . . . My dad said, “Well, Cindy, maybe you should think about being a doctor, because doctors can really help poor people too.” And Mom said, “Joe, the Lord has called her to work with the poor.” I’m not sure exactly what else she said, but it was kind of like, “Back off. It’s between her and God.”4

Hearing a call during one’s youth is not uncommon, but increasing numbers of people in middle years and beyond are also making personal sacrifices in order to pursue a call to demanding volunteer or vocational ministry assignments. People are learning how to listen to the voice of the Spirit that realigns one’s deepest desires and gifts with God’s reconciling purpose in the world. Ronald Rolheiser, a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, defines spirituality as “what we do with the fire inside of us . . . the disciplines and habits we choose to live by, will either lead to greater integration or disintegration

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 62

62 / Leading the Congregation

within our bodies, minds, and souls, and to a greater integration or disintegration in the way we are related to God, others, and the . . . world.”5 What we do with interior passions in relation to the discerning interior movement of the Spirit is part of the process of being called by God.

Freedom to Respond to God’s Call In the sixteenth century, Saint Ignatius of Loyola identified three types of persons and the degree of freedom each possessed to respond to God’s call. The first person has every good intention but remains preoccupied with life—in other words “a lot of talk, but no action.” The individual may possess spiritual aspirations with plans to follow through on one’s dedication to God, but there remain preoccupations. Thus thinking about making a bigger place for God in one’s life remains only in the future tense. “I would like to stop being so dependent on all the things which I possess and which seem to get in the way of my giving my life unreservedly to God.”6 The second type of person will do everything but the one thing necessary. The individual desires to follow Christ, but something hinders one’s commitment—a blockage that gets in the way of God’s invitation. It appears that the person is negotiating with God, doing a number of good things, but not honestly facing the real issues. Meister Eckhart explains, “There are plenty to follow our Lord half-way, but not the other half. They will give up possessions, friends and honors, but it touches them too closely to disown themselves.”7

“I certainly would like to be rid of any attachment which gets in the way of relating to God. I think maybe if I work a little harder or I say more prayers or give more money to charity would do it.”8

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 63

The Leader’s Call / 63

The third type of person desires to do God’s will and does it. The person’s graced desire is to serve God unreservedly, and the clear, motivating factor is to accept the consequences, or to let go of anything that stands in the way of one’s full surrender to God. Even though a person may not know or fully understand all that God is asking, yet she desires to be free of any attachments that would get in the way of full obedience to Christ. The individual is sensitive to the movements of God’s grace—willing to follow God wherever God leads, whatever the costs. The person makes no efforts to retain possessions or give them away, but rather is ready to accept anything, or let go of anything, in order to serve God. “I would like to be rid of any attachment which gets in the way of God’s invitation to a more abundant life. I am not sure what God is asking of me, but I want to be at a point of balance so that I can easily move in the direction of God’s call. My whole effort is to be sensitive to the movements of God’s grace in my life and to be ready and willing to follow God’s lead.”9

The scriptures are filled with drama concerning God’s call to a variety of people whose age, gender, and socio-economic and religious status weave a rich tapestry in the historic understanding of what it means to be called by God. The call often begins with a question of divine audacity to issue such a summons, the inner struggle to negotiate the implications, and the newly discovered faith to deal with insurmountable odds. The stories of Moses, Joseph, Nehemiah, Ruth, and Esther inspire us to embrace our fears and to claim a faith for the impossible situations we encounter. The stories of Esau, Saul, David, Judas, Mary Magdalene, and Peter teach us to confess our failures with the hope that we may be transformed in the process, however painful it may be. Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith “may not fail” and Peter answered, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” (Luke 22:32a, 33). Embracing the painful lessons of his betrayal and abandonment, Peter experienced an inner transformation as he engaged in an intimate conversation with Jesus after the resurrection (John 21:15-23). Thus Peter encouraged others from his own experience: “Therefore, brothers

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 64

64 / Leading the Congregation

and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble” (2 Pet 1:10). Peter’s response to the intense struggle within himself was integral to his spirituality and calling, and his agonizing and intimate relationship with Christ during his journey teaches us an important lesson about our own capacity to resist, if not betray the One who called us. Thus, it is never too late to experience a personal transformation that comes from an intimate conversation with Jesus, and from our inner voice.

The Call to Leadership The development of ministry in the scriptures begins to set a pattern for the way God calls persons to leadership: 1. Each person is specifically chosen and called by God. No call is issued at random. God called Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Deborah, Gideon, David, Ruth, and Esther—each by name and for a specific purpose. This pattern was immediately established in the New Testament, as Jesus chose people by name—those whom he wished to serve with him (Mark 3:13-19). Today each follower of Jesus stands alone, deciding how to respond to the call that Jesus offers. No one, and nothing else, shields the person at the moment of the call.10 Here each one stands alone, carrying his or her own burden, and wondering: Where will the call lead? What decisions or sacrifices will the call demand of me? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that in order “to answer this question we all have to go to [Christ], for only he knows the answer. Only Jesus Christ, who bids us to follow him, knows the journey’s end. But we do know that it will be a road of boundless mercy.”11 Pastor Margaret McGhee describes her call to ministry; she writes: The Lord knew my reluctance about starting my own church. All along, I had been saying to the Lord that there were enough churches in this city. I kept asking him, “Why do you want me to raise up a church? Why can’t others do it?” He told me, “. . . I can trust you to do what I’ve called you to do. I’ve raised you up for such a time as this.” But I argued more. I told the Lord that I didn’t want to stop teaching. I’d always wanted to be a teacher, and I felt like if I had a strong anointing, it was in teaching. The Lord said, “You’re not going to stop teaching. You’re just doing a different kind of teaching.”12

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 65

The Leader’s Call / 65

2. There is an anointing that accompanies a consecrated call to ministry. God equips those whom God chooses for divine purposes. In the ancient Near East, the covering of a body or an object with oil was a sign of luxury or festivity. Anointing in the Old Testament scriptures was viewed as a means of investing individuals in their leadership roles as kings and priests (Gen 28:18; Exod 29:7; Lev 4:3-15; 1 Kings 1:39). Perhaps one of the more familiar passages is the anointing of David as king of Israel: When they came, [Samuel] looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is now before the LORD.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” . . . and Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. (1 Sam 16:6-7, 10b-13a)

The anointing was a sign of Yahweh’s covenant with David, who was the youngest, and understandably overlooked by everyone who was at the ceremony—David was fulfilling his task in caring for the sheep. But it was the Spirit’s possession that accompanied the anointing of David as Israel’s king. Thus anointing was often a rite of consecration whether it be an individual enlisted for service or certain objects selected for worship. Anointing with oil was also metaphorical, meaning different things in different situations—it is an anointing of gladness (Ps 45:7); of divine provision (Ps 23:5); and of consecration for service (Gen 30:30; Isa 61:1ff). Similarly, in the New Testament, grace is given to those who answer the call: for example, the grace of joy (John 15:11; Gal 5:24); the grace of suffering (Mark 8:31; Rom 8:17); and the grace of power (Eph 3:20). As hard as it may be to understand, the sufferings and joys of ministry are inseparably related. Joy can be the fruit of suffering, and for one’s ministry (Heb 12:2).

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 66

66 / Leading the Congregation

Jesus inaugurated his own call to ministry with the words, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18a). Peter underscores this anointing in his sermon to Cornelius, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). Christians continue to receive an anointing through faith to participate in the prophetic anointing of Jesus, as recorded in John’s first epistle: But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. . . . The anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.” (1 John 2:20, 27)

The Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church view anointing of the sick—bringing spiritual and physical strength to a person during illness—as one of seven sacraments, an outward sign to confer an inward grace through the power of the Holy Spirit.13 The brother of Jesus wrote in his letter: Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. (James 5:13-16)

3. God asks all that we have—nothing more, nothing less. The Old Testament establishes the principle of surrendering everything to God. For Abraham, it was the costly sacrifice of his son Isaac (Gen 22:1-19).14 The widow who cared for Elijah had but a measure of flour and a little oil in a jug, which was barely enough to make one last meal for herself and her son even as she anticipated their impending death. Nonetheless, the prophet asked for it, no more and no less (1 Kings 17:8-16). The same principle also is found in the New Testament. For example, at the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples complained that they

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 67

The Leader’s Call / 67

did not have enough food for all the people. Jesus asked them what they had—and he accented this by saying, “Go look!” After finding only five barley loaves and two fish, they mournfully responded to Jesus’ question, “But what are they among so many people?” (John 6:9). But not to be dissuaded, Jesus asked for the five loaves and two fish and, in doing so, he asked for everything they had. He would accept no more and no less. So extreme is Jesus’ teaching on this principle that his words are nothing less than jarring to people. And what is this for us; how are we who respond to the call in order to embrace a poverty far greater than the creatures of the wild? Should we not take time to bury our dead or say goodbye to our families (Luke 9:57-62)? What is required of each of us as we adopt the style of Jesus? We should, according to Bonhoeffer, “rely on Christ’s word, and cling to it as offering greater security than all the other securities in the world. The forces which tried to interpose themselves between the word of Jesus and the response to obedience were as formidable then as they are today.”15 We might write Christ’s teachings off as the Rabbi’s hyperbole, but this yet leaves us with Jesus’ insistence that “no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). This is a hard saying; who can hear it? 4. Ministry is a cross to bear. The cross is a costly burden to carry, explains Macrina Wiederkehr, because the source of salvation requires “us to make a choice. Do we have the courage to accept it? It is costly, yet it brings life. The cross is always costly. It costs us our lives. The dust of our Lenten ashes turns before our eyes into Easter glory. Our frailty fades into splendor. Our life given becomes life received and renewed.”16 The cross has been there from the beginning. One need not look for a cross, or for suffering, for each follower of Jesus has a cross, some say, destined or appointed by God. There are “some [whom] God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and gives them the grace of martyrdom, while others [God] does not allow to be tempted above that they are able to bear.”17 Enduring the cross is not necessarily tragic; rather it can be good news for all, for it means that out of one’s deepest failures and pain there can arise the possibilities for a most effective ministry. This ministry truism enables something redemptive to come out of our failures. For example, recovering addicts are among the most effective in ministering to addicts. Out of one’s brokenness dawns a more effective ministry. Jesus does not ask of us without giving us strength to

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 68

68 / Leading the Congregation

accomplish it, and his invitation never seeks to destroy life, but seeks to strengthen and heal it.18 5. Conversation with God about one’s ministry can be a normal part of every day. Thus the Old Testament describes amazingly honest conversations between God and those whom God called for service. Accordingly it is recorded that “the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exod 33:11); God instructed Jonah to go to Nineveh, and Jonah fled from the call (Jonah 1:2-3); God asked Elijah, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” and Elijah felt free to complain (1 Kings 19:9-10). Likewise, the relationship between Jesus and his disciples was characterized by tenderness and intimacy, forthrightness and honesty. They complained to him that his lessons were too long (Mark 5:34-36); they asked profoundly painful questions (John 21); and they disagreed with his plans, to the degree that even tempers flared (Mark 8:31-33). This same intimacy between God and God’s servants today is attested to in the (shocking) words of Nikos Kazantzakis, as he describes the effects of the call upon his life and relationship with God; he writes: My prayer is not the whimpering of a beggar nor a confession of love. Nor is it the trivial reckoning of a small tradesman: Give me and I shall give you. My prayer is the report of a soldier to his general: This is what I did today, this is how I fought to save the entire battle in my own sector, these are the obstacles I found, this is how I plan to fight tomorrow. My God and I are horsemen galloping in the burning sun or under drizzling rain. Pale, starving, but un-subdued, we ride and converse. “Leader!” I cry. He turns his face towards me, and I shudder to confront his anguish. Our love for each other is rough and ready, we sit at the same table, we drink the same wine in this love tavern of life.19

For most of us, God’s voice is not audible, but it can still be clear. Perhaps our experience is closer to Elijah’s encounter of a divine presence in the “sound of sheer silence” (1 Kings 19:12b), or the Quaker understanding of the “welling-up whispers of divine guidance and love and presence.”20

The Testing of the Call The call of leaders is filled with paradox. Perhaps the greatest paradox is that the One who issues the call is the same One who tests it, some-

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 69

The Leader’s Call / 69

times most severely. The examples of testing in Scripture illustrate that the most severe tests come to those who are the most faithful. One thing is certain, however, the testing is not meant as punishment for ineffectiveness. Rather the testing is meant as a graduation to greater faithfulness and effectiveness. It is meant as a seal of God’s approval upon the work that is already done. Does this sound like idle conjecture? The testing story of Abraham is probably the most ascetic and well known in the Old Testament. We shudder at its severity: “After these things God tested Abraham. . . . [God] said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and . . . offer him there as a burnt offering’ ” (Gen 22:1-2). Who can understand God’s request of Abraham? Who can understand Abraham’s leap of pure faith! Carlo Carretto explains: Seeing God wrap around the colossal figure of this patriarch, alone in the desert beside his tent . . . no, that is no scandal, but quite the contrary. God wants to communicate with the depths of Abraham’s being and tear him from himself . . . [God] wants to make this creature of His “more His,” this man who is destined not for the tents of earth, but for those of Heaven.21

In like manner Joseph, after the betrayal by his own brothers, worked hard to earn trust in a new cultural, political setting only to find himself in prison because of more deception from forces beyond his own control. Were Abraham and Joseph tested because of their halfhearted efforts for God? Hardly! These two saints had already demonstrated their faith in God and a concern for others that was above reproach. Now God had chosen them to assume even greater responsibilities; one to become the father of a great nation, the other to protect the seed of Abraham from extinction. However, before each of the disciples graduated to new possibilities, God tested them. It seems strange that God would treat God’s chosen this way. Those who failed the test in the first place at times seem better cared for by God than those who were the faithful. Consider Jonah. His response to the call within him was to run in the opposite direction, looking for a place to hide—which God provided. The theme of testing is carried over into the New Testament. Upon Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness,

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 70

70 / Leading the Congregation

where for forty days he was tested by Satan. Was this testing to correct some flaw in Jesus’ character? Was God somehow displeased with him? He was tested because he had been faithful, and now an entirely new opportunity was opening up to him, which was the ministry to the Galileans, and therefore testing must come (Luke 4:1-4). Leaders in the ancient church were able to see a silver lining in suffering. Paul—who among others things bore the brunt of physical torture from religious persecution, and who experienced rejection from those in whose lives he invested himself—concluded that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:3b-5). James taught the believers that “whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2b-4). The intense pressure that leaders experience is analogous to olives being crushed in order to produce pure, virgin olive oil. The nature and character of the rich oil are discovered through the applying of pressure, which does not produce the oil but simply compresses the olives hard enough for the oil to pour out. What was of little use in previous form becomes extremely valuable because through pressure it was purified and came into a new form of existence. Likewise through trials and testing, leaders become the fresh oil of God’s Spirit to be poured freely for others at God’s will.

The Resistance and Acceptance of the Call Not only must faithful ministry be tested, but it is also often resisted. Without resistance there can be no acceptance of the ostentatious and unbelievable promises that God makes to the called one. The promises of God are seldom resisted because they are too small or undesired—but because God’s promises are too good to be true. A good example of this is Zechariah resisting the promise of a son—yet he had prayed for a son for many years. When the promise came, Zechariah resisted. It seemed too good to be true (see Luke 1).

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 71

The Leader’s Call / 71

The theme of resistance and acceptance in the lives of God’s people is everywhere in Scripture. Luke, for example, introduces this early in his book. The concept is simple: without resistance, no full acceptance. Sometimes resistance is within; other times resistance is raised by onlookers—the crowd of observers who resist the promises that Jesus offers to people he meets along the way. Thus the people of God continue to earn the name Israel—those who struggle with God. The same is true for our work and our ministry—without resistance, no full acceptance. Similar to most things in the life of the leader, our internal resistance is often more belligerent than the external resistance to our ministry. Internal resistances may also be similar to those of Moses, Gideon, Jonah, and David—who felt they could not live up to the challenges placed on them by God. However, both internal and external resistances are important because without them our ministry remains weak, diffuse, and unsure. Thus the leader must learn to embrace the resistances to his ministry, whether internal or external, for these are also numbered among the gifts God gives to those who are called. This is not to say that we should spend our days nurturing our resistance, but instead choose to believe that “all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to [God’s] purpose” (Rom 8:28). Even so, when John the Baptist, the son of resistance, had accomplished his purpose for the ministry of Jesus, his life ended in a dramatic manner. This is a hard saying, but John understood it when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Small wonder that one should observe the words in Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8-9). Yet it doesn’t hurt to ask, “Why the resistance?” The answer is plain in God’s plan for all God’s creation: That which is not made strong by resistance cannot survive in a harsh and unforgiving environment. So virtually all forms of water creatures must swim against the currents because this is the only way their muscles will develop, and the fowls of the air must exert their strength against the winds and the pressure of the air, or else their wings will be too weak to endure the tests of transcontinental migratory flights. Everywhere in God’s creation the principle holds: without resistance creatures will not survive.

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 72

72 / Leading the Congregation

The leader’s resistance to the promises of God helps to make the leader’s acceptances strong—so long as the leader refuses to give in to the resistance. The people who exert resistance against the leader can make ministry stronger to face even greater resistance and obstacles in the future. Why would there not be resistance to such a vocation, which demands self-sacrifice, long hours, minimal financial security, and unselfish concern for others? Martin Luther admitted: Had I known about it beforehand, he would have had more pains to get me in. Be that as it may, now that I have begun, I intend to perform the duties of the office with his help. On account of the exceeding great and heavy cares and worries connected with it, I would not take the whole world to enter upon this work now. On the other hand, when I regard him who called me, I would not take the whole world not to have begun it.22

The Madness of the Call No matter how it presents itself, the call ascends to occupy the primacy of all of one’s desires and goals. For those who hear the call, there is no alternative. So compelling is the call that it has sent many traveling across the centuries in an endless pilgrimage of those who—leaving family, fame, and fortune—surrendered everything to the One who calls. Those who do not understand this may observe this vocation to be nice, comfortable, or a waste of good talent; but for those who have heard the call it is the “Pearl of Great Price,” for which one joyfully sells everything. Is this madness? Yes! There is a madness in the gospel that has to be reckoned with—when God calls. But for those “mad ones” who hear and accept the call, there can be no finer adventure. Many believe that God must have been mad to call us, and there are times when we believe we must have been mad to accept the call. The madness of the call is that it most often takes us along paths we may not choose and assigns us duties for which we feel most ill-equipped. Gideon felt that he was the weakest in the family, and the weakest in the tribe; Paul wanted to be a young Jewish scholar, not an apostle; Augustine did not want to be an overworked and worried bishop; Xavier wanted only to be with his beloved guide, Ignatius; yet at a moment’s notice he was sent to India—never again to return to Ignatius; Henry Mar-

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 73

The Leader’s Call / 73

tin sacrificed the intellectual life for which he was so fitted to become a missionary to be which he was called.23 There is more than madness in the call; there is also paradox. Why must the call, so faithfully embraced, be so excruciatingly tested? Why is not one “yes” enough? Does God, as a lover, yearn to hear our acceptance of a proposal many times over, or rather are the tests for our own sake? Are the trials and doubts a sign that God is with us? Is our own vision born out of the ashes of our disappointments? Could not “a durable, vital ministry, [be] recalled out of the debris of ministry”?24 The call to a vocation of ministry encompasses all that we have and all that we are. It is more than performance, however noble and grand our accomplishments may be. It is a call to obedience, which “can be a total, unconditional, joyous abandonment to our one King and Master: or it can be a school for cowardice and an a priori rejection of the thing that costs a [person] dearest: personal responsibility. . . . Nothing else matters any more and we ought to burn all our boats behind us. There is no going back.”25 The call beckons. No matter how tough the situation, no matter what is said and done, no matter how intense the trial, one must obey. It is one thing to begin well. It is quite another to finish well. Only the one who has learned to obey and follow Christ in all things—and to the very end—will finish well. Ultimately, the greatest bewilderment of the call prevails for leaders who remain faithful, who give themselves to the demands of the call without reserve, only to realize that all along the way it is not our work that God desires, but God desires us. Somewhere along the way the faithful leader hears God saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Now, I don’t want your activity anymore; I want you.” The call is once and forever. But our commitment to it is tested over again. Perhaps no one can give oneself completely to God in one grand moment. We give ourselves to God little by little as we come to discover our deepest longings and temptations. We may be always thoroughly committed, but only to the extent that we know ourselves at that moment. As leaders, we are formed and reformed over a lifetime. All along the way, through our successes and our failures, our victories and defeats, our saintliness and sinfulness, our acceptance and resistance, God is at work to make us what we are, but not yet.

BBMU004201QK004.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:18 PM

Page 74

74 / Leading the Congregation

Our call to leadership is a formation process through which God uses all of life’s experiences to sharpen and expand our leadership capabilities. Far from condemning our failures and temptations, God uses them as grist for the mill in the formation process. In the mystery of God, our resistance and failures are essential to our formation. Thus Julian of Norwich asserts sin as honor and necessary, not impeding God’s goodness; for pain of our sin stabs us awake to our weakness and our need to rely even more on God’s love and grace.26

Questions for Reflection on the Leader’s Call 1. How do you respond to the questions in the opening paragraph? Are you attracted to them or do you resist them? Explain. 2. How would you describe your own experience of “listening to the inner voice”? 3. Which of the three persons described by St. Ignatius do you relate to in your own calling and experience? 4. What words would you use to describe your call—here and now? 5. When you think of your call, has it been tested? Would you describe your own experience as “madness”? 6. How do “resistance” and “acceptance” fit with your experience of the call? 7. Do you have any regrets regarding your own call? 8. Is there a new “word” you hope to hear from Christ?

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 75

Chapter Five

The Leader’s Vision and Ensuing Mission The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it. Thucydides Then . . . I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. Joel 2:28-29; see also Acts 2:17-18

T

he passage above from the prophet Joel acknowledges an important quality in the nature and the source of religious visions. Vision is an experience dreamed in the heart and imagination of God’s servants by the Spirit. The vision is foremost an insight into God’s splendor, beauty, and power. Second, the vision may also be a clearer recognition of our frailties, fears, and fallibility—giving us a clearer vision of the source and possibilities of our calling and our work. Thus, one’s spirituality becomes the nourishment for vision; it is one’s interior life where the conditions are set right to experience God and the possibilities that God desires for one’s ministry. The vision narratives in the scriptures tell of extraordinary experiences in the lives of God’s people who witness their own epiphany, be it an angel or a burning bush. However, according to Father Edward Hays, “True mystics are not necessarily those who have visions, but rather those who have vision. They see the extraordinary, the mystical, in everyday events.”1 Hays explains further, 75

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 76

76 / Leading the Congregation

If we desire such vision, we will have to give our brains a bath! Our minds must be cleansed of prejudgments about what God looks like. . . . But giving the brain a bath is much like giving a bath to your dog: the mind will jump and squirm and resist. As your mind struggles and soapsuds splash in your eyes, remember that without such a scrubbing you will not likely survive the difficult work of the spirit quest. A true vision of the Divine Mystery provides a nuclear core of energy for those who persevere in their search.2

Leaders who align their own imagination with God’s vision for the heavens and earth can also invite the congregation to dream with them (we discuss the congregation’s common vision in chapter 15). But leaders themselves must come to grips with what God is doing in God’s creation. A biblical imagination of God at work in the world is comforting and challenging—it is comforting in that we believe God desires what is best for us, our families and faith communities, and what is best for the planet. But it is also challenging in that there are competing visions regarding what is best for the world in which we live—and concerning the church’s role in fulfilling God’s vision. Many congregations experience a gap between the grandeur of the biblical imagination of God’s love for all creation and their own part that by comparison seems insignificant. One of the most majestic biblical expressions of the divine vision is expressed by the Apostle Paul: [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. (Col 1:15-20)

In the face of this grand picture of all creation are biblical narratives that are filled with stories of ordinary people who dared to believe God was present with a divine purpose in places no one would expect. God is found at work in those individuals who, like David tending sheep in the wilderness, like Gideon beating wheat in the winepress, like the

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 77

The Leader’s Vision and Ensuing Mission / 77

widow gathering the last meal for herself and her son, like Elizabeth pregnant in old age, like Mary pregnant as a teenager with the life of God incarnate, like Zacchaeus collecting taxes with little respect from the people, or like Saul holding the coats of those who stoned a newly appointed deacon. The divine vision of reconciling all things on earth and in heaven exists through Christ, who calls people of whom Paul said, “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are” (1 Cor 1:26-28). The divine vision of the biblical narratives includes individuals of all types on a journey with God in unlikely times and places. One of our spiritual directors recently posed the following question, “What if we consistently lived just one of the Ten Commandments?” How different would our own lives and the world be? Or what if the Beatitudes were a realistic portrayal of what is available for the people of God? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:3-10)

The Beatitudes were not meant to be “out of reach” for us, or a strategy for being blessed—rather they are a visible portrait of people who are living a vital relationship with Christ. Dallas Willard in his insightful text The Divine Conspiracy proposes that the Beatitudes “are explanations and illustration, drawn from the immediate setting, of the present availability of the kingdom through personal relationship to Jesus. They single out cases that provide proof that . . . the rule of God from the heavens truly is available in life circumstances that are beyond all human hope.”3

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 78

78 / Leading the Congregation

All persons live according to some vision, conscious or unconscious. Divine vision is ultimately connected to a hope that believes God’s kingdom is a present reality—even when conditions are less than desirable. Those who are inclined toward apathy have diminutive desires for the future, or perhaps they may have misguided optimism that ultimately ends in discouragement. Others may let once deeply held dreams slip away, leaving others “to do the hoping.”4 Thus the discussion of vision interfaces with our spirituality, not only with a “how to” plan to make visions work. Unless we are captured by a vision of God’s greatness and our littleness, we will never have a full and accurate vision of ministry. Unless we tap into a spirituality that enables us to live out the biblical imagination God has for us, we will continue to experience frustration, discouragement and guilt, status quo expectations, and unchallenged hypocrisy. Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) declares, “Where there is no vision, the people perish”—and where there is no vision, ministry perishes. Benedictine Joan Chittister believes that “doing more of the same isn’t vision. It is simply the ability to tolerate the inadequacies of the present. It is at best a very mundane way to live. . . . People with vision are never satisfied with what is. They carry within themselves a holy agitation that leads them always to want more than being mediocre in anything can ever offer.”5

The Three Dimensions of Vision A vision is the “impossible dream” that God is dreaming in the hearts of those who are called to serve others. Such vision requires a particular awareness or “eyesight” that stands apart from the normal ways that people see things. So they begin to label the one with vision as crazy, dangerous, or harmless—but “blind” to reality.6 There are at least three dimensions of a leader’s vision for ministry: First, the vision gives new insight into the glory and grandeur of God (an upward view); second, the vision provides new insight into limitations of oneself (an inward view); and third, the vision offers a new, imaginative insight into how circumstances might be different—as our ministries influence them (an outward view).

An “Upward” View toward God When Moses was shaken out of the routine of his daily tasks by the experience of the burning bush, he discovered he had come upon holy

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 79

The Leader’s Vision and Ensuing Mission / 79

ground. Thereupon began the first of many intimate conversations between God and Moses. The first word God spoke to Moses was his name—Moses, Moses! This was not to be a conversation between strangers; God knew Moses, which meant that this was a personal and private conversation for a particular purpose. Then [God] said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exod 3:5-6)

In spite of his fear, Moses gained a totally new view of God’s everlasting greatness and an honest recognition of his own littleness. This was his vision—one that would alter the destiny of his life and the entire nation of Israel—forever. God shared with Moses God’s dream for the liberation of oppressed slaves. Then God dreamed this dream in Moses, which became Moses’ dream, and it eventually became the vision of the Promised Land. Moses’ vision is all of these: a new insight into the glory and power of God, a new recognition of his own incapacity, and a dream of what God’s greatness might accomplish through his littleness, if only he dared to “put it all on the line.” To dream an impossible dream for one’s ministry without a clear estimation of our frail and meager resources can be precarious. At times, we attempt to slay Goliath in our own strength, only to find that our arrogance was not enough to produce the desired results. On the other hand, to recognize our inability to perform the impossible tasks of ministry without an energizing view of God’s greatness and generosity may only drive us into a new round of discouragement. The question remains: Can I trust that God will dream through me to accomplish whatever God wishes?

An “Inward” View of Oneself Many of us readily identify with Moses’ response to God’s vision. “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” “What shall I say?” “They won’t believe me.” “I’m not eloquent.”

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 80

80 / Leading the Congregation

“Please send someone else.” With the realization of God’s majesty comes a concomitant realization of our own vulnerabilities. We may have noble aspirations while feeling limited in the enormity of the task. Moses teaches us how effective one can be in accomplishing God’s purpose— after forty years of preparation in the wilderness. In the biblical narratives, Moses is not the only one who must journey far into the wilderness before coming to a clear vision of the Promised Land. Indeed, the scriptures are a chronicle of women and men who were initially immobilized by their limited view of God, and by the exaggerated view of their own limitations. Gideon felt that he was the most ill equipped to break the embargo against the Israelites; Elijah fled at the threatening words of the queen; Peter described himself as a “sinful man,” not fit to be in Jesus’ company; and Zechariah thought he and his wife were too old for God’s promises to come true in them. In each of these examples, God’s dream for them was resisted not because the dream was too small but because they thought it was “too good to be true!” They did not believe it was impossible for God to accomplish such things: they simply believed God would not accomplish these things through them. Thus, it may be more important to pursue one’s vision than to achieve it. They thought they were the ones who were dreaming, not realizing that they were in the company of the One who could accomplish through them “more than they could ever ask, or think.” According to the author of Hebrews, these great heroes of Scripture teach us the unexpected and often doubted lessons regarding vision: All of these [witnesses] died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country . . . indeed, [God] has prepared a city for them. (Heb 11:13-16)

An Outward View of the Circumstances Vision never comes in a vacuum; it comes in response to a call, and it is germane to a specific time and place. But responding to vision can

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 81

The Leader’s Vision and Ensuing Mission / 81

be dangerous and filled with risk. No one in his right mind would have undertaken the task set before Gideon with such meager provisions and ill-equipped strategy. However, once captured by a vision, it made little difference to Gideon because he became convinced he could do nothing else. A vision aligns one’s thinking, feeling, and doing into a common volition in which one would rather die than not attempt it (see Judges 6:24-27; 7:2-24). The quality of vision is beautifully expressed in the story of the twelve spies whom Moses sent into the Promised Land to search out its conditions. They traveled into the new territory with open eyes and ears and gazed upon the same scenes, but two of them saw an entirely different reality from the other ten. Who was painting a true picture through their report? They all were. However, their respective views of God and the formidable task caused them to envision very different realities and outcomes. The two spies had caught Moses’ vision; the others saw only what was in human terms predictable.

Mission: Turning Visions into Reality From the inauguration of his ministry, Jesus announced his mission, as described by Luke: When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:16-19)

Out of vision arises a clear and compelling understanding of what the mission of our ministry will be. Mission is the bridge that connects vision to reality. If vision is God’s dream in us, then mission is the waking dream embodied in the life of the leaders and the congregation.

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 82

82 / Leading the Congregation

Personal mission is a compelling realization about who we are, our fundamental reason for being, and about what we are to do, strategically. Mission moves forward, reaching toward the vision. Our search for personal mission is ultimately tied to our heritage of those women and men who left their footprints on the pages of the scriptures as they grappled with the meaning and mission of their lives; for example, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Gideon, the prophets, Jesus, and leaders of the fledgling congregations that embodied the Apostolic Church. When we set about to pursue our mission, we join ranks with a long and illustrious procession of those whose lives demonstrated the power of possessing a mission in uncharted new territories with extraordinary results.7 The vision narratives in the scriptures demonstrate that the leader’s mission begins to clarify in the divine encounter in which the vision is imparted. The vision that Moses received from God suddenly clarified the answer for which he had sought forty years: his role in setting God’s people free and how he was to go about the task. The mission of Moses, once clear, would continue to unfold for forty more years as he addressed the resistance of leading a reluctant congregation from slavery to freedom. The principle is demonstrated in an encounter of the Virgin Mary with a divine messenger. Her vision was exquisitely stated in the Magnificat— the magnificent song of Mary (Luke 1:48-55). Earlier she answered the angel Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant. . . . May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38 NIV). When Mary agreed to be at God’s service, permitting God do to her whatever God wished, she had mission on her mind. Her vision was God’s dream for all generations to be dreamed through her. Her mission was her own intensely personal and practical role in birthing the vision into reality. What is required of each leader is this: to give oneself without reservation toward the realization of vision and mission. The prayer of Saint Ignatius is an example of the abject commitment that must be given to personal mission—he prays: I am moved by your grace to offer myself to you and your work. I deeply desire to be with you in accepting all wrongs and all abuse and

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 83

The Leader’s Vision and Ensuing Mission / 83

all poverty, both actual and spiritual—and I deliberately choose this, if it is for your greater service and praise. If you, my Lord and King, would call and choose me, then take and receive me into such a way of life.8

God’s vision is to be shared with those who dare to believe against all odds. It is a total giving of oneself to God and the openness to God’s ministry in the world. But vision often is fragile; therefore, it must be tended carefully because it can also be blurred—and even lost. Vision is seeing in and for others what they cannot see for themselves. As was the experience of Moses, one may also die for a vision before it becomes fully realized. The principle of death and resurrection becomes the opportunity for God to provide what is radically new and different even as it is birthed from suffering and death. Robert Greenleaf never gave up on his vision for a society that would be more just and caring, and he believed pastors could play a key role in the process. Three years before he died in 1990, Greenleaf wrote: What will these pastors be like who can effectively minister to those who have the potential to be influential, ethical people? How might they be described? From my knowledge of a few contemporary pastors who have the strength not to impart vision if they themselves had that vision, I suggest the following description: • • • • •

They are strong, able, well-prepared people. They know who they are and where they stand. They have a clear vision, a sense of direction. They have great sustaining spirit with which to confront diversity. They have unqualified dedication to the mission to which they are committed.9

Questions for Reflection on the Leader’s Vision and Ensuing Mission 1. What do you deeply care about? What are your heart’s desires? How do your answers to these questions compare with what you believe God cares about, and what God desires? 2. Which of the three dimensions of vision—upward view toward God, inward view of oneself, and outward view of the circumstances—have you witnessed in your experience?

BBMU004201QK005.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:20 PM

Page 84

84 / Leading the Congregation

3. What words would you use to describe your personal vision and mission for your life and ministry? Do you see a difference between vision and mission? How are these concepts related to your personality and gifts? And to your sense of call? 4. Describe your earliest sense of personal vision or mission. Has it changed over the years? 5. How do your personal vision and mission connect (or conflict) with the shared vision and mission of your ministry and the congregation?

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 85

Chapter Six

The Interplay of Light and Shadow The first and most basic task required of the minister tomorrow is to clarify the immense confusion which can arise when people enter this new internal world. . . . [We must] enter ourselves first of all into the center of our existence and become familiar with the complexities of our inner lives. As soon as we feel at home in our own house, discover the dark corners as well as the light spots, the closed doors as well as the drafty rooms, our confusion will evaporate, our anxiety will diminish, and we will become capable of creative work. . . . The man who can articulate the movements of his inner life, who can give names to his varied experiences, need no longer be a victim of himself, but is able slowly and consistently to remove the obstacles that prevent the spirit from entering.1 Henri J. M. Nouwen A leader is someone with power to project either shadow or light onto some part of the world and onto the lives of the people who dwell there. A leader shapes the ethos in which others must live, an ethos as lightfilled as heaven or as shadowy as hell. A good leader is intensely aware of the interplay of inner shadow and light, lest the act of leadership do more harm than good.2 Parker J. Palmer [The] dark side of the human condition . . . paints leadership in shades of gray—and in black.3 Barbara Kellerman

Cthat describe people of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindonsider the characteristics of spiritual energy in your congregation

ness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Gal 5:2223). Growing interests in organizational psychology include the study 85

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 86

86 / Leading the Congregation

of how positive emotions—analogous to the fruit of the Spirit—enable organizations to experience transformation through human performance at optimal levels. According to the research, these contagious emotions expand the capacity for imagination and positive influence.4 The creativity being studied in contemporary organizations is similar to the incarnational church that emerged in different patterns throughout Rome, Asia Minor, and other regions during the first century. The radical nature of freedom in Christ that was espoused by Paul was worked out in his understanding of what it meant to live within a community of believers. The Spirit’s claim that offered the gift of truth and power of love brought release to new believers in a new way of living and of serving others. The newly discovered interior freedom—combined with the external freedom that transcended the impossible external religious codes—was unlike anything they had experienced before.5 It is not surprising that with such radical freedom come prevalent forces, similar to those described by the Apostle Paul, such as strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, and factions (see Gal 5:19-21). Amidst the realities of the Spirit’s fruitfulness and the “works of the flesh,” Paul’s letters to the early congregations contend for an interpersonal ethic of love without judgment, hope amidst disappointment, and faith rising above trials of every kind. Religious leaders not only lead faith communities who struggle in these opposing forces, they must also learn to recognize and address the struggle within themselves.

Testing the Spirits The ancient church was aware of these contrasting energies of the Spirit and the flesh. For example, the apostle James described how the human tongue can be a “restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing” (James 3:8b-10a). Perhaps what is most striking in James’s letter is that the speaker can be less aware of his inner contradiction than are the hearers, which is a good reason why prudent leaders submit themselves to a discernment process. The practice of testing the authenticity of a vision or prophetic word within the faith community came to be known as the “discerning of spirits” or “discerning the mind of God.”6

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 87

The Interplay of Light and Shadow / 87

Spiritual discernment is also the capacity to recognize the subtleties of evil, given Paul’s understanding that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14). If religious leaders fail to distinguish these subtleties, then evil—which is symptomatic in compulsions, selfinterests, and other “deadly” sins7—will increase its hold on those who are unwilling or unable to practice spiritual discernment. The subtlety is powerful and may be difficult to discern. Exposing a shrewd, conniving agenda, C. S. Lewis writes about uncovering the letters of the devil Screwtape in his advice to the novice Wormwood. Screwtape is resolute when he says, “You must bring him to a condition in which he can practice self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those facts about himself which are perfectly clear to anyone who has ever lived in the same house with him or worked in the same office.”8 Through the conversation of his characters, Lewis cautions us that even selfexamination, the discipline meant to aid us in personal discernment, can be co-opted by ignorance that prevents us from experiencing the light of integrity, freedom, and interior health. Blind to unexamined passions and the subtlety of motivations, leaders may go through life with little regard of how this condition impacts their own lives, and others (see “The Examen of Consciousness” in chapter 3). Discernment brings to light the inner conflicts experienced by leaders, such as moral failures, unfulfilled dreams, disappointing relationships, different types of loss, and illness. These experiences become a doorway for leaders to walk through in order to find healing for misguided efforts and the idols erected in their lives as a means to compensate and to cope with their inner conflicts. Psychoanalyst Karen Horney suggests that, while a normal conflict is conscious, a neurotic conflict is almost always unconscious. She writes: “Even though a normal person may be unaware of his conflict, he can recognize it with comparatively little help, while the essential tendencies producing a neurotic conflict are deeply repressed and can be unearthed only against great resistance.”9 Leaders who have the capacity to “test the spirits” are more likely aware of the effect their spirit has upon others and the entire congregation.

What Spirit Does the Leader Project upon the Congregation? Every congregation has an esprit de corps that is influenced, though not determined, by its historical narrative, size, denominational identity,

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 88

88 / Leading the Congregation

and social location. Like individuals, congregations can make a difference by the spirit they project to the outer world, for better or worse. The concept of spirit is not limited to religious institutions. In recent years theorists and practitioners have recognized that institutions have a defining espirit de corps that fosters a mutual attitude and worldview among the people who work within the organization. James Ritscher probes more deeply into the relationship of spirit and leadership: Spirit is the sense of vitality, energy, and vision which is at the heart of all organizations—with some organizations being more inspired than others in how they operate. One of the basic functions of leadership is to stimulate and focus the organization’s spirit. . . . By spiritual leadership, I mean two things: 1. The leadership of spirit (in the sense of vitality or Esprit de Corps) in a business or other organization, 2. Transformational leadership: leadership that draws on a spiritual force and hence cuts through to a deeper level and is creating a vital and effective business.10

The esprit de corps of the congregation is strongly influenced by the leader’s spirituality and the spirit that commonly characterizes one’s leadership. Since Christian spirituality is ultimately related to the grace of Christ being formed within, it is crucial that religious leaders ask of themselves, “What is the condition of my spiritual life with God, and what common spirit am I projecting on the congregation?” Those who have been leaders of a church for several years—and still everything seems conflicted and divided—might well consider whether the congregation is a reflection of the spirit that they have been projecting upon the members of the congregation, and whether the same spirit also resides in the unexamined spaces of their interiority.11 Parker Palmer describes a spirit that the religious leader may project upon others in these terms: [We] project either a spirit of light or a spirit of shadow on that which is other than us. We project either a spirit of hope or a spirit of despair, either an inner confidence in wholeness and integration or an inner terror about life being diseased and ultimately terminal. We have a choice about what we are going to project, and in that choice we help create the world that is. Consciousness precedes being, and consciousness can help deform, or reform, our world.12

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 89

The Interplay of Light and Shadow / 89

It may be tempting to argue that a religious leader does not have singular influence upon the spirituality and common spirit of an entire congregation, but indeed individual reformers—such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Hus, and Huldyrch Zwingli—demonstrated deep influence on entire religious movements such as the Reformation. Did Mother Teresa have any influence on the spirit that continues to define the experience of the Sisters who worked with her, and the afflicted people they continue to serve? Is not the joy and love that is commonly shared by the Sisters and the afflicted not a reflection of the spirit of Mother Teresa? Is not the spirit of your congregation a reflection of your spirit? Thus the leader’s interior spirit is the interplay of light and shadow with varying intensities according to internal dispositions as well as the leader’s responses to external realities.

Five Shadows of Leadership Parker Palmer has identified shadows common to all leaders, whether parents, business executives, politicians, educators, religious leaders, or other seekers. The shadows include: a deep insecurity about identity and self-worth; a perception that the world is hostile; “functional atheism”; fear of chaos; and denial of death.13 1. The shadow of deep insecurity about the leader’s identity and selfworth. This insecurity is not evident in the external roles where the leader displays public confidence. Rather, behind the successful public image remain lingering self-doubts that ultimately result in a relentless obsession to prove that the leader is capable to perform well in the midst of organizational challenges. However, the attempt to prop up one’s own self-worth soon diminishes the confidence of others. Ultimately, a religious leader’s self-worth is not wrapped up in titles, degrees, salaries, buildings, or the financial balance sheet. Rather, it is rooted in one’s humanity and knowing oneself to be a child of God, espousing a disposition of less pretense and more wonder, playfulness, and openness. Howard Thurman claimed, “The awareness of being a child of God tends to stabilize the ego and results in a new courage, fearlessness, and power. . . . If a man’s ego has been stabilized, resulting in a sure grounding of his sense of personal worth and dignity, then he is in a position to appraise his own intrinsic powers, gifts, talents, and abilities.”14

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 90

90 / Leading the Congregation

2. The shadow’s perception that the world is hostile, that there must be winners and losers. Conflict is ultimately a gift to a leadership community when it helps to clarify values, mission, or a strategic direction. However, conflict can become a staging ground from which leaders play out their unresolved issues, stemming from hostility and fear of failure. Some leaders need conflict in order to define their success as winners (and perhaps as “saviors”). Their motto is, “If you’re not for me, you’re against me. So fall in line with the winners, or else why do you stay?” With those who see most issues as a contest between winners and losers, the conversations that frame the contests inevitably result in people with good wisdom and insight shutting down. A hostile atmosphere cramps creativity. Palmer offers further insight into the shadow of hostility when he writes: “The tragedy of this inner shadow, our fear of losing a fight, is that it helps create conditions where people feel compelled to live as if they were at war.”15 3. The shadow of “functional atheism,” a fundamental belief that ultimate responsibility belongs to the leader. This shadow is the “unconscious, unexamined conviction that if anything decent is going to happen here, we are the ones who must make it happen—a conviction held even by people who talk a good game about God.”16 Functional atheism often leads to the dysfunction of those who find themselves near the edge with “out-ofwhack” priorities that are often expressed in workaholism, manipulation of others, and the imposition of one’s will on others. Dispelling this shadow is evident when leaders learn how to share the work of the ministry, create healthy teams, respect the gifts others bring, and take a Sabbath, knowing that the tasks will be waiting for them when they return—and that God is carrying out a divine purpose even through less-than-perfect efforts. 4. The shadow of fear of chaos. There is no impetus to change when things are going well, or when living in past success. Maintaining the status quo is familiar, and it seems safer than trying to disturb the system. Chaos in the right amount and proper timing is a precondition to creativity that frees us up to try something different than we normally would do. Thus fear of chaos impedes creativity and innovation, and it is often discovered through the leader’s inordinate need to control all outcomes and organize every detail. The obsession with control is in sharp contrast to the belief that “Even what has been created needs to be returned to chaos from time to time so that it can be regenerated in a more vital form.”17 If chaos is a precondition to creativity, it may require deep, personal change

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 91

The Interplay of Light and Shadow / 91

within leaders who learn to embrace their fear of chaos and surrender their obsessive control. Only then will a new and necessary order emerge. 5. The denial of death and fear of failure. The paradox of this shadow is expressed when leaders who “kill things off well before their time . . . also live in denial of the fact that all things must die in due course.”18 Leaders who work hard for the success of ministries will eventually fear that their cherished ministries might die on their watch, and they continue to pour energies into programs that are doomed for failure. However, seeking to keep a ministry alive by one’s own determination and efforts will only delay a new ministry waiting to be born.19 Besides denial of death in this shadow, there is also a fear of failure. Harboring a fear of failure and resenting “negative” feedback from others, leaders with this shadow keep their organizations “stuck.” Among the best leaders are those who invite constructive feedback for themselves while encouraging others to take worthwhile risks for increasing mission effectiveness. The shadows of leadership—insecurity, hostility, functional atheism, fear of chaos, and denial of death—are interrelated and vary in degrees of intensity. The leader’s discomfort with the shadows belies a readiness to identify with them and perhaps much less a willingness to admit their destructive influence upon the entire congregation. But there is hope. Palmer defines healthy leaders as those “who have penetrated their own inner darkness.”20 Embracing these shadows is a first step in bringing the light to dispel them, which is crucial to the well-being of leaders even as it is to the congregation and its mission.

Questions for Reflecting on the Characteristics and Results of the Spirit You Project on Your Congregation

1. Do you like what you see in your congregation? Have you considered that the congregation may be reflecting back to you a condition of your own interior reality? 2. Have you carefully explored the personalities, behaviors, and issues in your family of origin? 3. Make a list of all the places you have served throughout your ministry. Is there a pattern to the critical incidents, relationships, and results of your ministry? How did you contribute to these patterns?

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 92

92 / Leading the Congregation

4. Have you ever considered that you might benefit from psychotherapy or spiritual direction? What interior concerns keep you from availing yourself of these support systems? Leaders with an increasing intensity of their own shadows may mean well, but the consequences can be brutal on the spirit of an organization. Thus, leaders must continually reflect upon the behaviors and the results of their leadership, and this assessment must be unflinchingly honest. Apart from self-appraisal, the leaders’ behaviors become a matter of habit that blinds them to their very own behaviors, ones which they deplore in others. Self-defeating habits, when left unexamined, result in dysfunctional dynamics within the congregation. As a result, dysfunction breeds more dysfunction, opening the door to forces that throw the congregation into unhealthy conflict. Ah, you who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isa 5:20)

Expressions of Neurotic Leadership Psychiatrists Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries and Danny Miller have studied the effects of individual personality, especially one’s dysfunction, upon the entire organization by exploring a metaphor they call the “inner theater” of the leader.21 Kets de Vries explains: Thus, core themes in a leader’s “inner theater” cause him or her to choose certain courses of action, and these themes hold the key to success or failure as a leader. Similarly, the key to a leader’s relationship with his or her followers is the psychological forces at play between them. Such forces exist at the intrapsychic, interpersonal, group, and organizational levels. . . . Leaders can become prisoners of their internal psychic theater so that their actions become self-defeating.22

The configuration of leadership dispositions—dramatic, suspicious, detached, depressive, and compulsive—are reflected in the organization’s culture, strategy, and guiding theme. The characteristics are accentuated

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 93

The Interplay of Light and Shadow / 93

in stressful situations, and the stronger the personality of the leaders, the more their influence will be reflected throughout the organization, especially in highly centralized organizations (see Figure 6.1). While healthy organizations are represented to some degree in these organization types, the extreme in any one style or in a hybrid of styles can lead to the dysfunction within an organization.

The Dramatic Organization Leadership Style: The dramatic style combines two psychological orientations: the histrionic (theatrical and showy) and the narcissistic (egotistical and grandiose).23 Dramatic leaders are unconventional risk takers who live for dramatic action and constant stimulation as a tradeoff for what they perceive as status quo conformity. Dramatic leaders exaggerate self-confidence, and find ways to complement this trait by surrounding themselves with people who admire their skills. The charisma of dramatic leaders aligns itself with dependent needs of followers who idealize their leaders and who often ingratiate themselves to them.24 Organizational Structure: Dramatic organizations can be hyperactive and impulsive. Growing rapidly, the organizational structure tends to lag behind the growth. In the vacuum of structure, the dramatic leader will centralize power and make crucial decisions without any input from those who have the expertise but little authority. Organizational Culture: Dramatic organizations often attract dependent followers who look for visionary leaders with the right answers. Followers “subordinate” their own needs in deference to the “hero” leader who in turn takes care of the followers. People are not free to disagree; instead they feel constrained to stay in line with the leader’s agenda. The dramatic organizational culture is most difficult for independent-minded persons to conform to, and thus they normally do not last long.25 The Strategy: The strategy within a dramatic organization is played out in the leader’s impressions and impulses over against using reliable and useful information in making important decisions. The dramatic leader relies on personally inspired judgment that leaves little room for participatory decision-making (unless the outcomes can be manipulated). The leader’s need for affirmation trumps the needs of those whom the organization is attempting to serve, threatening the future survival of the organization, especially in the eventual departure of the leader.

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:22 PM

Page 94

Figure 6.1 The Characteristics of “Neurotic” Organizations Type

Organization

Executive

Dramatic

Too primitive for its many products and broad market; overcentralization obstructs the development of effective information systems; second-tier executives retain too little influence in policy-making.

Needs attention, excitement, activity, and stimulation; feels a sense of entitlement; has a tendency toward extremes.

Suspicious

Elaborate information-processing; abundant analysis of external trends; centralization of power.

Vigilantly prepared to counter any and all attacks and personal threats; hypersensitive; cold and lacks emotional expression; suspicious, distrustful, and insists on loyalty; over-involved in rules and details to secure complete control; craves information; sometimes vindictive.

Detached

Internal focus, insufficient scanning of external environment, self-imposed barriers to free flow of information.

Withdrawn and not involved; lacks interest in present or future; sometimes indifferent to praise or criticism.

Depressive

Ritualistic; bureaucratic; inflexible; hierarchical; poor internal communications; resistant to change; impersonal.

Lacks self-confidence, self-esteem, and initiative; fears success and tolerates mediocrity or failure; depends on messiahs.

Compulsive

Rigid formal codes, elaborate information systems; ritualized evaluation procedures; thoroughness, exactness; a hierarchy in which individual managers’ status derives directly from specific positions.

Tends to dominate organization from top to bottom; insists that others conform to tightly prescribed procedures and rules; dogmatic or obstinate personality; perfectionist or is obsessed with detail, routine, rituals, efficiency, and lockstep organization.

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:23 PM

Page 95

Culture

Strategy

Guiding theme

Dependency needs of subordinates complement “strong leader” tendencies of chief executive; leader is idealized by “mirroring” subordinates; leader is catalyst for subordinates’ initiative and morale.

Hyperactive, impulsive, venturesome, dangerously uninhibited; executive prerogative to initiate bold ventures; diversifications and growth rarely consistent or integrated; action for action’s sake; nonparticipative decisionmaking.

Grandiosity: “I want to get attention from and impress the people who count in my life.”

“Fight-or-Flight” culture, including dependency, fear of attack, emphasis on the power of information, intimidation, uniformity, lack of trust.

Reactive, conservative, overly analytical; diversified; secretive.

“Some menacing force is out to get me; I had better be on my guard. I cannot really trust anybody.”

Lack of warmth or emotions; conflicts, jockeying for power; insecurity.

Vacillating, indecisive, inconsistent; the product of narrow, parochial perspectives.

“Reality does not offer satisfaction; interactions with others will fail; it is safer to remain distant.”

Lack of initiative; passivity; negativity; lack of motivation; ignorance of markets; leadership vacuum.

“Decidiphobia”; attention focused inward; lack of vigilance over changing market conditions; drifting with no sense of direction; confinement to antiquated “mature” markets.

“It is hopeless to change the course of events; I am just not good enough.”

Rigid, inward-directed, insular; subordinates are submissive, uncreative, insecure.

Tightly calculated and focused, exhaustive evaluation; slow, unadaptive; reliance on a narrow established theme; obsession with a single aspect of strategy, for example, cost-cutting or quality, to the exclusion of other factors.

“I don’t want to be at the mercy of events: I have to master and control all the things affecting me.”

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:23 PM

Page 96

96 / Leading the Congregation

The Suspicious Organization Leadership Style: Suspicious leaders are cold, defensive, hypersensitive— and they may also be vindictive. Few people are trusted. Blind to personal shortcomings, suspicious leaders project their faults onto others, insisting upon loyalty while controlling others through their insistence that people follow the leader’s agenda while conforming to details. Formal rules and intensive supervision characterize the management style of suspicious leaders, who likely hire and promote others who share their suspicions. People throughout the entire organization are seen as loyal supporters or critical enemies. Any loyal critic who expresses an honest opinion eventually pays the price; thus, the most dedicated members are eventually silenced. Organizational Structure: Since information is power, the suspicious organization will hoard power at the top. Vital information for making decisions is not shared with everyone; instead secrets are used for political purposes. People learn to survive when they use information as leverage. The quest for information becomes compelling for everyone as a means of defending oneself against perceived threats from others within the organization. At the same time, the suspicious organization searches to identify external threats as well. The paranoia creates an “institutionalization of suspicion” that impacts all decision-making. Time and energy are spent hoarding information while seeking to identify enemies from within and those outside the organization for political purposes of exercising power.26 Organizational Culture: Mistrust, hostility, and insecurity are the hallmarks of the suspicious organization. In “fight-or-flight” cultures, people jump on board and become suspicious of the same threats as the leader. Problems and information are distorted. People begin to see others as “good” or “bad” and “us” versus “them.” Those who comply with the leader’s wishes are rewarded, and those who do not are marginalized and ultimately sabotaged. The Strategy: The preoccupation with details and the energy expended from the distrust in monitoring the environment require backroom negotiations and a united front on behalf of decisions deemed controversial. The strategy in a suspicious organization is primarily driven by fear and the need for certainty during a time when creativity and risk work

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:23 PM

Page 97

The Interplay of Light and Shadow / 97

toward an advantage, especially when there are dramatic environmental changes. Precious energy is wasted when players become preoccupied with minutia and political infighting at the sacrifice of viewing the larger systemic dynamics required for effective strategic thinking.

The Detached Organization Leadership Style: Detached leaders prefer to be alone, valuing emotional distance more than interaction with others. As a result, people feel alienated from one another. Detached leaders are viewed as emotionally aloof and incapable of expressing affirmation of others. Repressing their own emotions, leaders appear indifferent to praise, criticism, or the feelings of others. Some detached leaders are natural introverts while others are bored and disinterested with their work routines.27 Working with detached leaders is hard for those who want to connect with their leaders through collaborative efforts. Organizational Structure: Detached organizations create a vacuum where mid-level leaders are unclear about their own authority. The default position for some is to pursue their own agenda, which eventually contributes to a fragmented organizational purpose. When information is used for political leverage, there will also be barriers and protection of guarded information. The preoccupation with internal politics will ultimately sabotage the mission, and eventually organizational alignment and effective communication are sacrificed for the pursuit of political and personal self-interests. Organizational Culture: Highly politicized environments are often the consequence of leaders who have created a vacuum in their absence through a “hands off” approach in their style of management. Insecurity and conflict are hallmarks of the detached organization. With leaders who are unavailable, middle management and others throughout the organization engage in political infighting over their turfs as they advance their own interests. Worse than politics is a climate where people no longer care enough to engage meaningfully in the pertinent issues. Thus, the emotional vacuum of detached relationships has drained the much-needed energy and commitment that are essential for a fruitful engagement in a common cause. The Strategy: In the detached organization, a few trusted members of an inner circle are involved in decision-making. But ambiguity prevails

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:23 PM

Page 98

98 / Leading the Congregation

with little sense of direction when the detached leader vacillates between the positions taken in the inner circle. If there is a strategy, it is the strong political maneuvering among middle managers; thus strategy is splintered as competing forces promote their own causes with no coherent plan in view.

The Depressive Organization Leadership Style: The depressive leader lacks initiative and selfconfidence. Feeling conflicted about their role as change agents, depressive leaders abdicate responsibility while allowing others to fill the vacuum—and wait for a “messiah” from the outside to rescue the organization. Organizational Structure: Formal authority is centralized around position, not expertise. Influence is expressed in policies and procedures rather than through personal initiatives. Thus, depressive organizations are better suited to stable environments where the organization can “run itself” in contrast to rapidly changing environments that demand dramatic adjustments in order to be responsive to the change. Depressive organizations have become timeworn bureaucracies that have lost sight of the changes within their environments. Instead, people exist to serve routinized processes, and those rewarded are known to play by the rules. The impersonal, patronizing structure exists to protect cherished programs that have become inflexible and outdated. Organizational Culture: The culture of a depressive organization, similar to the detached organization, also creates a leadership vacuum. But now there is the lack of initiative and pessimism at all levels. Without vision, the Old Testament prophet predicted that people would perish. With no vision, people also procrastinate, “pass the buck,” and continually make excuses for all failures, taking their cues from the top leader who sets the tone for the “no-win” lethargy. Depressive cultures may result from external forces such as a major crisis that can even discourage the healthier leaders who have lost personal confidence. Whatever the reasons, depressive organizations retreat to isolation and a declining hope of resilience.28 The Strategy: Leaders in depressive cultures feel little control over events—unable to change the conditions that would revitalize the organization. Procrastination and conformity are the two rules of strategy

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:23 PM

Page 99

The Interplay of Light and Shadow / 99

by default. Leaders avoid making decisions, they deny that any problems exist, or they focus entirely on past success—not on future opportunities and challenges. Whatever energy is left is spent on routine matters, and vision is sacrificed through the misguided efforts of keeping the machine running as long as possible on empty fuel gauges and sputtering engines.

The Compulsive Organization Leadership Style: Above everything else, compulsive leaders control others out of fear of being at the mercy of events or other people. The assumption of compulsive leaders is that more control will solve problems, and the fear of making mistakes prolongs indecisions within the organization. Compulsive leaders who take themselves seriously find it impossible to relax and enjoy relationships with colleagues. A preoccupation with perfectionism of details will trump the more important issues that go neglected. Thus vision is sacrificed for an obsession with the details of rules and regulations. Organizational Structure: A structure that emphasizes procedures and focuses less on ingenuity underscores the assumption that there should be no surprises or risks. Innovative, entrepreneurial initiatives are not tolerated, and the compulsive organization, similar to the suspicious organization, emphasizes formal controls. A crucial difference between suspicious and compulsive organizations is that compulsive organizations emphasize scrutiny almost exclusively on internal operations whereas suspicious organizations are also cognizant of external threats as well. Organizational Culture: The bureaucratic culture is depersonalized and paternalistic since the standardized details and ritualized roles are meant to increase leadership control. Compulsive leaders manage through precise expectations in policies rather than through collaboration. Thus the compulsive culture eventually drains enthusiasm, creativity, and initiative. The Strategy: As with depressed organizations, the environment of the compulsive organization must be relatively stable in order for it to survive. Nothing is left to serendipitous chance. The compulsive organization misses out on its most important opportunity for creative chaos, even as the carefully detailed, incremental steps eventually may lead to its irrelevance.29

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:23 PM

Page 100

100 / Leading the Congregation

The five neurotic expressions of leadership paint a montage that describes the shades of leadership, organizations, and strategies. There are hybrids of these expressions, such as suspicious-compulsive types, depressive-compulsive types, and detached-depressive leaders. The sobering issue is that each of us can be dismissive or blind to inner life contradictions, which nonetheless make an indelible impact upon the entire organization we serve. Any prescription for personal change runs counter to the personality of top leaders, who accept the self-concept of the one in charge and the one expecting to have answers. Perhaps this explains why a turnaround requires a dramatic conversion of leaders, an erosion of power, or the appointment of new leadership30—all of which never come easily. However, the most difficult prescription for change—and the most fruitful, redemptive, and fulfilling—is the leader’s conversion, or deep personal change.

Deep Change Robert Quinn juxtaposes deep change with slow death, personally and organizationally. He explains, “Making a deep change involves . . . ‘walking naked into the land of uncertainty.’ This is usually a terrifying choice, often involving a ‘dark night of the soul.’ It is therefore natural for each of us to deny that there is any need for deep change.”31 Leaders who embark on an intimate journey of faith come to know that the dark night is a necessary period of spiritual growth, albeit a time of darkness, disorientation, and feeling distant from God. What once seemed to be foundational is pulled out from under us as we become submerged in a purification process that is necessary for growth. Those who are willing to go through this journey reap the rewards of personal transformation.32 But deep change also requires that we give up control. Buttressed by a familiar competence in fulfilling our responsibilities, we surrender— however stubbornly—those existing patterns of how we view ourselves, how we do things, or how we relate to others. It is not easy. Perhaps a personal crisis becomes the doorway into this journey. But leaders who embark on this journey of deep change may draw upon a spiritual heritage of self-examination, confession, and accountability. Consider King David’s confession in the midst of his brokenness:

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:23 PM

Page 101

The Interplay of Light and Shadow / 101

O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and you are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely. (Ps 139:1-4) Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Ps 139:23-24)

The spiritual encounter with God as described by the psalmist is meant to invite healing, not self-condemnation. In our encounter with God, it may be a metanoia, a split second turn-around, or it may be a longer journey from a once divided life toward wholeness. But the darker shadows of the false self eventually dissipate, and the compulsions lose their grip when we are true to ourselves and surrender to the One who is waiting for us (Rev 3:20). New Testament scholar M. Robert Mulholland, Jr., poignantly describes the metaphor of the door: Whatever the door may be for us, it is something to which our false self has become attached and in which we are finding something of our identity, meaning, value or purpose. The hinges of this door are mounted in the depths of our being. To put it simply, the door is something we love more than we love God. To open this door is to breach the wall of our false self, to release our possessive grip that holds the door closed, to respond to the cruciform love of the nail-scarred hand that knocks, to receive the nurture into Christlikeness that is offered.33

We eventually learn that wholeness is not a station in life or an absolute state of perfection. The leader who is on a spiritual journey— moving from a divided life toward wholeness—embraces two undeniable truths: first, God’s love is unconditional and not predicated upon having it all together; and second, our anguish plays out in our distorted images of our selves, our self-centered compulsions, our need to control, and our illusions about what makes us feel we are accepted or important. In all of this, grace is at the heart of deep change for religious

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:23 PM

Page 102

102 / Leading the Congregation

leaders who confess there is nothing in their resume to earn God’s love and who acknowledge there is nothing they can do to “fix” themselves.34 Marjorie J. Thompson explains: “While we can grieve and disappoint this love, nothing we do or fail to do can alter its depth or reality. It is a gift, given. We cannot control whether God loves us by efforts to gain this love or even to lose it. Since we neither deserve nor earn such love, God’s fondest dream is that we will receive and respond to it.”35 Leading others on a journey toward wholeness is not without personal self-examination, including the nature of deep change. Jesuit priest Paul Robbs describes a second conversion as follows: It reaches deep into our being—our personality, our choice, our very self. It touches in places that are unknown, places where we are strangers . . . aspects of our interior put us in touch with our own light and darkness, our freedom and unfreedom, the living and stagnant parts of ourselves, our beliefs and our prejudices, with the heart of stone in our bodies which needs to be transformed. Yet this interior kingdom with its contrasts and opposites is the place to discover ourselves and life, the place where I know God is my God and I am his son or daughter.36

In the experience of conversion, the need for a defended pretense of the false self, displaying its shadows and compulsions, no longer drives us. The false identities of possessions, accomplishments, and power are replaced with humility and a true identity that is formed in Christ through his divine love for us. During times of pressure and insecurity, we might fall back on the familiar patterns of the false self with its phony promises. However, when we are awakened to this condition, it reminds us once again of God’s love and promise for deep change that is available to us—beginning now. Thus wholeness comes in the interplay of light and shadow, when we receive the light of God’s unconditional love and transforming power to penetrate the darkness of our failures and brokenness.

Questions for Reflection on the Neurotic Leadership Styles 1. Review Palmer’s shadows of leadership. Which of these seem familiar to you? How do they manifest themselves in your leadership, and in your organization?

BBMU004201QK006.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:23 PM

Page 103

The Interplay of Light and Shadow / 103

2. Review the neurotic styles of leadership. How do they—past or present—play out in your ministry settings? Do some descriptors of neurotic leadership styles repel you more than others? Why do you believe this is so? 3. Take some time to reflect upon the fruit of the Spirit as described by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22-25. Are there descriptors of the Spirit’s fruit that are more needed now in your leadership, and in your congregation? 4. Specifically, what are the steps you must take now to bring more light into your organization? 5. Have you ever embarked on a journey of deep change? Did it come about through personal discipline, an external crisis imposed on you, or by some other means? Where are you currently on the journey toward deep change? What are the markers?

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 104

Chapter Seven

Discerning Priorities, Making Choices I had been blessed with work so purposeful that taking time off from it felt like a betrayal of divine trust.1 Barbara Brown Taylor Many priests and ministers today increasingly perceive themselves as having very little impact. They are very busy, but they do not see much change. It seems that their efforts are fruitless. . . . In this climate of secularization, Christian leaders feel less and less relevant and more and more marginal.2 Henri J. M. Nouwen Surely the very essential of a dedicated life is our free acquiescence in this: that simple act of acceptance which combines rightful action with perfect obedience.3 Evelyn Underhill And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. John 15:16b

WEmbracing the demands of ministry each day is responsible stew-

hat does it mean to be productive for a day, or over a lifetime?

ardship for some leaders while it is an escape for others. A challenging pace is exhilarating for some and exhausting for others. Regardless of motives in the midst of ministry’s demands, few leaders boast of free time for themselves or with their families and friends. Expressing the reality of living with habitual loose ends, Barbara Brown Taylor describes the parish priest as serving a God who never stops calling people to do more justice and love more mercy, and simultaneously to serve people who nine times out of ten 104

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 105

Discerning Priorities, Making Choices / 105

are just looking for a safe place to rest. To be a priest is to know that things are not as they should be and yet to care for them the way they are. To be a priest is to suspect that there is always something more urgent that you should be doing, no matter what you are doing, and to make peace with the fact that the work will never get done.4

Ministry is all-consuming when urgencies rush daily toward the leader, calling out for an immediate response while carrying out the normal responsibilities of pastoring amidst family and personal commitments.

Discerning Priorities in Role Demands In his seminal work on pastoral leadership, Jackson W. Carroll reported the recent studies on clergy roles and time commitments: The median number of hours spent at work each week for all clergy, regardless of denomination and whether full- or part-time, is fortyeight. . . . For those who work full-time (defined as thirty-five or more hours per week), the median is fifty-one. Part-timers average twentythree hours a week . . . preaching and worship leadership (including sermon preparation time for each) accounted for 22 and 8 percent respectively of a pastor’s weekly work time. Thirteen percent was spent in teaching and training people for ministry. All of these are important ways that pastors engage in cultural production, especially shaping meanings and perceptions. Administration, including attending congregational meetings, took 14 percent of the week. Fifteen percent was spent in pastoral care (counseling, spiritual direction, and visitation). Evangelism, including visiting prospective members, involved 7 percent, and denominational meetings and community activities took up 3 and 2 percent respectively. Beyond this, clergy reported spending an average of seven hours each week in prayer and meditation and another four in reading that is not part of sermon preparation.5

Passionate leaders freely pour their heart and soul into their ministry. As stated earlier, the same demands that motivate some are burdensome to others. Rabbi and therapist Edwin H. Friedman points out that divided intentions dispel the leader’s power needed to address ministry’s demands “into discontinuous directions and crazy-quilt patterns. Worse, the patterns themselves are so inextricably interwoven that whenever we

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 106

106 / Leading the Congregation

are stretched in one direction the fabric of our lives is simultaneously tugged in another.”6 Leaders most susceptible to burnout do not necessarily work too hard. Rather, they confuse their own identity with the roles they fulfill by playing up to the expectations of others and working too hard for their approval. Leaders know there is some distortion of personal identity when they believe all criticisms and positive things said about them. The interplay of guilt and caring for others, and not for ourselves, eventually results in our growing resentment against those for whom we were called to serve. One pastor expressed that “Being in ministry is like being ‘stoned with popcorn.’ . . . You know, it’s just one little thing after another until you feel buried in it.”7 When feeding others becomes our daily sustenance, we may not realize how hungry we ourselves really are.8 A sobering reality prevails when leaders who work hard all of their lives end up restless, tired, cynical, and empty—which is in sharp contrast to the instructions of Jesus not to worry about the daily cares of existence (Matt 6:25-34). Success itself breeds spiritual suffocation as described by Henri Nouwen, who experienced a radical reframing of vocational fruitfulness. He explains: After twenty years in the academic world as a teacher of pastoral psychology, pastoral theology, and Christian spirituality, I began to experience a deep inner threat. As I entered into my fifties and was able to realize the unlikelihood of doubling my years, I came face to face with the simple question, “Did becoming older bring me closer to Jesus?” After twenty-five years of priesthood, I found myself praying poorly, living somewhat isolated from other people, and very much preoccupied with burning issues. Everyone was saying that I was doing well, but something inside was telling me that my success was putting my own soul in danger. I began to ask myself whether my lack of contemplative prayer, my loneliness, and my constantly changing involvement in what seemed most urgent were signs that the Spirit was gradually being suppressed. It was very hard for me to see clearly, and though I never spoke about hell or only jokingly so, I woke up one day with the realization that I was living in a very dark place and that the term “burnout” was a convenient psychological translation for a spiritual death.9

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 107

Discerning Priorities, Making Choices / 107

Nouwen’s successful career script within the academy was interrupted when the founder of l’Arche communities, Jean Vanier, said to him: “Go and live among the poor in spirit, and they will heal you.”10 What it meant to be fruitful in the academy was radically different from l’Arche Daybreak’s mission of “making known the gifts of people with intellectual disabilities.”11 The leadership demands also impose upon us a way of thinking that keeps us trapped in self-defeating patterns known as the logic of task pursuit.12

The Logic of Task Pursuit Embracing familiar patterns in our daily lives is inevitable because of past success and current habits, and breaking even bad habits is difficult when we are caught up in the logic of task pursuit. The story to illustrate this phenomenon is the hermit who must chop enough wood for his own survival during the winter so his cabin is heated throughout the long season. An early storm was fast approaching, and his woodpile was barely started. His saw needed sharpening, but more wood was also needed in order to ride out the storm. So the hermit began his work, frantically, making some progress. Realizing that his saw needed sharpening, he nevertheless decided to work harder than ever, and he would not stop to waste any time. As the storm unleashed its unforgiving force, the hermit fell exhausted without enough wood to survive this calamity. The hermit had become a victim of the logic of task pursuit even though he knew that his saw had become dull and ineffective in its purpose.13 The logic of task pursuit is multiplied when embedded within the organizational culture. The founder of VISA, Dee Hock, has asked different groups of people over the years to carefully reflect on their work and develop a balance sheet: How much time, energy, and ingenuity did they spend obeying senseless rules and procedures that had little to do with the results they were expected to achieve; how much did they devote to circumventing those rules and procedures in order to do something productive with the remainder; how much was wasted interpreting such rules and enforcing them on others; how much did they simply withhold due to frustration and futility? It is a rare person who arrives at a sum of less than 50 percent. Eighty is not uncommon.14

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 108

108 / Leading the Congregation

The lists may be different in local congregations and nonprofit organizations, but the maxim remains true: “The doing of the doing is why nothing gets done.”15 The unexamined assumption is that working harder is beneficial even when the saw is dull, in contrast to the leader who, taking the “sacrificial” time to sharpen the saw, will more likely possess a renewed capacity to fulfill the necessary tasks. The antidote to being overwhelmed by the demands of ministry is to retreat often enough in order to reframe realities and return with a refreshed perspective of the right priorities. Our premise for this chapter is this: Being fruitful is a dynamic interplay of the leader’s intimate spirituality with God balanced by personal giftedness and commitment to the right priorities in working with others toward the fulfillment of a common mission. The following principles are for leaders who are willing to take the necessary time to “sharpen the saw” in order to discern priorities toward a more fruitful ministry.

Connect Your Charisms with What the Congregation Needs Most to Fulfill Its Mission Consider first, What do I do well?16 Early church teachings on spiritual gifts released within the body of Christ (1 Cor 4:7) remain a revolutionary concept of an organizational design. When members exercise their gifts for the common good, then weaknesses within the body become increasingly irrelevant. In 1926, Lloyd C. Douglass admonished clergy to daily “ascertain as early as possible what features of your ministry are most effective; what things you do best and with the finest results; what things are most rewarding to your sense of duty fulfilled—and concentrate on these things.”17 Second, How can I apply the one thing that I do well to the fundamental needs and purpose of the organization? This question connects the stewardship of individual gifts with organizational purpose. Persons who are self-serving, whose gifts lie dormant, or who serve political agendas, will eventually sabotage the common mission. Therefore, leaders must be good stewards of their own gifts as well as being dedicated to the premise that each person exercise spiritual gifts for the benefit of the organization. Third, How can I project what I do well on that which must be done now? When we determine the one thing that we must do for the organization to fulfill its mission, then we will escape the activity trap that

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 109

Discerning Priorities, Making Choices / 109

perpetuates the status quo. To do the one thing necessary pushes us back to the fundamental priorities for being both faithful and effective. Peter F. Drucker reminds us that the Lord creates very few, if any, universal geniuses; it is far better to be brilliant in one thing than to be mediocre in several.18 Related to the necessary leverage for fundamental priorities are the metaphors of gold and silver threads.

The Golden and Silver Threads Searching for the one thing necessary that only we can do is akin to the quest described in many stories within the literature as one who searches for the “golden vial” or the “golden coin.” In like manner, finding the golden thread is to identify the one thing that will make the fundamental difference within an organization. The results of finding the golden thread are systemic and far-reaching, but the impetus may be a small but strategic change. Though it may take minimum effort to make the golden thread a reality, and while it may not be obvious to those who are most connected to the problem, the golden thread yields important consequences.19 Thus it is high leverage. For example, minor changes in personal diet, exercise, and spiritual practices over time can yield significant results. Often a key nuance with any of these enables us to follow through in our commitments in a way that makes the difference. Cistercian monk Thomas Keating claims that twenty minutes of centering prayer in the morning and twenty minutes in the afternoon result in personal change, or what Keating calls divine therapy.20 Something similar can be true for religious organizations. In every organization there is a golden thread, an innovation that potentially yields significant results, though taking hold of it may come with great risk because people are comfortable with the familiar and resist being changed. Examples of the golden thread include: implementing a variety of music genres in worship services, rethinking the purpose and structure of small groups, starting a new ministry within the community, or making a dramatic change in the facilities. Leaders who anticipate the golden thread must continue to think through the fundamental priorities of the congregation that yield systemic change results. While there is only one golden thread, there may be two or three silver threads—those smaller innovations that bring a new dimension to

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 110

110 / Leading the Congregation

some part of the congregation. Therefore if leaders cannot immediately identify the golden thread, then they may look for one or more silver threads and concentrate on them. Since silver threads are often the challenges that someone else can do, leaders do well to consider giving each silver thread to the best performers in the congregation, and ask them to concentrate on this priority alone.21 Projecting our personal charisms on the most fundamental needs and mission of the organization is a process that also necessitates the leader being clear about personal bedrock priorities.

Become Clear about Bedrock Priorities Robert Greenleaf surveyed approximately 350 executives with the following question: “What are the results you are responsible for? . . . ‘If you were your boss and somebody else was in your job, what things would you look at in order to make up your mind about how well this job . . . is being done?’ ”22 Greenleaf reported that most executives had a tough time answering this fundamental question about results. Becoming clear about results influences how leaders approach their daily priorities. What leaders become clear about—and committed to— is what they will accomplish. Amid the trivia of daily urgencies, it is easy to lay aside one’s priorities. Thus when the leaders’ bedrock commitments are communicated with others on the ministry team, they become like a beacon that guides the team in a clearer understanding of what needs to be done, and how the team can support one another in the members’ respective priorities. The leadership team may also identify a strategic priority of the entire congregation to which all leaders focus their energy—such as identifying a new focus for serving the community hit by a natural disaster, or making a concerted effort to identify reasons for attrition in ministries of the congregation. When you have decided upon your fundamental priorities that connect your personal charisms to the mission and fundamental needs of the organization: 1. State them in writing along with the results you hope to achieve in each of them.

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 111

Discerning Priorities, Making Choices / 111

2. Write out a brief statement of how you plan to accomplish them (These personal plans can be brief enough to place on a single page). 3. Finally set aside a day every 1-3 months to review what you have written, to see what you have accomplished, and to plan your strategies for the next several months. The simplicity and practice of this principle will influence the accomplishment of your fundamental priorities. Prioritizing the few things that make a difference in the congregation enables leaders to stay out of the activity trap, but this alone is not enough. Leaders must also communicate their priorities to the leadership team and to others in the congregation.

Communicate Your Priorities Greenleaf asked leaders another question: “What are you trying to do?”23 On face value this question seems simple. Observing the various ministries of leaders, one can assume that leaders know what they are trying to do, but people cannot support the priorities that are not clearly communicated.24 Thus the guiding principle is this: Do not surprise people by keeping your priorities a secret. Make them clear and send them to those whose support you depend upon to achieve them. Your written communication might include 1. (Over the time period identified) I am going to concentrate on these priorities. 2. How would this affect you and your interests or responsibilities? 3. What are your priorities?

Manage Time in Light of Your Priorities Ineffective leaders are plagued by either of two extremes in their inability to manage priorities: compulsion and procrastination. Compulsive

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 112

112 / Leading the Congregation

leaders get caught in the logic of task pursuit, described earlier in the chapter—working harder than ever but becoming emotionally attached to irrelevancies that are not tied to missional effectiveness. Leaders who procrastinate may perform well nearer the deadlines amidst growing pressures, but the impact on others often results in frantic efforts, increasing anxiety, and less than high quality work. Both compulsive and procrastinating leaders tend to get stuck in what some have called “marginless living”25—being late to meetings, experiencing predictable interruptions on a Sabbath, thinking about work instead of relaxing with the family, feeling tired, anxious, or constantly in a hurry. A key to understanding compulsions and procrastination is to know the difference betwen the priorities of urgency and importance.

Priorities of Urgency and Importance26 According to Stephen Covey urgency defines whether or not we give attention to the demands—now! The issue may be unimportant or a crisis, but a sense of urgency compels us to stop what we are doing and respond immediately. Feeling pressure to react to the urgent, we must also guard the time we have to pay attention to essential priorities of missional effectiveness. A time-management matrix in Figure 7.1 illustrates the difference between the urgent and important priorities in ministry.27 Leaders who spend their time with urgent and important matters in Quadrant I address important issues that require immediate attention. But when leaders stay too long in this quadrant, the alternative to survive the constant pressure is to move toward the activities in Quadrant IV that are unimportant and not-urgent. The change in addressing the less demanding issues provides some relief, but the bottom line is that leaders who lead by crisis tend to spend most of their time in Quadrants I and IV while neglecting the non-urgent and important priorities of Quadrant II. Religious leaders who spend much of their time dealing with urgent and unimportant matters in Quadrant III have developed bad habits. They may assume they are in Quadrant I, but the felt urgencies may actually be the expectations of others, the inability to say no, or the leader’s own need to stay busy. Those who spend most of their time in Quadrants III and IV for the most part lead irresponsible lives, unable to manage themselves effectively.

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 113

Discerning Priorities, Making Choices / 113

Figure 7.1 Time Management Matrix Urgent I m p o r t a n t

U n i m p o r t a n t

Not Urgent

Quadrant I

Quadrant II

Crisis Deadlines, problems Serious misunderstanding among team leaders

Building relationships with others Strategic priorities Meaningful work Professional and personal development Sabbath

Quadrant III

Quadrant IV

Some telephone calls, mail, reports, meetings and interruptions, etc. ...

Busy work, trivia work, some telephone calls, reports, meetings, time wasters, etc. . . .

The heart of managing your own effectiveness lies in Quadrant II. Now the leader addresses concerns that are important, but not necessarily urgent. The resistance to focusing priorities in this quadrant for some is the tendency to procrastinate when the issues are not urgent. Robert Greenleaf, attempting to find time to get things done in his job, observed his boss, who never seemed hurried, had time to meet with people, and was able to concentrate on the strategic priorities that produced long-term leverage. But there is a trade-off—leaders who concentrate on one set of priorities must neglect something else. Greenleaf called this discipline the “systematic neglect” of the less important.28 By concentrating on non-urgent and important priorities in Quadrant II, the urgent and important issues in Quadrant I are reduced considerably. Thus

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 114

114 / Leading the Congregation

Quadrant II is a vital key to managing one’s own effectiveness. Here the leader’s priorities include strengthening vital relationships, taking time to think through important, strategic priorities, investing in professional development, caring for oneself and family, honoring the Sabbath, and spending time with God. For leaders who spend most of their time in Quadrants I (urgent/important) and III (urgent/unimportant), it may seem unrealistic to be in Quadrant II (non-urgent/important). Nouwen tells of his own experience when the demands of teaching pressed in on him. While he was taking a prayer sabbatical at a Trappist monastery, some students dropped in on the second day. After struggling with the invitation to spend time with them when he had come on the retreat to spend time alone, he wrote: “The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help . . . let them be part of your life in God.”29

Utilize the Influence of Your Own Example The influence of your own example, whether intentional or not, makes an impact upon the congregation’s attitudes and ministry involvement— for good or ill. The way you live out your priorities makes known your own values while influencing the success of others, both of which support or hinder your own effectiveness and the ministries of the congregation. When thinking about the influence of your example, there are several things to consider. First, do the things you want others to do. For example, if you expect people in the congregation to belong to a covenant group, then participate in one yourself. If you wish people to take time for a spiritual retreat or participate in a community service project, show by the example of your own commitment to the priorities of ministry that you promote and the values that you espouse. Invite individuals to a discernment process and provide them with high-quality training that explores the richness, challenges, and rewards of ministries. Enlist those with experience to help train others. Leaders who equip others through their example and quality training of others become indispensable gifts that continuously build up the body of Christ (Eph 4:11-12).

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 115

Discerning Priorities, Making Choices / 115

A prime example is the role model that President Jimmy Carter demonstrated in Habitat for Humanity, which was a little-known ministry until Carter quietly picked up a hammer and went to work. No speeches, no large financial contribution, just putting on overalls and working alongside others. This is what captured the imagination of others, who soon found themselves giving their time and effort to building homes for the poor. Would Jimmy Carter have captured the attention of the press by giving speeches on the housing needs for the poor? Would he have succeeded in getting the message of Habitat for Humanity on prime-time news? We think not. For Carter to have given substantial amounts of money to any particular cause would be expected, given his financial means. But for a former president to join the rank and file—this is newsworthy. What is so compelling about his example is that he continued to do it. We suspect it is because he felt called of God to this ministry, and because he knows that if he wants the program to flourish he has to set the example, again and again. Second, set your own standards of performance high; then expect a high quality contribution from others. When leaders concede to the temptation that protects incompetent people or rewards mediocre ministry, the entire congregation suffers. Be as consistent in your expectations with others as you are with yourself. People tend to rise to the level of expectations the leader holds for them. If you set low expectations for yourself, this is what you will accomplish. If you set low expectations for others, this is what they will achieve. No one rises above the level of his own self-expectations, and few rise above the example set by the leader. Third, reward work well done. Leaders do well when they take time to celebrate the faithful ministries of people and the milestones represented in the life of the congregation. Find ways to affirm persons personally—and generously honor them for their work. Leaders are indispensable to creating a genuine climate of goodwill, which is central to the ways in which we “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Heb 10:24).

BBMU004201QK007.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:25 PM

Page 116

116 / Leading the Congregation

Time carries with it no guarantee that it will serve us—it is only made available to us. Thus we are responsible to learn how to get the most out of the passing hours, days, months, and years. Being a faithful steward is learning to discern the right priorities—and to make the right choices. Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. Goethe

Questions for Reflection on Being Fruitful, Discerning Priorities 1. Of the four quotations at the beginning of this chapter, which one best describes you or your station in life? 2. Which leadership roles identified by Jackson Carroll are most natural to you, and which are most difficult? Do some give you energy while others drive you toward the edge? 3. Describe a condition in which you found yourself trapped in the logic of task pursuit. 4. In reviewing the three questions that connect your charisms with what the organization needs most, which of them need further reflection on your part? 5. Have you had an experience about the golden thread or the “unobvious” leverage that produced significant results? How would you think about this in relation to your present experience? In a similar vein, comment on the silver threads. 6. How do you discern your own priorities amidst all the demands? What do you believe about being explicit with others about your priorities? 7. Think about your time invested this week and the priorities in light of urgency and importance. How have you put into practice Greenleaf’s idea of systematic neglect, or what in your life might you put into this category? 8. Do you search out the contemporary Zacchaeus in your life, or would this be an “unwelcomed” interruption? In Part One, we have concentrated primarily on leading from within. In Part Two we focus on leading with others; we describe what it takes to form teams, manage conflict, explore the emotional processes of teams, and examine the governing principles of boards and pastoral teams.

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 117

PART TWO

LEADING WITH OTHERS

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 118

PART TWO

Leading with Others While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. Luke 9:43b-46

Wnot have found someone who would be a better choice? The early hat was Jesus thinking when he called these disciples? Could he

disciples’ commitment to Christ and to one another was tested through conflict. They did not fully grasp the mission to which Jesus called them. Though they had witnessed his teachings and miracles, they were still in the dark regarding the realities of God’s kingdom. Even with the disciples’ incomplete understanding, faults, and failed relationships, Jesus did not give up his intention to form a community that would continue to expand his mission after his death. Jesus also understood that in order to fulfill his mission, he had to die—alone. Only then did the disciples realize the radical nature of the kingdom that eventually resulted in many of their own sacrificial deaths. Throughout history, leaders have been tempted to go it alone, some with extraordinary charisma that inspired others to accomplish great things. However, the leadership culture that settles for anything less than empowering and caring relationships has compromised the lessons learned from the example of the One who would not give up investing himself in the lives of others. Thus the disciples who experienced deep, personal change transformed the world as a result of their being in relationship with Jesus. There is a rediscovery of the kind of leaders who serve, care for, empower, and disciple others through a more intimate community that is dedicated to a compelling mission. 118

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 119

Leading with Others / 119

Leading with others, not over or apart from others, taps into a potentially deep commitment within a leadership community; the assumption is that teams, dedicated to a shared purpose and to one another, synergistically yield more results than the sum of individual efforts. The struggle to form a team is real, and some leaders follow the path of least resistance, investing less time and energy in their formation and development. However, leadership by definition requires a relationship with others, though the question remains: what kind of relationship? The organic metaphors in the scriptures—such as body, family, priesthood of all believers, spiritual house, and vine and branches—imply a rich heritage of people being together and honoring one another in order to grow in faith and fruitfulness. In this fraternity of relationships, the intent to honor one another can quickly turn into disappointing others. But with the help of the Spirit, the redeeming process takes place when leaders become intentional in a communal spirituality while helping others work through their differences so that conflict can result in closer ties and clearer purpose. In chapter 8 we probe the meaning of team ethos; in chapter 9 we examine the dynamics of team formation. Chapter 10 highlights the demands of working through conflict, and chapter 11 explores the emotional processes of teams. Finally in chapter 12 we explore the responsibilities of the congregation’s pastoral team and governing board.

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 120

Chapter Eight

Team Ethos I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well. Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert in Asia for Christ. Greet Mary, who has worked very hard among you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. Greet my relative Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; and greet his mother—a mother to me also. Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who are with them. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. Rom 16:1-16

Tscription of an ethos that illustrates the value of belonging to a com-

he Apostle Paul’s personal greeting to his colleagues in Rome is a de-

munity of leaders. Paul did not establish the church in Rome, nor was there any record of his visiting them. Yet this is the longest list of greetings in all of his letters; these women and men were an integral part of Paul’s network of ministry colleagues. But the ethos of the community was not limited to personal acknowledgments. Throughout his corre120

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 121

Team Ethos / 121

spondence, Paul engaged in conversations with them, challenging them to be an authentically Christian community so that they would sustain their commitments to one another and to their reconciling mission in the world as a marginalized people within the dominant culture.1 The interior logic of Paul’s mission strategy is a dynamic, relational community whose trust and shared values expanded into increasingly collaborative, energized networks of missionary leaders.2 Paul accentuated an ethos of empowerment and intimacy within the leadership community; consider his farewell to the elders from Ephesus: [Paul] knelt down with them all and prayed. There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again. Then they brought him to the ship. (Acts 20:36-38)

These intimate moments were preceded by the earlier accounts of Paul enduring trials, imprisonment, and persecutions while “serving the Lord with all humility and with tears” (Acts 20:19a). As often is the case, a close-knit leadership community is galvanized by external hardships. The ethos of leadership networks in the New Testament is difficult to grasp for many contemporary religious leaders who grew up with modernity’s proclivity toward “hero” leaders3 and relying on leadership images within Old Testament narratives, such as Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Gideon, Elijah, Nehemiah, and David. These images reinforce the divide between leaders and followers and remain ingrained in the conscious and subconscious ideals of leadership. Thus some religious leaders remain convinced that the leader as “hero” is what congregations need most—someone to rally larger numbers to participate in welldesigned, quality programs. However, people acquainted with large congregations understand that solo leaders could not last long without multiple cadres of leadership teams that contribute to the vitality of the congregation and its ministries. Religious leaders are increasingly becoming more intentional about teamwork. The ethos of a team is defined by its shared purpose and shaped by its own culture, including its history, experiences, and expectations of members over time. Thus the genius of leadership is to create a team ethos in which participants—uniquely diverse in personal histories, experiences, gifts, weaknesses, and dreams—gather together to share

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 122

122 / Leading the Congregation

spiritual life and to discern how to engage mission with the contemporary culture.

What Is Our Shared Purpose? The psalmist described those who experienced the Lord restoring Zion as being “like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy” (Ps 126:1b-2a). People who dream can seem delirious. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter, the transformed apostle, explained how God’s Spirit is poured out on “all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and emale slaves, in those days, I will pour out my Spirit” (Acts 2:17-18). Peter’s prophecy, based on Joel 2:28-29, was used to explain the phenomenon that had caused some to believe these believers were “filled with new wine” (Acts 2:13b). But the passage itself implies a variety of people engaged in prophetic witness, dreams, and visions. Peter’s experience in Acts 10 convinced him to reframe his own position regarding the Gentiles, and he persuaded others to get on board with the more radical nature of church identity and mission that would surprisingly include the Gentiles (see Acts 15). The Apostle Paul was the social architect behind a collaborative leadership network whose members were “key partners [with Paul] in his complex and wide-reaching mission to spread Christianity and sustain fledgling Christian communities.”4 However, Paul knew this mission would not be fulfilled if the community were not fully committed to one other and to their shared purpose. Paul’s correspondence was meant to help these communities stay together on task, which was difficult when members were culturally diverse and spread out geographically. The application for contemporary teams is this: people hunger for purpose,5 and teams often fail because of a purpose ill defined or one less than compelling. Team members who are unclear about their identity and purpose, or the results they pursue, will often struggle with important choices. However, a clear direction motivates the team to move out of its comfort zone while providing an important benchmark to measure the best possible judgments about their decisions reached.

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 123

Team Ethos / 123

To more fully understand a team ethos, it is important to consider the team dynamics inherent in the following questions: Who is on the team? What are our guiding principles? What is our shared purpose?

Who Is on the Team? Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, in his book Leadership from Inside Out, stresses the principle that self-assured leaders must learn to empower and trust teams with this simple assumption: “ ‘None of us is as good as all of us.’ Or, as in the African proverb shared by Dr. Sam Kobia when he was elected the new general secretary of the World Council of Churches, ‘If you want to go fast, walk alone. If you want to go far, walk together.’ ”6 Knowing who is on the team is essential when attempting to understand the team dynamics. How will the unique personalities get along? Do people trust each other? Will they stay together when making tough decisions? Teamwork can be exhilarating and difficult because of diverse personalities on the team, and it only takes one person to make the difference, for good or ill. Each person contributes to the team from a unique perspective, and there are times when a perspective may change dramatically. For example, what Peter brought to the community of disciples before the crucifixion of Jesus was in sharp contrast to the Apostle Peter after the Day of Pentecost events. This was possible because Jesus stayed connected to Peter in spite of his false promises and betrayal. How many of us would have given up on ourselves much sooner than Peter did, perhaps never to return to the community of disciples? And unlike Jesus, how many of us would have given up on Peter? We are dismayed to discover that those who are close to us may also disappoint us, which reminds us how vulnerable the team can be and how the ethos of the community is a dynamic ebb and flow even as changes occur in the lives of its team members. Foundational to the much-needed trust among different personalities is taking the necessary time to get to know one another by sharing individual stories of one’s experiences, family of origin, and faith journeys.7 Where were you born? Tell me about your childhood and the challenges of growing up. How did your early experiences shape you? When were you first aware of God? When did you make a consequential commitment to God? When has God seemed closest? When has God seemed far

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 124

124 / Leading the Congregation

away? What have been your experiences of teams—the best and worst? Taking time for personal narratives can provide a context for more fully understanding one another: appreciating strengths, accepting weaknesses, and softening the edges that certainly become more visible in conflict. The emotional responses during conflict bring out the best, as well as the insecurities, in people. “Going to the balcony” is a metaphor used for standing back and viewing the systemic nature of team communication patterns.8 Who says what to whom? What are the triggering events and the reactive patterns of individuals? Who gets upset over what issues? Is the team stuck? What part do people play in these dynamics? Going to the balcony helps one gain a holistic perspective of the team’s behavioral dynamics and reframe the patterns. Moving back and forth between the balcony and the stage brings a deeper understanding to the dynamics of the team’s ethos. With practice, leaders can be at both places at the same time, learning to more fully understand the team’s dynamics and thereby making the necessary adjustments.

Questions for Reflection 1. How much do you know about the personal background of your team colleagues? 2. How do specific personalities contribute to the team dynamics—positively and negatively? What role do you play? 3. How would you describe the big-picture dynamics of your team? Are there predictable patterns within the team when there is anxiety, conflict, and pressure? 4. How do you influence the big-picture dynamics of your team? What changes might you make to improve the team dynamics?

What Are the Team’s Guiding Principles? Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 125

Team Ethos / 125

would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. (1 Cor 12:14-26)

Paul’s metaphor of the body is a radical critique of contemporary organizational structure that is defined by position and power. The body metaphor speaks toward a particular kind of design that promotes mutual care and individual parts working together in ways that contribute to the common good. The metaphor’s radical assumption is that the “weaker” members are indispensable as all members work together and stay connected to Jesus Christ, the head of the body. Therefore, all the parts become strong and unified. This simple design for ministry goes to the heart of how teams can define an ethos of working together toward a common purpose. The team ethos especially connects to postmodern realities when (1) hierarchies flatten while collaborative networks expand, (2) collaboration is based on trust, authenticity, and diversity of gifts, and (3) teams embrace a communal spirituality. First, hierarchies flatten while collaborative networks expand. It is difficult to change our perception that equates leadership with position. Some have argued that this misconception, more than anything else, has prevented people from understanding the true nature of leadership.9 Hierarchy confers a certain authority, but neither title nor position makes a leader, nor is either necessary for one to lead. One could argue there will always be an informal hierarchy in any group because some team members gain more informal influence than others. However, a line is crossed when influence becomes paternalistic or when any member’s creativity and gifts are stifled.

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 126

126 / Leading the Congregation

Hierarchy may expose its own vulnerability, as illustrated by Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold Leavitt, who point out the following: “It is said that Henry VIII found it easy to destroy the large and powerful Catholic abbeys of the sixteenth-century England precisely because they were so tightly organized and closely controlled from the top. When he beheaded the abbot, the whole rigidly linked structure began to crumble.”10 The Church of Rome that was parent of those abbeys has managed to survive until this time even though it is also hierarchical. Why? Because the Church put up with its own share of innovative groups— some of them welcomed, some not. There remains much to learn when experimenting with teams and expanding diverse networks. Richard Ascough and Sandy Cotton comment on Paul’s strategy of networks that was illustrated in his letter to the church in Rome: Paul appears to be at the centre of both the process and the evolving network, but clearly he relies on key people in his network to sustain the movement’s momentum. In a sense, they are members of his core leadership team, those critical and trusted colleagues who share dispersed leadership in the network of early Christians. . . . His willingness to share leadership with key colleagues made his relationship-based strategy work across social, cultural, and geographic boundaries.11

Expressions of renewal movements that are pronounced in the emerging church demonstrate a desire to order their lives in a faith community that broadens conversations through organic networks. A graduate student in one of our classes who was a well-established professional had moved from England with his family and others to be part of a large congregation in the western United States. In this instance, networking had crossed denominations and continents to experiment with transplanting leaders in order to bring renewal and a fresh perspective on ministry. These trends will continue to expand through the Internet and interpersonal networks that will continue to cross denominational and cultural boundaries as leaders learn new ways to structure ministry in the twenty-first century. Second, collaboration is based on trust, authenticity, and diversity of gifts. The metaphor of the body of Christ goes to the heart of the difference between collaboration according to the creative expression of

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 127

Team Ethos / 127

diverse gifts and controlling others to get them in line in order to follow the leader’s wishes. The first is predicated on intrinsic motivation, the latter is primarily external compliance. Positional authority is necessary and useful, but it can also stand in the way of a team’s progress when it withholds the responsibility a team must claim for itself. Eventually authority must rest within the team itself—when team ethos is such that members trust each other, they value one another’s gifts, and ministry truly becomes a collaborative effort. The lack of trust is foundational to a team’s dysfunction.12 In contrast, studies demonstrate that the most important characteristics of team relationships are openness and supportiveness, and the greatest challenge of teams is dealing with contention among their members.13 Openness demonstrates the willingness of the team to communicate with one another, especially during conflict. Supportiveness treats others in a positive manner, helps others feel confident about themselves and their gifts, and encourages others to do their very best. Tension and declining trust get in the way of openness and vulnerability. Therefore, learning to be honest in team relationships without becoming defensive demonstrates maturity that is predicated on members’ trust. Perhaps this is why team ministry is so difficult, and resisted. The conflict dynamic necessary to develop competent, caring teams is the same dynamic that makes us resist our own involvement on teams—because they call for our best effort and commitment. We can assume that trust and authenticity are reached through successful negotiation of conflict, but this is not enough. Team effectiveness also depends upon the opportunity for members to employ their gifts. Professors Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger cited the frustrations of a creative “sideliner”: Sitting in pews; standing up; sitting down; the same format each week. It just wasn’t working for us. As artists, writers, creative people, the single, fixed configuration of soft-rock worship and three-point linear preaching was a body not only we felt uncomfortable in but was dying around us. We were frustrated. We sat each week surrounded by some of the brightest talents in film, TV, theater, art, social work, and politics who were made to watch in virtual silence because they didn’t play guitar and didn’t preach. These were the only two gifts that were acceptable as worship. It just seemed such a waste. We just thought it

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 128

128 / Leading the Congregation

was outrageous that we had all these gifts that were being used in the corporate world, in the market economy, and were being snubbed for poorly done soft-rock and two-bit oratory in church. We saw that if worship was about gift, then what we brought to worship had to be integral to us, something meaningful from who we were. —Kester Brewin, Vaux, London14

A fundamental discipline for leaders who are dedicated to empowering others is to promote opportunities for people to employ their gifts. Everyone has a part to play as gatekeepers of gifts through personal encouragement for others “to step outside the box” and to try a more excellent way. On December 5, 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed from the island of South Georgia with the goal of crossing Antarctica. Shackleton with his old companion Frank Wild chose twenty-five other explorers who were described as follows: “complex and diverse, the group was composed of men with a range of temperaments, personalities, and technical skills, including medicine, navigation, carpentry, and photography. The team was also diverse in social class, ranging from university professors to fishermen, and in age. The oldest, McNeish, the carpenter, was fiftyseven.”15 The saga of this expedition records a team being pushed to its limits: becoming trapped in ice forty-five days after the departure, experiencing the destruction of their ship, Endurance, on Day 327 of the expedition, dealing with the one-man mutiny from the carpenter McNeish, crossing the Scotia Sea and glaciers, and eventually being rescued on Day 634. All members of the team expedition survived because of the persistent, extraordinary leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleton, who believed in his team more than they believed in themselves. The team with diverse gifts did survive and learned a unique camaraderie that was born and nourished in this amazing story of stamina and vision.16 Third, teams embrace a communal spirituality. Teams who trust each other and honor one another’s gifts also have the capacity to grow more deeply in their spiritual lives together. This offers the opportunity for group discernment or what Mary Benet McKinney describes as “sharing wisdom.” She writes: The Spirit, in order to share with us the very wisdom of God, promises to each of us a piece of the wisdom. Repeat: a piece! No one can

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 129

Team Ethos / 129

contain all the wisdom of God, for that would be to be God. However, the Spirit desires to share as much of the wisdom as the group can handle at any given time. To do this, different pieces of that wisdom will be given to different folks.17

McKinney translates the meaning of “sharing wisdom” in more specific terms: 1. No one has all the wisdom. Translation: No one knows everything there is to know, regardless of how educated or uneducated, involved or uninvolved, experienced or inexperienced, responsible or irresponsible that person happens to be. 2. Everyone has a different piece. Translation: Everyone will not agree. In fact, there will be a wide variety of differences and insights. 3. Everyone has some of the wisdom. Translation: No matter how strange or even “off the wall” a speaker’s wisdom may seem, in the midst of it there is something the Spirit is calling the group to consider and, therefore, to listen to, respect, and even treasure.18 The experience in the underground seminary during the Nazi regime offered practical wisdom to Dietrich Bonhoeffer about the nature of a communal spirituality. A community of Christian brothers and sisters embraces a spiritual reality, not merely a human ideal or “wish dream.” Bonhoeffer’s claim is this: “The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.”19 In what seemed to be a fragile seminary community, everyday fellowship was indispensable to their life together in an increasingly hostile environment that threatened their existence. Bonhoeffer’s concept of life together in daily fellowship is a dynamic interplay between prayer and work within the community; he writes: Praying and working are two different things. Prayer should not be hindered by work, but neither should work be hindered by prayer. . . . And only where each receives its own specific due will it become clear

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 130

130 / Leading the Congregation

that both belong inseparably together. Without the burden and labor of the day, prayer is not prayer, and without prayer, work is not work. This only the Christian knows. Thus, it is precisely in the clear distinction between them that their oneness becomes manifest.20

Teams are experimenting with the practice of the classical disciplines, such as lectio divina, the daily office, fasting, study together, Sabbath, retreat, and confession.21 Each team has its own spirituality expressed in practices that strengthen or diminish the opportunities for team members to deepen their trust in God and in each other. According to Robert Mulholland, the inner dynamics of the spiritual disciplines are silence, solitude, and prayer. In silence we reverse the cultural tendencies to control others and manipulate outcomes. In solitude we face the inner music of our own interior life—our desires and compulsions, pain, and brokenness. Thus, silence and solitude prepare us for prayer that reflects an intimate relationship with God.22 King David, after being confronted by the prophet Nathan, prayed to God, “You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart” (Ps 51:6). Perhaps more now than ever before, we need to be reminded of Urban Holmes’ prescription for leaders: “a spiritual companionship, in which in some configuration we are willing to be confronted at the point of our life of prayer.”23

Questions for Reflection on Team Ethos 1. Toward the beginning of the chapter we wrote, “The genius of leadership is to create a team ethos in which participants— uniquely diverse in personal histories, experiences, gifts, weaknesses, and dreams—gather together to share spiritual life and to discern how to engage mission with the contemporary culture.” Which of these descriptors are important criteria to evaluate your own team experience? How would you assess your team in light of the descriptors, and what steps could you take to make improvements? 2. What is your team’s explicit purpose, and what are the results you seek? Is your team’s purpose compelling enough to call forth every person’s best time, effort, and gifts? What changes would make it compelling?

BBMU004201QK008.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:27 PM

Page 131

Team Ethos / 131

3. Have you ever experienced a team whose members were “like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy” (Ps 126:1b-2a)? What can you or others do to bring more joy to your team? 4. Review the following characteristics of team ethos: 4. a. hierarchies flatten out while collaborative networks expand; 4. b. collaboration is based on trust, authenticity, and diversity of gifts; and 4. c. teams embrace a communal spirituality. 4. In light of these characteristics, how would you assess the present reality of your teams? 5. Have you ever experienced a group discernment process? 6. Specifically, how does your team help to fulfill the mission of your congregation?

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:29 PM

Page 132

Chapter Nine

Team Formation Somehow we have come to believe that good leadership requires a safe distance from those we are called to lead. Medicine, psychiatry, and social work all offer us models in which “service” takes place in a one-way direction. Someone serves, someone else is being served, and be sure not to mix up the roles! But how can we lay down our life for those with whom we are not even allowed to enter into a deep personal relationship? Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life.1 Henri J. M. Nouwen

Fof least resistance because of the time and energy necessary to invest

orming teams is a difficult process. Many leaders choose the solo path

in a team. Church committees reinforce this viewpoint when people waste time, do not grow relationships, get little accomplished, or engage in unhealthy politics. However, resistance to teams goes deeper. Teamwork also implies working closely with others, which highlights the struggle that team members can have with intimacy. Nouwen explains, “The temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love.”2 In contrast we have a mosaic from the four Gospels that describes the genuine relationships that Jesus had with his disciples. An example of this intimacy was the exchange between Jesus and Peter as recorded by John the disciple: When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 132

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 133

Team Formation / 133

A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.” Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” (John 21:15-22)

From the recorded stories in the Gospels, it is evident that the relationships between Jesus and his disciples were life changing. The disciples’ witness of Jesus’ teachings and miracles, the experience of prayer retreats in “lonely” places, traveling together, and sharing meals provided the depth of human experiences for them to learn important lessons about belonging to a community. A few disciples put forth their requests regarding “political” interests, and at least one was tested in his commitment to follow through on personal promises, and failed. Unique personalities combined with diverse cultural and vocational backgrounds played a dynamic role in how the disciples contributed to the formation of this early band of religious leaders. Our own experiences may claim to have personalities on our teams as colorful as these, and encounters at least as fulfilling or disappointing.

What Makes a Team? One might ask: what do the worship team, a pastoral staff, a church sports team, a cadre of Sunday School teachers, a board of trustees, and the parents who are working as advisors for the youth ministry have in common? Each of these is a potential team with members from various backgrounds who share common interests, goals, and purpose. The

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 134

134 / Leading the Congregation

groups mentioned above have also experienced interpersonal differences, unique challenges, and perhaps ambiguity. Thus teams must be strategic, interdependent, and cooperative in order to be effective—the highest level of performance from each member is important for the team to maximize its achievements.3 We define a team as follows: a group becomes a team when individual charisms compliment others toward a compelling purpose, a goal, and the means to achieve the goal—and when team members provide support for one another and hold one another accountable. Team researchers Carl Larson and Frank LaFasto in earlier studies identified eight characteristics that were common to effectively functioning teams.4 These distinctive teams possessed the following qualities: 1. A clear elevating goal: High performance teams possess a clear understanding of the goals they believe to be important and worthy of their best efforts. Unproductive teams concluded that they were ineffective because of the following: little sense of urgency; politicizing goals and power plays; too many competing goals so that the team remained unfocused, and personal goals being more important than the common goals shared by the team.5 2. A results-driven structure: The team structure needed in natural disasters on the Gulf Coast—such as the British Petroleum oil disaster or the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina—requires the complex coordination among businesses and multiple federal, state, and local agencies from different municipalities. The structure for any effective team requires at least four ingredients: (1) the team members know their individual roles and are accountable to each other; (2) members communicate reliable information to one another; (3) the members’ individual performance is assessed with helpful feedback from others on the team; and (4) the members have learned how to make good judgments in decision-making.6 3. Competent team members: The researchers concluded that team competency is twofold: the team members have the necessary skills to reach the team’s desired goals; and the team members possess personal strengths that collaborate well with others.7 4. Unified commitment: Effective teams commit themselves to find a healthy balance between individual and collaborative efforts. The adage “People tend to support what they have helped to create” remains true. However, united commitment is not the same as group think that promotes uniformity and stifles individual creativity. The members of

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 135

Team Formation / 135

competent teams possess high expectations for each other, but the pursuit of personal goals does not override the commitment to shared goals and team unity.8 5. A collaborative climate: Effective teams maintain a trust that includes four elements: members are honest with each other and are known for their personal integrity in interpersonal relationships; members are free to express ideas and remain open to the viewpoints of others; members demonstrate consistency in their conduct; and team members treat others with respect and fairness. However, interpersonal trust quickly erodes should individual expectations go unmet. Thus effective teams negotiate individual expectations, stay focused on issues, and remain committed to results.9 6. Standards of excellence: Successful teams are never satisfied with the status quo or with resting on the laurels of the past; instead they establish for themselves high standards of excellence.10 Members of the team understand the commitment and abilities required of one another. They know much time and effort are expected to bring the necessary results, and they realize what it takes to provide support for one another. Finally, the teams comprehend the outcomes for their success and the consequences of failure. 7. External support and recognition: The collaboration of the entire team assumes a quality performance that is greater than the sum of individual efforts, including those who are not members of the team but who are invested in the team’s outcomes. Researchers discovered that the absence of external support contributed to a team’s poor performance, as did competitive power plays and hidden agendas within the team.11 8. Principled leadership: Effective team leaders create a shared vision, generate positive change efforts that move beyond the status quo, clarify expectations, and empower the team by honoring the diverse gifts of each member. From this study, six principles for team leaders evolved: As a team leader, I will 1. Avoid compromising the team’s objective with political issues. 2. Exhibit personal commitment to the team’s goals. 3. Not dilute the team’s efforts with too many priorities. 4. Be fair and impartial toward all team members.

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 136

136 / Leading the Congregation

5. Be willing to confront and resolve issues associated with inadequate performance by team members. 6. Be open to new ideas and information from team members.12 In sum, the most effective team leaders empower others to be leaders— increasing the competence, commitment, and cooperation among the team members who are fully engaged in the process of forming a team.

Team Maturity: Stages of Formation Researchers who studied the formation of teams in multiple settings began to see predictable patterns—especially in how the members of the team related to one another and how the team approached its tasks and its goals. The researchers also discovered that the issues in earlier phases must be resolved before moving into the next phase; without negotiating the issues in a particular phase, the team will stay stuck in that phase of development. Specific stages of formation include the following: (1) orientation to team purpose and culture; (2) conflict with the leader and other team members; (3) team solidarity; and (4) individuality, interdependence, and team effectiveness.13 Leaders who understand the unique dynamics of each stage can learn to effectively navigate the team in its development (see figure 9.1). Some teams stay fixed in a particular stage—other teams move through the stages expeditiously, which is more likely to happen when leaders understand what is expected of themselves and team members in each stage, and when the team is committed to working through the issues of each stage. There are risks to the well-being of the team during different phases that require respective leadership skills for each phase. The vision of a mature team in stage four views a leadership dynamic that is broadly distributed throughout the team. The unique issues confronting the team and charisms of players determine which of them provide leadership for a particular time. The interplay of these dynamics provides the impetus for a team to progress to the next stage of development.

Leaders in Stage One: Orientation to Team Purpose and Culture Members likely bring with them high expectations about being on a team, but they may have little knowledge beforehand of a particular

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 137

Team Formation / 137

team’s culture, purpose, roles, and expectations. Most new team members possess a hope for good relationships, a desire to contribute, and the need to be accepted. At the same time, members form impressions and pick up their cues from others about how they should relate to one another and how the team conducts its business. Generally, teams in stage one depend upon leaders who help members get to know one another and who provide the means by which the team identifies its shared purpose and goals and how individual gifts are to be shared in collaboration with others. Stage one leaders also help teams work through practical concerns such as how often the group will meet, who develops the agenda, and what the rules are for decisionmaking. Stage one can be brief if the purpose and goals are clearly defined, and if the team is committed to one another and highly motivated to fulfill its purpose. Teams that address tough, complex, and divisive issues often extend stage one—it may last the longest of all four stages. Leaders who are familiar with all four stages of team development will more likely prepare a team for the often misunderstood but vital role that conflict plays in the team’s formation.

Leaders in Stage Two: Conflict with the Leader and among Team Members The time it takes for members to express their personal expectations, hopes and dreams, and differences with others can vary. Leaders may invite strong differences to be expressed in the first meeting, or they may never come to the surface. But the leader is usually the first one to be confronted with what some may perceive to be a difficult question or confronted by members’ disagreements. How the leader responds to conflict sends an important signal for others to see how difficult issues are handled. What the team learns in stage two is the extent to which members are encouraged to honestly express their opinions, differences, and feelings. Leaders who respond defensively, by not allowing differences to be expressed or by pretending they don’t exist, send a clear signal concerning how the group should behave. Teams that avoid controversy gloss over conflict by superficially downplaying differences. Teams do well when they remember that members react differently to conflict. Some are happy that they are on a team whose leader is not afraid to

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 138

Figure 9.1—Stages of Team Formation

Stage 1:

Orientation to team purpose and culture

Forming (Tuckman)

Pseudocommunity (Peck)

Connecting (Gadon)

Team Characteristics

Issues of Individual Members

Leader Responsibilities

• Teams are generally dependent upon the leader or certain members of the team. • Motivated members will ask questions to clarify expectations and test assumptions about joining the team. • The team clarifies the boundaries of relationships and tasks. • Generally, the team is polite and optimistic, and team morale is high. • There is increasing anxiety when the team does not clarify its purpose and expectations. • Members’ status is based primarily on their roles outside the group. • The stage may last a short time if mission and goals are clarified and relatively easy to achieve. The stage may last much longer when the mission and goals are complex. • Some teams stay in this “pseudo-community” stage because they avoid conflict in the next stage.

• How do members relate to the leader and to one another? • Are the leader and other members competent and accessible? • What will the relationships be like? Will I fit in? • Will my gifts be employed? • Do I have what it takes to be on this team? • What are the “rules” of this team?

• Introduce team members; facilitate ways for them to get to know one another, including personal histories and narratives. • Provide opportunity to clarify the team’s purpose and goals. • Facilitate learning about the gifts, backgrounds, and experiences of team members. • Encourage members to ask questions of each other and the leader. • Clarify expectations in relationships: how differences are encouraged, how conflicts are addressed, and how decisions are made.

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Team Characteristics

Stage 2:

• The team is more serious about its purpose and goals, as are the individual differences about the purpose and Conflict with the goals. Thus, there is increasing leader and among interpersonal conflict that team affects the group’s work. members • Intra-group dissonance emerges as individual members attempt to increase Storming their influence through (Tuckman) suggestions, comments, and questions. Chaos • Coalitions form with potential (Peck) inte-group conflict. • The team challenges the leader and other members—directly Competing or covertly. (Gadon) • Morale drops precipitously when the team experiences conflict, chaos, and confusion. • Now original expectations for belonging to this team are in question.

Page 139

Issues of Individual Members • Members begin to see the divide between the earlier expectations they brought to the team and those emerging from the conflict. • How do others respond to disagreement and conflict? What feelings do I experience in this conflict? • Is this chaos what I signed up for? • With whom can I align myself? • Who holds the most influence? • How will we ever get back on track in our team relationships and get on with our goals?

Leader Responsibilities • Anticipate that some team members will “test the waters” by challenging the leader before disagreeing with others on the team. Try not to react defensively. Listen, go with the idea, and look for what can be learned from it. • Encourage differences; healthy conflict is a sign of a good team. • Reassure the group that this conflict and chaotic feeling is natural and necessary to grow as a team. • Review ground rules for expressing differences among the team members. • Encourage reflective listening. Ask members to express their viewpoints even when they differ from yours as a leader and from those of the other team members. • Model vulnerability—a willingness to admit failure and learn from mistakes.

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

Stage 3:

Team solidarity

Norming (Tuckman) Self-emptying (Peck)

Collaborating (Gadon)

Stage 4: Individuality, interdependence, and team effectiveness Performing (Tuckman) True community (Peck) Caring (Gadon)

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 140

Team Characteristics

Issues of Individual Members

Leader Responsibilities

• Resistance and conflict are addressed as people work through their differences. • The team gets back to working together with a newly defined cohesiveness. • The team adopts new roles and expectations. • Relational issues and group cohesion are seen as important to the team’s purpose. • Mutual trust, respect, and satisfaction grow with increasing sense of humor and camaraderie. • Hidden agendas are confronted with good will and humor. • A sense of “we-ness” is present as norms and expectations are established.

• I am feeling more comfortable with relationships; I belong here. • What kind of issues will surface in today’s meeting that will help us pursue our goals? • We’re finally getting somewhere—it’s more fulfilling than I thought. • Individuals have “self/ emptied” or given up earlier expectations; they “buy in” to the team’s emerging purpose and expectations.

• Monitor how members relate to one another, and how motivated they are in fulfilling their purpose and accomplishing their tasks. • Delegate more agenda items to the team itself and to team members; remain available for help if needed. • Assign challenging problems for input and consensus decisionmaking. • Facilitate positive, constructive feedback regarding issues and decision-making. • Be “up front” about your own concerns and perspectives.

Team Characteristics

Issues of Individual Members

Leader Responsibilities

• The interpersonal dynamics are important for team purpose and task accomplishments. There is a new esprit de corps. • Individual roles are flexible and valued. • Team members demonstrate their own independent thinking while remaining open to the viewpoint of others. In spite of differences, team commitment remains strong. • Group energy is highly focused upon the goal. • Structure is supportive of team performance.

• (The issues of group members raised in earlier stages are by and large resolved.)

• Assist the team in setting collaborative goals. • Challenge the status quo. • Ensure ongoing assessment of the group—including its effectiveness and relationships. • Look for ways to affirm the team. • Find ways for team members to fulfill their own dreams and discover their own potential.

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 141

Team Formation / 141

Team Characteristics

Issues of Individual Members

Leader Responsibilities

• Members are free to confront one another, which results in creative brainstorming and problem-solving. • Members are open to constructive feedback to improve the team’s effectiveness.

deal with the underlying issues. Being honest with each other potentially builds trust in one another, people can express what is on their minds, and the team is likely able to gain traction in becoming more competent in its more challenging tasks. However, others will try to keep the group in the pseudo-community comfort of stage one, fearing that being honest with one another breeds distrust, disloyalty, and disunity. The team’s morale in stage one flattens out to a new low in stage two, which is why teams are tempted to avoid chaos—the fear of confusion and the unknown. But when differences are not addressed, conflict goes underground and smolders like a geyser with pressure that continues to build. Contrary to anyone’s wishes, it does not go away. The role of leaders in stage two is to surface the unresolved issues of members in an honest and caring way. If conflicts persist, leaders do well to help members look at the patterns of self-defeating behaviors, or for structural limitations that contribute to conflict. For example, it could be that the team does not interact enough or that team meetings are poorly designed—both of which contribute to frustration. Some teams do not successfully navigate this stage because the leader or team members cannot live with open conflict. But when conflict goes underground or the team returns to what was perceived as harmony in stage one, the team sacrifices its own development. Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck defines self-emptying as group members who surrender earlier expectations of the team in lieu of a new understanding that emerges from the conversations during the conflict. The climate of “iron sharpens iron” during healthy conflict can move the team forward whereas unresolved issues that are not brought to the

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 142

142 / Leading the Congregation

surface can keep a team emotionally “stuck.” Leaders do well when they help a team move through this stage by encouraging people to listen to one another, to express their views with clarity and strength, and to help sort through interpersonal differences. This requires confidence, patience, and persistence on the part of leaders (see chapters 10 and 11). Leaders who deny conflict often follow the path of least resistance, insisting on team harmony, loyalty, and pseudo-community.

Leaders in Stage Three: Team Solidarity Clearing the air brings new order to relationships. Staying together through conflict with less defensiveness and pretense, people understand each other more deeply; there is less to prove to others. What does this look like? People are more secure and relaxed as teams acquire their own sense of humor. Members feel free to challenge one another—and the leader. However, for some there may still be the pressure to return to pseudo-community out of anxiety and the fresh memory of unresolved conflict. Effective leaders help the team to develop new skills that relate to their responsibilities. Patterns of working together are established as team members clarify expectations. Individual strengths also emerge as a result of conflict in stage two. Healthy teams are free to admit their shortcomings and will ask for help from other team members. In the ongoing development of a team, an important role of leaders is to deepen the team members’ relational commitments to one another, and to tap into unique individual strengths that enable the team to meet its new challenges.

Leaders in Stage Four: Individuality, Interdependence, and Team Effectiveness The leader’s role in stage four empowers the team to self-manage as much as possible; now the team takes on more responsibility for its own work and for managing interpersonal relationships. In stage four, the team members have learned how to work together; they know one another’s strengths and shortcomings—especially relying on the unique individual gifts that contribute to the team’s purpose. The group morale remains strong, and now the team learns to constructively handle more

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 143

Team Formation / 143

serious conflicts. The team in stage four has moved beyond its dependence upon the leader to an interdependence that also honors individuality. Leaders continue to empower the team to be self-sustaining, doing for the team only what it cannot do for itself. This model of team formation is dynamic and cyclical. The cycle of formation takes place as new members join the team, develop relationships, learn how to address differences, and face new challenges that confront the team’s capacity to continue its healthy formation. The dynamic balance for leaders is to help teams stay on task while helping members to sustain healthy relationships. In the formation of teams, no one can guarantee what the end will be. How quickly the best team spirit can turn into irreconcilable differences, or what seems to be an irreconcilable difference can turn into a deeper interpersonal bond among team members. Our colleague, Professor Bill Dogterom, probes a dynamic in the relationship between Jesus and two of his disciples when he writes: Jesus formed a world changing team beginning with the twelve disciples. He did so with story and with silence, with presence and with absence, with word and with experience. He experienced loss, and entered fully into their pain and suffering in order to redeem it. Their brokenness became his as well. Of the twelve one might qualify as an unmitigated failure. But consider the role Judas played in redemption. And consider that Jesus did not give up on him. Only moments before betrayal, Jesus identified Judas as a friend. The only difference between the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter is that Peter did not have the courage to quit the team before the end of the story. Had Judas shown up on that lakeshore, perhaps he too would have had a redeeming walk with Jesus, and would have been part of the new story.14

Questions for Reflection on Team Formation 1. Is teamwork a luxury or is it a necessity for ministry in the contemporary world? 2. Nouwen writes, “The temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat.” Is intimacy a threat to teamwork? Explain. In your experience, what have been other threats to the formation of teams? What has been the secret of performing teams?

BBMU004201QK009.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:30 PM

Page 144

144 / Leading the Congregation

3. Specifically, what lessons can we learn from the relationships Jesus had with his disciples? 4. When you review the eight characteristics of highly functioning teams, which of these describe your team experiences? Which do you see making a difference in your experiences of teams? 5. Review the definition and discussion on “What makes a team?” Is there anything in this discussion that rings true in your own experience of teams? Is there anything missing in this discussion? 6. When you review the stages of team development, which stages are familiar and clear to your own understanding? 7. In which stage are you most comfortable being a leader? Is there a stage when you are least comfortable? 8. How is your experience in these stages different when you are a leader versus when you are a team member? 9. What have you learned in helping teams move through the stages of development?

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 145

Chapter Ten

Teams Working through Conflict Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. James 3:13-18 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else). 1 Cor 1:10-16

Tfrom the larger cosmopolitan identity of the bustling seaport city in he house churches established by Paul in Corinth were not isolated

ancient Greece. Corinth was replete with diversity that extended to foreigners, some visiting and others searching for work. In this faith community founded by Paul, there were lingering, deep-seated tensions. The question of Paul’s leadership was one of multiple concerns, such as 145

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 146

146 / Leading the Congregation

sexual ethics in house churches (5:1-13; 6:9-20); the use of litigation to address members’ disputes (6:1-8); and the issues of those who were married, widowed, and unmarried (7:1-40). There was also concern regarding the consumption of food previously offered to idols (8:1–11:1); behaviors during communal worship (11:2-16); abuses of the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34); and the exercise of spiritual gifts during worship (12:1–14:40). In the midst of Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts we find the hymn of love, which has its own expression of wisdom for human relationships. Paul wrote: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:4-7). Paul maintained the highest ideals though he must have grieved over the behaviors of some within the congregation at Corinth. In contemporary settings, the community’s inability to effectively deal with issues—whether the conflict is expressed in the open or operating under the surface—has convinced many that Paul’s hymn of love remains an ideal more than a practice. But it remains clear that Paul would not settle for a pseudo-community that refused to deal with difficult issues or that failed to live up to love’s highest standard. Nor should we. When differences are not managed well, the team members may enter into an experience of “cold war” tension waiting for someone to make the first strike. When tension increases, some members withdraw while others play out the power struggles. But a line is crossed when teams do not fight fairly—when members attack, manipulate, or wantonly disregard others. Serious conflict can inflict wounds upon the human psyche, shatter relationships, and sabotage ministry efforts. However, conflict can also bring positive results. Expressing differences in a spirit of respect and good will is energizing, moving the team to new levels of productivity. Conflict stirs things up; it gets energies flowing. Members can be motivated to set new goals, clarify expectations, and draw out differences of opinion. Conflict can also draw people in closer solidarity having worked through serious differences. Healthy conflict honors different points of view, encourages truth telling, and promotes deeper levels of understanding.

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 147

Teams Working through Conflict / 147

Constructive and Destructive Conflict Teams may err in two directions, either by identifying a conflict as sinful when it is normal and perhaps healthy, or by not seeing conflict for what it really is—a potentially destructive force that reveals the darker side of the human condition. Conflict can be seen on a continuum between constructive and destructive conflict, between artificial harmony and mean-spirited personal attacks, as illustrated by Patrick Lencioni in Figure 10.1:1 Figure 10.1 Conflict Continuum

Teams that trust one another and communicate with each other generally stay constructive in their conflicts; teams that lack trust or experience a breakdown in communication find it impossible to stay positive as conflict resurfaces and fosters new layers of threats and power struggles. Each time the conflict enters a new cycle the hurts often penetrate more deeply. Destructive conflicts eventually spread to other individuals and groups through injustice collecting (moving from issues to attacking motives), judgments (viewing people and issues as “good” or “bad”), and blame (projecting fault on others and refusing to take personal responsibility). Professor David W. Augsburger identifies four characteristics of productive conflict and four characteristics of destructive conflict. Productive conflict embraces the following assumptions: • narrows the focus of conflict so that the issues are clearly understood; • maintains emphasis on the primary issues of the conflict, not on ensuing secondary issues;

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 148

148 / Leading the Congregation

• moves toward collaborative problem-solving; and • employs trustworthy leaders who stress mutually satisfactory outcomes. Destructive conflict consists of the following assumptions: • the issues continue to multiply as do the number of conflict parties, negative attitudes, and self-justifications; • the initiating causes of the conflict are not effectively addressed, so even though the causes may be disregarded or forgotten, the conflict continues; • the use of power and strategies of threat, coercion, and deception escalate the conflict; and • conflict parties are polarized into unified opinions behind militant, single-minded leadership.2 Thus conflict becomes destructive to the team when members feel they have lost or feel dissatisfied as a result of the conflict.

Conflict’s Social Construction of Reality When things are going well we experience for the most part a shared understanding of reality. We are open to different points of view, and we lend our support to one another. But emerging conflict affords the opportunity to understand more fully the organization’s social construction of reality.3 Multiple perspectives emerge uniquely in conflict situations with each narrative claiming truth only to discover that experiences, understandings, and expectations of some are vastly different from others. Why can’t others see things the same way? The rumors, judgments, and false accusations belie anyone to have the full truth in the midst of conflict. The Chinese proverb rings true, “If you haven’t fought with each other, you do not know each other.”4 We would extend the implications of the Chinese saying to say that, without conflict, we would not know fully the systemic dynamics of teams and their organization. What once was perceived as shared meaning within an organizational culture is broken into several narratives, often competing with one another for the truth of who is right and who is wrong, and what should be done to deal with the issues. Conflicted individuals react out of their own fear, anger, or

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 149

Teams Working through Conflict / 149

anxiety displayed in their attempt to control, destroy, or exclude others who threaten them. Augsburger continues with a soul searching question: “But what if the other is necessary to us, part of us, completing us, redefining us, capable of transforming us? What if the other we fear is the bearer of our healing, our hope, and our health as a human race?”5 John, the disciple and close friend of Jesus, wrote what was to his readers a familiar, prophetic insight, “Whoever says, ‘I am in the light,’ while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness” (1 John 2:9). Most of us pretend to be in enough light to offer plausible deniability of the darkness we experience in destructive conflict.

Conflict Defined Conflict can be defined as two entities trying to occupy the same space at the same time; it begins when (1) someone takes an action that (2) is perceived as a threat to others, and (3) the threatened party (individual or group) launches a reaction aimed at protecting themselves and their territory.6 The first question is: What are the dimensions of conflict when two or more parties are trying to occupy the same space at the same time?

Dimensions of Conflict One way to look at dimensions of conflict is to understand values— those deeply cherished principles by which individuals and teams order their life. Fundamental value differences are the most difficult to negotiate in conflict because of the priority and significance we place on them. When we feel we have compromised a value to resolve an issue, we feel caught. It implies the value is not that important, or that our integrity is compromised. One strategy worth the effort is inviting the conflict parties to search for a higher value that potentially unites them. We see this principle played out in denominations that are appealing for people with deeply cherished valuees to stay together in fellowship in spite of their theological differences. Another strategy is to have each conflict party “put on” the values of the other party, to live with them for a short time to see how things look and feel from the other perspective. Sometimes a person discovers that she can live with the others’ values quite well.

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 150

150 / Leading the Congregation

A second way to look at dimensions of conflict is to clarify the group’s purpose and goals. Goals are desired results that, if achieved, would address our opportunities and challenges and thus fulfill our sense of purpose. Goals add substance to the team’s values and to its mission. Whenever there is a conflict over goals, one might consider the following questions: (1) Is there a clear sense of mission that provides a benchmark for deciding the desirability of one goal against another? And (2) are there individuals who insist that the team pursues the goals as they define them? The least difficult and least volatile dimension for a team is when members experience conflict over methods. Methods are the actions taken by the team to achieve its goals. It is helpful for teams to get away from the normal routines providing the conditions whereby creative alternatives for different ways of doing things become more abundant. Nonetheless, conflicts over methods can be serious enough. We worked with a congregation that had approximately 1500 long-time members and 1000 new attendees. Many of the new attendees who fully supported the methods of the pastoral team soon became party to the conflict against influential long time members. Thus the conflict became volatile, affecting the entire congregation. A conflict over methods may breed instability, depending upon the levels of trust people have for one another, the ability to communicate effectively, and the desire to work through differences. There is a principle in the story for all of us: when the differences in any dimension of conflict—values, goals, methods—become severe enough, persons feel that their own sense of identity is threatened. And when persons feel attacked or personally threatened, they naturally strike back with threats against others, give in (at times too soon), or shut down and perhaps leave the relationship.

Conflict Threats Psychological threats of those engaged in conflict impact personal self-esteem as people begin to question their judgments and perceptions of reality while, at the same time, people become preoccupied with emotions of fear, anger, or anxiety. The social status threats of those in conflict question the social standing of different members on the team. Team members are uncertain who they can trust. People begin to question the

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 151

Teams Working through Conflict / 151

value of certain team members’ contribution, and they finally may question how long they will remain on the team. The physical threats impact physical health, emotional well-being, and finances. (It is tragic to report accounts of physical harm done to people in church conflict. The position threats attempt to silence the voices of others on the team, or eliminate people them their positions. Finally, our spiritual well being is threatened when we experience estrangement in our relationships, when there is a need for forgiveness, and when we need the healing that is only provided through God’s redeeming grace. When people emotionally over-react, do not speak up, or continue to harbor an issue, the team experiences a variety of threats that results from a continual undermining of trust and confidence.

Reactions to Threats A natural default position is to react defensively by attacking others (aggression), withdrawing (separation), or giving in too soon (compliance), all of which are intended as a way for team members to defend themselves and protect their territory. There are healthy ways to conduct oneself in all three of these reactions, but defensive patterns in any of them will probably add fuel and intensify the conflict. Non-defensive reactions of team members—expressed vulnerably and sacrificially—can slow down the conflict and offer the possibility for a healthy intervention. Consider the following healthy actions from New Testament writers: (1) “be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19b); (2) “speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15); (3) “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’ ” (Matt 5:37a); (4) “turn the other [cheek] also . . . give your cloak as well . . . go also the second mile” (Matt 5:39b41); (5) “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye” (Matt 7:5); (6) “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44); (7) “if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt 5:2324); and (8) ask God for a generous supply of the fruit of the Spirit, especially during conflict (“the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” [Gal 5:22-23a]). This brief list of imperatives from the scriptures

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 152

152 / Leading the Congregation

engages us over a lifetime of learning the radical nature of what it means to effectively engage with others in conflict. When teams fail to manage their differences, the conflict becomes more threatening to the team with each new cycle of defensive reactions, whether they are explicitly expressed or simmer under the surface.

Levels and Goals of Conflict Conflicts in each of the three dimensions—values, goals, and methods—may be carried on at various levels of intensity, which is conditioned by how high the stakes are for winning, to what degree people trust one another, the level at which persons are willing to communicate openly, and the extent to which persons are willing to suspend personal judgments in order to search for the common good. These interpersonal realities can be scaled to depict a hierarchy of levels and goals of conflict that are described as follows (see Figure 10:2):7 Figure 10.2 Levels and Goals of Conflict

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 153

Teams Working through Conflict / 153

Level one conflict is primarily a problem to be solved. Though differences are real, people are free to share information and perspective about the conflict. There are few defensive reactions among members as the team works together to find a solution. Level two conflict has moved from solving a problem to a real disagreement. Now personal threats increase as team members defend themselves, hold back information, and focus on face-saving measures for themselves. The problem itself can become lost in the face of increasing anxiety and attention on interpersonal differences. Level three conflict has become a contest with competing objectives to win. Personal attacks prevail as people take sides and share information only within the respective factions. The language used by conflict parties becomes distorted as people blame, generalize, and shift the focus from self-protecting to winning. In level four conflict, the focus has moved into a type of warfare where communications have completely broken down, and people believe the other parties will not or cannot change. The intent, often subconscious, is not just to win, but to injure others, and it is based on the assumption that one side is right and the other wrong—and therefore “evil.” Now the perceived principles of justice and truth become personalized causes, as conflict parties remain unforgiving, calculated, and self-righteous. Level five conflicts are intractable and vindictive, and the objective is to do what is necessary so that the “enemy” will not survive. The original issue is lost amidst a preoccupation to destroy the offending party. Information is skewed as the conflict parties use whatever means necessary to accomplish their objectives. Similar to level four conflicts, there is a self-righteous justification and convenience for “hating” the opponent. Besides the levels of conflict, there is a natural progression of conflict that moves through different stages of a cycle, even as it continuously repeats itself without an intervention.

The Conflict Cycle Individuals at times may feel compelled to express their differences within the team as well as pressure to promote harmony. While the differences may result in tension or a disruption in the relationships, the question remains whether the issue is brought to the surface. Regardless, the issues that produced tension (stage one) within relationships,

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 154

154 / Leading the Congregation

if not addressed, progress to the phase of role dilemma (stage two); now team members begin to question and determine the different roles of others in contributing to the tension. If unresolved, the conflict moves to injustice collecting (stage three) where members claim personal judgments against others. In due course the pressure erupts into confrontation (stage four) that eventually results in adjustments (stage five) to the conflict issues and the condition of relationships (see Figure 10.3).8 Figure 10.3 The Conflict Cycle

Stage One: Tension Development All team conflicts begin with tension that signals a loss of freedom in the relationship. The tension, real or imagined, causes members to sense change in the relational dynamics. The founder of l’Arche communities, Jean Vanier, believes that tension is a necessary precondition for communities “to grow and deepen.”9 But this premise is hard to accept when team members feel ill at ease with one another, and those who feel

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 155

Teams Working through Conflict / 155

tension may be less likely to bring it up with others who deny any concerns exist or who view the issues as unimportant. Nevertheless, tension development is the best time to deal with differences before the conflict progresses to more serious stages—even though the natural default position in tension development is to sweep conflict under the carpet. Thus when any of the team members experience tension, now it becomes more important than ever for individuals to communicate with others—initiating conversations whereby those involved begin to listen to each other, express honest feedback, hear what people want from each other, and share with others what they hope to see happen. When tension is not adequately addressed, the conflict will evolve into role confusion and another round of “Who did what to whom?”

Stage Two: Role Dilemma In stage two, the challenge is for team members to sort out confusion about how the tension began, who was involved, and what it means for the team. Leaders do well to encourage team members to talk with one another, locating the points of tension and taking steps to address the issues. Similar to tension development, people hesitate to bring issues to the surface. The conflict may appear insignificant or perhaps too threatening so that people avoid conversations. If the issues remain unresolved, it will open the door to the third stage in the conflict cycle: injustice collecting. In addition to reflective listening as exercised in tension development, a central skill in role dilemma is problem solving. Effective leaders encourage team members to look for common areas of agreement as they begin to explore the strengths and weaknesses of different options. The team might also search for a higher principle that transcends their differences. For example, a worship team may disagree over a style of music or the worship format, but the differences do not take away from the shared values of worship itself. Thus it is not as important for teams to always resolve their differences as much as it is to learn to live with, or manage, their differences in spite of disagreements.

Stage Three: Injustice Collecting Conflict that is not managed satisfactorily in stages one and two moves to stage three in the conflict cycle—injustice collecting. Now members

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 156

156 / Leading the Congregation

pull away from each other and form alliances by collecting injustices and judgments that eventually are used while battling each other in the confrontation stage. However, before the confrontation takes place, the group often expends negative energy in blaming one another while denying personal responsibility. Members seek excuses to pull away from each other while clinging to their self-justification and judgments. Interpersonal distancing pulls people away from the original issues that were clearer before the personal attacks against each other, including their behaviors, motives, and judgment of character. Should the team enter into the injustice-collecting stage of the conflict cycle, it becomes more difficult to sort through the issues and effectively manage the conflict. Now it is time more than ever to slow down the conflict and reverse its escalation by establishing ground rules to refrain from name-calling, blaming, and attacking, which are a few examples of offensive posturing. Asking people to reflect on their own attitudes and motives by means of the spiritual disciplines—and helping members work through the issues of forgiveness—can also be helpful especially when in the right time, people are invited to “lay down their arms of warfare.” Strengthening the psychological power base of conflict parties opens the perceptual framework for parties to see more options while providing the energy to deal with the conflict. Empowered members are more able to clearly state their opinions while remaining open to different points of view—hopefully coming to the place where each can honor the differences of others. Injustice collecting will always raise the stakes in unhealthy ways no matter how important and noble the cause may be.

Stage Four: Confrontation Confrontation is inevitable after some time of injustice collecting. Now members desire to “clear the air” while others want the conflict to end without further conversations. In a well-managed confrontation, people will stay focused on the issues. If the confrontation is poorly managed, people will continue to confront each other with escalating rounds of blame and faultfinding. During the confrontation stage people must believe that their goals, desires, and feelings are taken seriously. Apart from this, there will be little chance to manage differences or bring any resolution to the conflict. The team must also address the members who have been hurt in the

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 157

Teams Working through Conflict / 157

process—whether by aggression, manipulation, or marginalization. During the confrontation stage, team members need permission to disagree without feeling guilt, empowerment to express opinions with strength and feelings with clarity, and protection to keep people from being needlessly hurt or from hurting others.10 After the hurts have adequately been dealt with, it is necessary to stay on the substantive issues and return to problem solving that will enable the team to manage the conflict.

Stage Five: Adjustments A variety of adjustments are used to end the confrontation. Poorly managed confrontation under pressure includes the following: forestalling while matters get worse, evading the issues, severing relationships without addressing the concerns, using power and control to manipulate in a paternalistic way, or the settling in for a “cold war.” Wellmanaged confrontations provide the opportunity to learn from the conflict experiences and thus negotiate a new set of expectations that strengthen the commitments of team members to one another and toward the team’s goals. During the adjustments phase team members engage in conversations about what they have learned about themselves, their relationships with each other, and about the team as a whole. The team members would do well to identify the triggering events that began the conflict in the first place, and to decide upon an intervention strategy that could be used to address future conflicts. Because unresolved conflict is cyclical, there are two choices to confront matters. The first choice is to move toward confrontation as soon as tension and role dilemma are felt in interpersonal or intergroup relationships. As uncomfortable as it may seem for some, it is the best possible choice that probably prevents conflict from going underground or moving through later stages that are more damaging. The second choice is to wait until after the conflict has passed through the stages of role dilemma and injustice collecting; should this occur the confrontation dynamics result in potentially serious adjustments of cold war, lose/leave, lose/lose, or win/lose. Effective conflict management breaks the cycles of behaviors that promote nonproductive competition and alienation and attempts to turn them into cycles that promote productive cooperation.

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 158

158 / Leading the Congregation

Nonproductive Competition versus Productive Cooperation David Augsburger identifies three characteristics of unproductive conflict in contrast to productive conflict that promotes cooperation. These include 1. Conflict parties in nonproductive conflict feel out of control. They may indicate an interest in working things out, but their styles interlock so tightly that they keep getting stuck in conflict rituals of tension and anxiety, suspicion and threats, and unhappiness with oneself and with others. 1. Thus conflict parties in productive conflict are aware of being stuck in a pattern of self-defeating behaviors, but they also have enough discipline to go to the balcony and observe the potential destruction when conflict is out of control. Conflict parties in productive conflict call a time out in order to temporarily suspend discussing the content issues in order to address the process of how they are disagreeing with one another. What are we doing or saying—or not doing or not saying—that keeps us stuck? Each party in productive conflict desires a mutually acceptable solution more than winning at any cost. 1. Augsburger states that a mutually acceptable solution, “involves the ability to (1) channel the conflict by a prior agreement to try a new process, (2) call ‘time out’ to redirect the process, (3) request a rematch and take it once more from the top, and (4) reflect and learn from what occurred.”11 2. Conflict parties in unproductive conflict feel powerless and helpless with options quickly vaporizing. Conflict victims feel cheated of unrealized personal goals being overtaken by the opposition, or both parties are victimized by wasting their energies in an exhausting relational dynamic. 1. Thus conflict parties in productive conflict pursue personal goals that also contribute to shared goals. Slowing down the destructive cycle of emotional reactivity and defensiveness provides more energy to explore individual interests and goals that also contribute to shared interests and goals. 3. Conflict parties in nonproductive conflict reveal a self-esteem that is becoming more undermined and personal goals being

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 159

Teams Working through Conflict / 159

blocked by others with vengeful and hostile impulses. Feeling used or desiring to “get,” or to “get even with” others, exposes a damaged confidence and self-worth of persons in conflict. 1. Thus conflict parties in productive conflict feel valued and energized even when they are in conflict because individuals engaged in conflict, though they may disagree on the issues, serve to support and affirm each other and not giving up concerning a joint fulfillment of their goals for productive conflict.12

Antagonists Destructive conflict tends to be chronic by nature, carrying on the selfdefeating habits of individuals, groups, and entire organizations.13 These habits are ingrained into the participants’ behaviors; now people become increasingly unaware of their own destructive behaviors. People cross the line into a more severely destructive conflict when they “wantonly, selfishly, and destructively attack others. . . . Antagonists are individuals who, on the basis of nonsubstantive evidence, go out of their way to make insatiable demands, usually attacking the person or performance of others. These attacks are selfish in nature, tearing down rather than building up, and are frequently directed against those in a leadership capacity.”14 Antagonists require a different set of rules and guidelines for intervention. To assume you can reason with antagonists or change them will result in added anxiety and frustration on your part. Kenneth C. Haugk distinguishes three types of antagonists: hard-core, major, and moderate. Hard-core antagonists are seriously disturbed individuals who are out of touch with reality. Major antagonists will often use reasoning in their arguments, but they refuse to be reasoned with because they lack the essential emotional stability. Moderate antagonists will not go out of their way to make trouble for others, but they do make good followers of major and hard-core antagonists.15 Teams do well when they tend to the interior life through a healthy spirituality, practice the disciplines of support and accountability in a covenant community, seek professional help, and keep good boundaries with antagonists.

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 160

160 / Leading the Congregation

Power, Rights, and Interests Resolving conflict and managing differences can also be seen through power, rights, and the interests of conflict parties.16 Most conflict situations reveal interconnections among these elements; few conflicts are one-dimensional. In power-based methods of conflict intervention, the focus is on who has more power that is generally coercive rather than cooperative or creative. Raw power may win, but at what costs and to whom? Rights-based intervention appeals to determining who is right. There are independent standards of fairness or legitimacy based on some authority. This is often seen in the need for adequate insurance or in litigious cultures that use attorneys to win the conflict. Interest-based approaches, based on bargaining power, seek to manage differences by satisfying the interests of each party that include their hopes and desires, values, interests, and needs (See Figure 10.4).17 Figure 10.4 Moving from a Distressed to an Effective Dispute Resolution System

Power-based and rights-based methods of conflict intervention are two alternatives that are prevalent in American society, both of which have contributed to what has been called a “distressed system.” People

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 161

Teams Working through Conflict / 161

are quick to move to what they believe the potential resolution of a dispute to be—the question of determining who has more power or who is right. These two methods of conflict intervention are various forms of the technical, quick-fix solutions to conflict. The third alternative is to promote interest-based interventions where the underlying interests that fuel conflict parties are identified and negotiated. These interests among the different parties include the conflict parties’ willingness to address the patterns of poor communication, to clarify intentions, to identify needs as well as threats, and to challenge one’s own beliefs and values. While the natural default responses to most conflict are power-based or rights-based, it is the benefit for everyone to learn the process of interest-based interventions, and to educate others of its benefit, which is the commitment to address the underlying problems of conflict—and not only its symptoms. Understanding the complex realities of conflict certainly goes a long way in determining different options for intervening in conflict situations.

Conflict Intervention18 To ensure a positive outcome in conflict, those who design an intervention and participate in conflict management would do well to consider the following three steps advocated by organizational theorist Chris Argyris: 1. Generate valid and useful information. The first step separates truth from error—purging rumors and charges—even as it explores the assumptions and interests of the conflict parties. The primary leadership skills required are reflective listening, empathic understanding, and discernment. Conflict parties must believe the process is fair, and that they will get an open-minded hearing. 2. Allow free and informed choices. Conflict parties must feel safe enough to express honest feelings about the conflict issues and the emotional state of relationships. Those who are involved in the conflict have the responsibility to begin to think about designing a road map that would lead them through the conflict. It is important for all conflict parties to

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 162

162 / Leading the Congregation

be part of the conversations and decision-making processes with hopes that they begin to take responsibility for the conflict outcomes. 3. Motivate internal commitments to the agreements reached. If the first two steps of intervention are done well, the third step more naturally follows. In the third step, conflict parties make explicit the agreements reached; the decisions reached by the conflict parties are internalized by each member so that each person experiences a high degree of ownership, and accepts responsibility for choices and their implications.19 The three steps of conflict intervention call for a degree of emotional health from leaders who are less likely to effectively manage conflict when they are a player in the conflict. The purpose of intervention in conflict situations is to regain trust and to create constructive communication so that the team can address the issues that threaten its existence. When trust is high, people communicate freely with less defensiveness, giving to others the benefit of the doubt. But when trust is low, communication becomes increasingly distorted, as people feel misunderstood with each new round of threats and accusations. A crucial distinction in conflict intervention is to manage our differences, not necessarily always resolve them. What is available for people in destructive conflict is to reconcile broken relationships and the wounds incurred from them. Social science models are helpful, helping us understand the nature, process, and results of conflict, but resources in the Christian faith can also provide the means by which we are able to deal with the potential guilt and brokenness so often experienced in destructive relationships. Meditating on the scriptures, listening to God through prayer, fasting, and a variety of other spiritual practices are a means of grace that help to turn destructive habits into constructive patterns, but these practices must be used with discernment of the right time and place. The healing of emotional scars from a conflict presupposes care, time, and patience. While forgiveness is a key issue in conflict among Christians, it should not be entered into superficially.20 The founder of l’Arche community for the mentally handicapped, Jean Vanier, promotes community as the place of forgiveness. In spite of all the trust we may have in each other, there are always words that wound, self-promoting attitudes,

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 163

Teams Working through Conflict / 163

situations where susceptibilities clash. That is why living together implies a cross, a constant effort, an acceptance which is daily, and mutual forgiveness. . . . If we come into community without knowing that the reason we come is to learn to forgive and be forgiven seven times seventy-seven times, we will soon be disappointed. . . . To forgive is also to look into oneself and see where one should change, where one should also ask for forgiveness and make amends. To forgive is to recognize once again—after separation—the covenant which binds us together with those we do not get along with well; it is to be open and listening to them once again. It is to give them space in our hearts. That is why it is never easy to forgive. We too must change. We must learn to forgive and forgive and forgive every day, day after day. We need the power of the Holy Spirit in order to open up like that.21

Develop a Relational Base Conflict tears down our self-esteem—a strategy for those who are out to win, injure, or do away with their opponents. Conflict also constricts our perceptions of the issues, the way we view others, and the options we feel are available to us. For those who have good faith in positive outcomes, interventionists might ask whether or not the conflict parties feel secure enough to participate in data gathering of conflict issues and in collaborative problem-solving. People who are insecure cannot think creatively about solving the problem; instead they feel trapped and limited in their choices—“Should I give in, should I leave, or should I fight?” Helping all conflict parties improve their own personal, psychological power base is in everyone’s best interests because they are able to see more alternatives to either/or thinking, and they “fight more fairly” with less defensiveness and fewer accusations. If one’s goal is to injure or destroy the opponent, then keep them weak, but if one’s goal is to turn the conflict into positive results, then all conflict parties must help each other stand on equal psychological footing. Should trust and communication be broken, there are at least three conditions that will help conflict parties take the necessary steps to regain trust. These include (1) give people permission to express their feelings and disagreements over issues without feeling shame or guilt; (2) reflectively listen to the different parties in order to empower them

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 164

164 / Leading the Congregation

(the goal is for each party to express its issues and concerns with clarity, and to state the other’s issues and concerns with some level of understanding); and (3) protect individuals so they are not irreparably hurt, and so that they do not injure others.22 Thus, a healthy relational base provides the environment for conflict parties to filter personal assumptions, rumors, and charges that fuel conflict to distorted levels.

Filter the Assumptions, Rumors, and Charges As we mentioned earlier, a building block for any successful conflict intervention is to base decision-making on valid and useful information. This essential aspect of intervention is all the more important since unmanaged conflict by nature is prone to spread injustices and false accusations much of the time behind people’s back. In this step, the interventionists help conflict parties to separate fact from fiction, truth from error. When this is done well, an emerging reality begins to bring light to inevitable fears, judgmental feelings, and negative assumptions persons bring to the conflict. Until the assumptions are identified and tested to see whether they are valid or not valid, people who are threatened in conflict tend to believe the worst. Generating valid and useful information, and communicating that information to all conflict parties, will begin moving committed parties toward reality and increased trust in ways that they feel they can begin to work on the issues themselves that divided them. Avoid identifying the “causes” of the conflict, since no one has the whole truth, and stay focused on what the parties are trying to accomplish together in the situation. Widen the mutual interests of parties until they overlap so that you have something to work with in collaborative problem solving. As persons explore mutual interests, greater levels of trust and communication are more likely established, and there is increasing energy and commitment to work on areas of disagreement.

Establish Joint Collaboration for Problem-Solving and Decision-Making The information gathered from all the conflict parties will reveal areas of agreement and of disagreement. When individuals collaborate on

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 165

Teams Working through Conflict / 165

common areas of agreement, they begin to move away from a posture of “fighting” based on old assumptions toward a “working together” relationship that is based on newly acquired information about the conflict. Identifying areas of agreement also brings hope when people begin searching for ways to fight the problems and not each other. At the same time, the areas of disagreement become less threatening. People engaged in the process know they have turned an important corner when they change their attention from arguing about the causes— who did what to whom—to begin to explore what the parties are trying to accomplish in the situation. Conflict parties who are free and responsible to work out their differences—by focusing energy on what each will do and what they are asking others to do that will address the mutual problems—have successfully navigated the most dangerous waters of destructive conflict. The familiar adage, “People support what they have helped to create,” is an important assumption in successful conflict management.

Form Covenants to the Agreements Reached After the conflict parties finish agreements that address the problems, it is important that a covenant between the parties is formulated to ensure that persons carry out the reached agreements. Simply stated, covenants may include rehearsing the agreements and expectations, verbal or written, allowing each party to pledge their commitment to carry them out. More complex agreements may include a covenant that contains specific responsibilities and a timeline for follow up to see how well the agreements are working and, if necessary, to make necessary adjustments to avoid the old issues festering into destructive conflict once again. Therefore, effective teams embrace healthy conflict, understanding that avoiding conflict leads to unity that is pretended, not real. Without successfully managing conflict, teams eventually experience the erosion of trust, fail to live up to quality standards of performance, and ultimately fall short of fulfilling their purpose. The alternative to open, engaging conversations that honor team members’ differences is settling into a form of the status quo. Healthy teams invite differences to be shared, they embrace the possibility that wisdom may be in a minority report, and they trust each other with an unfailing commitment to work things

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 166

166 / Leading the Congregation

through to the end, regardless of temporary chaos that just might be the necessary precursor to a new order.

Bringing Peace into the Room23 There is an especially relevant Beatitude for this chapter, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matt 5:9). Peacemaking is not avoiding conflict or simply “smoothing things over”—it is meant for the courageous. And though the interconnection of all the Beatitudes is relevant to peacemaking, the previous Beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (v. 8), is especially relevant. Without purity of heart, there is a diminutive likelihood of becoming a peacemaker.24 The following story is from the Desert Fathers: There were three friends who were eager workers, and one of them chose to devote himself to making peace between people who were fighting, in accordance with “Blessed are the peacemakers.” The second chose to visit the sick. The third went off to live in tranquility in the desert. The first toiled away at the quarrels of men, but could not resolve them at all, and so, in discouragement, went to the one who was looking after the sick, and he found him flagging too, not succeeding in fulfilling the commandment. So the two of them agreed to go and visit the one who was living in the desert. They told him their difficulties and asked him to tell them what he had been able to do. He was silent for a time, then he poured water into a bowl and said to them, “Look at the water.” It was all turbulent. A little later he told them to look at it again, and see how the water had settled down. When they looked at it, they saw their own faces as in a mirror. Then he said to them, “In the same way a man who is living in the midst of men does not see his own sins because of all the disturbance, but if he becomes tranquil, especially in the desert, then he can see his own shortcomings.”25

Recognizing the image of our own shortcomings while being called to peacemaking goes beyond a paradox to a seeming impossibility—until we gaze on the cross to view the Christ who “is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Eph 2:14).

BBMU004201QK010.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:32 PM

Page 167

Teams Working through Conflict / 167

Helping others navigate the troubled waters of conflict will not happen to the degree of satisfaction necessary when we are not at peace within ourselves.26 It seems so obvious: when we feel at peace within ourselves—and at peace with those around us—we are more “able to bring peace into the room.”27 Once we are in the room, maintaining the peace within ourselves is the most difficult of challenges when we are with people who feel abandoned, betrayed, and wounded—and who are “deeply enmeshed in seemingly intractable conflict.”28 And so we remember the cross and the One “who is our peace.” And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. . . . and the peace of God will be with you. (Phil 4:7)

Questions for Reflection on Working through Conflict: 1. Review the conflict continuum. Where on the continuum would you place your own conflict experiences? 2. Think of specific conflict experiences: which dimensions of conflict relate to your experience? Did your experiences fit with defensive and non-defensive responses? 3. Did your own conflict experiences relate to the levels and goals of conflict? What were the signs and results of the conflict? 4. Can you identify your conflict experience in a particular conflict stage? Did it progress to subsequent stages? 5. What have you learned about addressing conflict in each stage of the conflict cycle? 6. What is your experience with power-based, rights-based, or interests-based interventions? 7. Which of the conditions listed in intervention are part of your team’s skill set? Which need attention? 8. Are you prepared to embrace a conflict, knowing its dangers but ready to learn its deepest truths? 9. Would others describe your presence as “bringing peace into the room”?

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 168

Chapter Eleven

The Team’s Emotional Processes Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her. Luke 10:41b-42 The emotional processes in a family always have the power to subvert or override its religious values. The emotional system of any family, parishioner or congregation, can always “jam” the spiritual messages it is receiving.1 Edwin H. Friedman

Cweeping, he responded: “Where am I to get meat to give to all this onsider the following three scenarios: After Moses heard the people

people? For they come weeping to me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once— if I have found favor in your sight—and do not let me see my misery” (Num 11:13-15). Jesus recognized Martha’s anxiety when she asked of him, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me” (Luke 10:40b). Perhaps the disciples were gripped by their own fear and anxiety upon hearing the disturbing news that the Son of Man would be condemned to death (Mark 10:32-45)—and they argued where they would gloriously position themselves.

Family Systems Family systems theory views the interrelatedness of parts as a whole instead of concentrating on isolated members. The theory assumes that individual “problems” are symptomatic of family dynamics expressed in how members relate to each other and the role each one plays within 168

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 169

The Team’s Emotional Processes / 169

the family. The stress and angst in one or more members—perhaps expressed in different ways—depict the nature of family dynamics. Therefore the family itself is the emotional unit rather than the individual. Whatever affects one member affects the entire family in some form of transferable anxiety that is automatic and often outside personal awareness. For example, the adolescent who is experiencing problems in school may be symptomatic of family issues, such as marital conflict, an overly protective parent, or financial worries within the family. Working with the adolescent alone may attempt to deal with a symptom, but it will not successfully address the real problems within the family structure. Thus in order to understand the behaviors of individual family members, it is necessary to comprehend the big picture dynamics of the family itself and the role individuals play within those dynamics. Questions asked of families could be asked of leadership teams: How do members communicate with one another? What are the rules of engagement? What subjects are viewed as taboos? Who is seen as a “problem” team member? How are differences managed? Who keeps the family secrets? Who shares what about whom? Have there been substantial changes within the team such as job loss, divorce, or illness? The answers to these questions provide clues to understand the systemic nature and dynamics of the team. Consider how the following family system assumptions can be applied to teams: Assumption one: the family as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When the family is together, the individual members behave according to the family’s emotional dynamics. When taken out of the family context, an individual may behave differently. Assumption two: if you change one part of the family system, you change the whole family. A change in one individual of the family system will affect other members as well as the family as a whole. The family will adjust to the change one member may bring, for example, when that person refuses to play old games or relate to other members the same way. Assumption three: family systems become more complex and organized over time. Each day brings new problems and opportunities to a family. As such, the family is dynamic and in flux, and it must grow and adapt if it is to survive changes within itself as well as in the environment.

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 170

170 / Leading the Congregation

Assumption four: the family is open, changing, goal directive, and adaptive. The family does have resources within its own ranks to address its own needs as well as deal with external threats and opportunities. Assumption five: individual dysfunction is a reflection of an active emotional system. Conflict and anxiety do not occur solely because of the personal struggles of one family member. Problems have more to do with relational networks and how individuals function within emotional systems. When a certain member’s role is dysfunctional it serves as a role for other members in a reciprocal process, which are established over time and become normative among family dynamics.2 Systemic patterns may be difficult to interpret because they are complex and dynamic. Consider the following assumptions regarding emotional patterns of a team: (1) Each person on the team is a part of the emotional system and is influenced by the system, just as the team members influence the system. Thus leaders who think they are change agents without being changed by the system are naive. (2) Each person brings personal values, assumptions, life experiences, and issues from one’s family of origin, sometimes unresolved and still at play in team dynamics as they are projected onto others and play into team dynamics. The systemic nature of the team is better understood when one begins to better understand the team’s emotional processes.

The Team’s Emotional Processes3 Organizations and leadership teams—regardless of their identity as business, government, education, and religious nonprofits— are becoming aware of what some are calling an “imaginative gridlock” that dominates a relationship system.4 The emotional processes can sidetrack the team from the most important issues when it is preoccupied with the agenda of highly anxious members, rather than the agenda of the visionary and most creative team members. The emotional processes sabotage the best efforts of those who want to address substantive, longer-term issues. For example, we have witnessed how a congregation’s emotional preoccupation with memories of their best (or worst) pastor, who may have left the congregation years earlier, can sustain indefinitely an imaginative gridlock within the congregation.

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 171

The Team’s Emotional Processes / 171

Attributes of Emotional Gridlock The behavior patterns of highly anxious teams increasingly become more automatic and less imaginative, keeping a team stuck in an emotional gridlock that perpetuates self-defeating behaviors at the sacrifice of the team’s strategic mission. Edwin H. Friedman has identified the following three interlocking attributes of the gridlock: • an unending treadmill of trying harder; • looking for answers rather than reframing questions; and • either/or thinking that creates false dichotomies.5 The leadership team that keeps trying to address systemic issues the same way with less than adequate results would do well to become more fully aware of its own emotional dynamics.6 Friedman uses the analogy of the fly that keeps bounding off the glass it can see through with its thousand eyes, but it gets nowhere. Leadership teams who complain with urgency about the same issues every meeting, and stay focused on doing the same things to address them, fall prey to the unending treadmill of trying harder. Another trap of staying stuck in emotional gridlock is searching for answers to old questions rather than encouraging the use of the team members’ imagination to reframe the questions. The way we frame questions predetermines the range of answers. For example, congregations who try to convince young adults why they should come to church may never learn that as long as they remain fixated on that strategy—however pure their motives—they may be wasting their efforts. An alternative approach is to find out how young adults are framing their own spiritual journey and what they expect from a faith community. Related to the treadmill of trying harder—and being locked into preconceived answers rather than reframing the questions—is intense polarized thinking of false dichotomies. Team members who are emotionally invested in a particular position freeze the team so that it remains in an imaginative gridlock. When an issue polarizes a team, the temptation for members is to try harder—locked into certainty and predisposed answers—rather than attempting to understand the team’s emotional dynamics. The team members who become less

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 172

172 / Leading the Congregation

emotionally reactive to issues are more likely open to alternatives, thus releasing the team from the grips of imaginative gridlock. The key for team leaders is to learn how to step back and view the big picture dynamics without getting embroiled in the emotional reactivity. If leaders do not have some degree of tolerance for pain and anxiety, or the capacity to step back and thoughtfully observe the team’s dynamics, then it will be harder for the rest of the team to tolerate pain as well. This, in turn, will open the door for the most emotionally dependent members to set the agenda that controls the rest of the team. One way to increase one’s awareness of the team’s emotional processes is to understand the difference between acute and chronic anxiety. Natural systems theorist Murray Bowen defines acute anxiety as an emotional response to a real threat, whereas chronic anxiety is the response to imagined threats.7 Thus we become programmed during early experiences in our family of origin that continue to influence how we emotionally react to a variety of stressors in our lives. But anxiety also feeds on itself, escalating to new levels with new triggering events. For example, feeling betrayed by a colleague’s hurtful criticism behind our back heightens any anxiety we carry from previous disloyalties we have experienced. Teams that desire to be proactive in dealing with the imaginative gridlock do well when they keep track of five subversive characteristics that describe chronically anxious families, as explained by Edwin Friedman; the dynamics include: emotional reactivity, herding instinct for togetherness, blame displacement, a quick-fix mentality, and poorly defined leadership.8

Characteristics of Chronically Anxious Families Each of these descriptions represents an aspect of a team’s regression from what is life-giving, imaginative, and visionary. Most chronically anxious teams are not aware of these emotional processes; instead they project their frustrations onto others inside the organization or onto those outside. Leaders who recognize these patterns are in a position to do something about them so that the team can regain patterns of health and effectiveness.

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 173

The Team’s Emotional Processes / 173

Emotional Reactivity Friedman believed emotional reactivity to be the most blatant characteristic of chronically anxious families. In a highly charged, emotional atmosphere, family members take things personally, frequently interrupt others, and blame others—while refusing to take responsibility for their own actions. The more aggressive individuals argue over issues that seem inconsequential to those outside the family system. The one who is calm and less reactive can trigger emotions in others who resent anyone who refuses to participate in the emotional circuitry—the assumption is that calm people don’t really care. Persons stubbornly cling to their positions, not being willing to understand other points of view. When relational boundaries are blurred, people are preoccupied with the emotions of others—less able to self-regulate personal emotions or to define their position on issues. Friedman also believed that the loss of playfulness characterizes a reactivity that destroys both perspective and the capacity to be resilient. Highly anxious individuals can be serious minded—and the most difficult to read. A metaphor used to describe this condition is a reptilian response of emotional reactivity (you can play with your dog, but not with a salamander).9 Some leaders seem to mimic a reptilian lack of playfulness, which may signal the escalation of emotional reactivity among the team. Emotional tension is also compared to an electrical transformer that increases or decreases the voltage. Electrical surges are similar to a spike that has a shocking effect, requiring at least two poles to maintain its force. Likewise, chronic anxiety cannot sustain itself within a team unless there are at least two persons that keep the anxiety alive. The emotional surges in relationships can upset even the more stable relationships; they can also be a signal that the team is losing its capacity to deal with its own anxiety. Thus chronic anxiety is free-floating until it finds a home in those who are invested in changing others, who are most vulnerable, or who are unable to tolerate differences.10 Leaders often find it difficult to separate from emotional reactivity in order to “think things through” and search for creative solutions to problems. Perhaps the resistance to supporting healthy leaders is the most damaging characteristic of chronically anxious systems. Those who

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 174

174 / Leading the Congregation

separate from the emotional reactivity of others are often less willing to lead. Why is this so? Friedman believed that “reactivity . . . eventually makes chronically anxious families leaderless, either because it prevents potential leaders from emerging in the first place or because it wears leaders down by sabotaging their initiatives and resolve with constant automatic responses.”11

The Herding Instinct The herding instinct for togetherness is the second symptom of chronic anxiety in a family. True community promotes uniquely ordered gifts and personalities: it does not diminish individual identity. However, the herding instinct pressures team members to be on the same page and to feel the same way about issues, often at the behest of the “troublemakers” as they attempt to take over the team’s agenda. Chronically anxious groups “ride herd” in their attempt to move people away from healthy individuality toward falling in line with the least mature members of the organization. Issues are viewed in either/or categories. For example: “you are with me or against me”; “my position is right, and yours is wrong”; or “those who do not agree are disloyal, and they stand in the way of what is best for us.” Emotionally reactive members fulfill a self-serving agenda in their desire for the team’s togetherness, Thus, the pressures of conformity—or getting on board, define closeness at the sacrifice of individual identity. Creative brainstorming, problem solving, and visionary efforts are smothered in the dirt by the stampede of the herd. Thus emotional reactivity and the herding instinct feed on each other— emotional reactivity motivates groups to herd together, which in turn produces increasing reactivity. Those who attempt to maintain a well-differentiated position may be sabotaged in one of two ways: seduction or undercutting.12 If seduction fails to bring the wayward (or differentiated) team member into conformity, the group will look for ways to rid themselves of those who have come to be viewed as traitors. It is easy to see why leaders become indecisive in highly anxious systems as they succumb to the pressures of “soothing ruffled feathers” and of seeking peace at the expense of team progress. It is also easy to see why leaders fall into a trap of attempting to appease the troublemakers. Peace trumps progress because it does not

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 175

The Team’s Emotional Processes / 175

seem prudent for leaders to take a difficult and necessary stand when the herd is running full force in a stampede against them—or when the herd has already made plans to move leaders out of the way.13

Blame Displacement Blame displacement is the third symptom of chronically anxious families. Here the members show their lack of integrity by refusing to take responsibility for any of the problems that lie before them; instead they spend their energy blaming each other and the forces outside the organization. Along with emotional reactivity and the herding instinct for togetherness, emotionally reactive members are unwilling to accept the role they played in the present condition; rather their emotional energy is expressed as a form of victimization, or energy that is displaced in blaming others. Thus highly anxious groups do not have the courage to claim responsibility for their own destiny. Instead they seek to use the energy from the herding instinct to concentrate on the targeted enemy who now must take the blame.14 Friedman applied a medical analogy to illustrate blame displacement; rather than the sole focus on eliminating all diseases, medical researchers have concentrated on immunological approaches that equip the body to limit the invasiveness of infections. Likewise, in chronically anxious systems there is no immune response to threats. The team caught up in blame displacement has little capacity to garner its own resources and take responsibility for its own destiny because taking responsibility entails vulnerability and risk. Thus the team’s response to a crisis is more important than the severity of the crisis itself. Some groups have caved in from minor threats while others have risen to the challenges of major obstacles. The deciding factor is the team’s resilience that responds to tough challenges with resolve and strength.15 It is difficult to lead a team that refuses to take responsibility for its emotional well-being, and that refuses to address the difficult issues facing the team or the organization. Highly anxious teams are less likely to recruit leaders who have the capacity to bring about transformational change. Instead the least mature members remain in leadership and perpetuate chronic anxiety and gridlock—at the sacrifice of healthy change. Friedman explains the collective reactivity of congregations and their leaders. He writes:

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 176

176 / Leading the Congregation

As America’s emotional regression has deepened, the clergy of every denomination have been increasingly thrust into a panicky national game of musical chairs, as each minister leaves one disappointed congregation only to be eagerly snatched up by another in the false hope that this new one will be better than the last. The former minister, in the meantime, has now found a new opportunity to be a displacement focus for a congregation that had become disaffected with its previous minister, who is presently about to take the place of the first, the anxiety sill unabated and the focused issues still unresolved.16

The Quick-fix Mentality The fourth symptom of a family that is chronically anxious is the quick-fix mentality. Our culture is increasingly impatient, and the quickfix mentality partners with blame displacement to promote the team’s escape or denial of its real problems as best it can. Blame displacement avoids responsibility by pointing fingers elsewhere; the quick-fix mentality evades responsibility by looking for a technical, quick-fix solution rather than the long-term solution. A low threshold for pain drives the team to settle for easy answers, and the cure desired from the quick-fix answer will focus on symptom relief, not on fundamental change that would adequately address the problems that produced the symptoms in the first place. Therefore, those who promise a quick fix with the least amount of pain are most likely viewed as those with the answer—then we will not have to go through the unnecessary hardships.17 According to Friedman, the only way out of a chronically anxious condition is being willing to experience the more acute anxiety that accompanies the hard decisions. Focusing on symptom relief, the chronically anxious congregations will seek “saviors” and pressure them and any other experts for magical solutions.18 The low threshold for pain prevents the team from maturing through hardship and from developing its strength of character. Given the emotional demands of the quick-fix mentality, the team is not challenged to grow since energy is spent looking outside of the team for technical answers. It may be impossible to be a leader on teams whose members insist on certainty rather than being open to an epiphany or adventure—whose members refuse to embrace the hard realities of deep change, but instead pursue too readily the path of least resistance.

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 177

The Team’s Emotional Processes / 177

Poorly Defined Leadership or Failure of Nerve The first four characteristics—emotional reactivity, the herding instinct, blame displacement, the quick-fix mentality—contribute to the fifth symptom of a chronically anxious family, which is poorly defined leadership or the leader’s failure of nerve. However, poorly defined leadership also promotes the first four symptoms of chronically anxious systems. Anxiety shares the same Latin root word, angere, with anger and anguish, a root that means to choke or to cause pain by pushing together.19 Anxiety lessens our capacity to think creatively; all four characteristics of chronically anxious relationships work together to “choke” or restrict the capacity to lead. Thus creativity is replaced by the leader’s failure of nerve—a term used by Friedman to describe the regressive characteristics of leaders who are trapped in chronically anxious systems. The characteristics are: • Leaders lack the distance to think out their vision clearly. • Leaders are led hither and yon by crisis after crisis. • Leaders are reluctant to take well-defined stands, if they have any convictions at all. • Leaders are selected who lack the maturity and sense of self to deal with the sabotage.20 The least mature members will maintain emotional reactivity, the herding instinct, blame displacement, and a quick-fix mentality. Chronically anxious families and groups lack well-differentiated leadership, and for Friedman there are no exceptions. Therefore, the key for any team that is caught up in chronic anxiety is a self-differentiated leader who demonstrates a certain autonomy and self-differentiation, which is the capacity to define oneself and one’s position on issues, to regulate one’s own emotional reactivity, and to stay relationally connected to the members.21

Self-differentiated Leaders First, self-differentiated leaders define who they are and where they stand in the midst of what can be intense emotional reactivity within an organization. Self-differentiated leaders know that weakening

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 178

178 / Leading the Congregation

self-definition and compromise of personal integrity promote emotional reactivity within the team. Leading from one’s conviction of principles, goals, and values is challenging and might seem impossible when highly anxious members of the team are pressing the leader to agree with them on quick-fix answers and blame displacement. But leaders who know their calling, are on an authentic journey with Christ, and embrace deeply held values are less likely to get caught up in the stampede of emotional forces that test leaders to their ultimate limit. Defining oneself and where one stands on sensitive issues in a highly reactive emotional field is a difficult challenge.22 Second, self-differentiated leaders do well when they are able to monitor and slow down their own anxiety, and when they can step back and reflect on their own role in the team’s dynamics even in the face of others’ emotional reactivity. The most effective leaders are vulnerable, honest, clear, persistent, and optimistic—while regulating their own reactivity so that their less anxious presence will slow down the new rounds of blaming, will enable the team to stand up to the least mature, and will provide stamina for the team to seek ways to address real problems, not just the temporary relief of the quick fix. But leaders will encounter resistance when they stand firm on what they believe, and this makes it even more challenging for leaders to regulate their own anxiety. As we said earlier, when leaders stay true to themselves—especially when they hold controversial positions within an intense emotional field—the troublemakers will attempt to sabotage the leader’s position. However, in the face of this pressure, effective leaders maintain a big picture view of things. Third, self-differentiated leaders as best they can separate themselves from the vortex of emotional forces while maintaining relationships with others, including the least mature members. Effective leaders in highly reactive groups relate to everyone openly and honestly. They ask questions that help people “think things through” in ways that potentially help others reframe reality. Self-differentiated leaders are able to forgive and be forgiven. They work with healthy members on strategic priorities, they utilize creativity in playfulness, and they encourage others toward their God-given calling and gifting. When you and your team are emotionally stuck, it is helpful to monittor for symptoms of chronic anxiety: emotional reactivity, herding instinct, blame displacement, quick-fix mentality, and the team’s failure

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 179

The Team’s Emotional Processes / 179

of nerve. When you try to change others, you will take on more of their anxiety. However, if you focus on deep change within yourself—by regulating your own reactivity—it becomes possible that others will come along with you. An unpopular stand will temporarily upset others, but if the decision is right and the important thing to do, then the sacrifice is worth it. Learn how to think systemically by viewing patterns of the big picture. Become clear on your own principles, and know where you stand on the issues, however controversial they may be. While chronically anxious members resist real change efforts, in due time there will be movement. According to Friedman, it will begin to happen because of the power of presence—the capacity to be non-anxious and selfdifferentiated amidst highly anxious systems. Consider what Jesus taught his disciples: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. (Matt 6:25–7:5)

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 180

180 / Leading the Congregation

And Paul urged his readers at Philippi to: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. (Phil 4:4-9)

Questions for Reflection When Teams Are Emotionally Stuck 1. How much of your day is characterized by emotional reactivity? Can you monitor the ebb and flow of your anxiety? Does it spike when you are around certain people at specific times regarding particular issues? 2. How do you respond to Friedman’s quotation at the beginning of this chapter: “The emotional processes in a family always have the power to subvert or override its religious values. The emotional system of any family, parishioner or congregation, can always ‘jam’ the spiritual messages it is receiving”? 3. Do family systems help you interpret what is going on in your congregation? 4. Which of the following symptoms of chronic anxiety do you recognize: emotional reactivity, herding instinct for togetherness, blame displacement, a quick-fix mentality, or the failure of nerve in leadership? How have these symptoms manifested themselves? Do you recognize each of them in others, and in yourself? 5. Have you experienced the non-anxious presence of a selfdifferentiated leader? Would others view you as a selfdifferentiated leader? What is the difference between being self-differentiated and being detached from others?

BBMU004201QK011.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:34 PM

Page 181

The Team’s Emotional Processes / 181

6. There is no doubt we lead in anxious times. In addition to Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 6 and 7, are there other scriptures, prayers, or readings that assist you to experience more freedom from anxiety? How might you prepare yourself for the next situation in which you will likely experience anxiety?

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 182

Chapter Twelve

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards If we identify the church as a community of faith, the process of decision making ought to make the structures and implications of this response to reality called “faith” more explicit. Reaching decision in the church should be an articulation of faith.1 Luke T. Johnson You depend upon the board, and therefore you can be more effective with a strong board, a committee board, an energetic board, than with a rubber stamp. The rubber stamp will, in the end, not stamp at all when you most need it.2 Peter F. Drucker The trustee role advocated here goes far beyond [a] limited view and implies a dynamic obligation, an insistent motivating force originating with trustees that obliges the institution to move toward distinction as a servant.3 Robert K. Greenleaf

A

ccording to the early church father Jerome (342–420), “There can be no church community without a leader or team of leaders.”4 At the inception of the ancient church, the fledgling congregations organically developed new guidelines for leadership positions. For example, the early house churches grew quickly, even as they experienced legitimate complaints among new believers. Thus a new designation of deacons was identified to “wait on tables” so that the apostles would have the time to devote themselves to “prayer and to serving the word” (see Acts 6:1-4). Structures eventually emerged in the ancient church that provided new divisions of labor among the leaders. 182

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 183

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards / 183

However, the apostolic nature of the early church so influenced the first deacons who were selected to wait on tables (Acts 6:1-6) that there is no public record that they ever performed table service. Instead, like the twelve apostles, the deacons went about preaching and performing wonders in other settings (see Acts 6:8; 8:5).5 Throughout history, the church has attempted in good faith to restore the New Testament patterns of leadership within congregations. Now, after two millennia of church life resulting in increasing denominationalism and the professionalization of clergy, the roles of clergy and boards often play out in a dynamic tension—whether in connectional or congregational polity, or a combination of both. In each local congregation, the practice of leadership reflects both historical antecedents and the cultural values within a particular tradition.6 Historical antecedents and cultural values, along with size and complexity of the local church, determine who “waits on tables” and who devotes themselves to “prayer and serving the word.” Although no one would deny the expanding redefinition of table service—that has expanded to human resource management, knowledge of legal issues, financial management, stewardship of property and buildings, and technical competency—there are those who believe the church has sold its soul to the corporate model, as well as those who say the church still lags behind the best practices of good business. Prayer and serving the word are central within the simple structures, such as the house church movement while at the same time they have expanded to worship services that, in addition to preaching, demand precision planning that involves people with different gifts in media, music, and the arts. Highly specialized program ministries call forth unique gifts for teaching, recovery ministries, mission teams, pastoral care, and spiritual direction. The coordination of these ministries among volunteer and paid leaders and staff requires skill and precision, effective communication, and attention to detail. It is no surprise that people who have been involved in these exciting ministries, however fulfilling they have been, return to the sidelines7 or to the simplicity of an organic church where the division of labor is primarily waiting on tables and serving the word. In this chapter we will discuss the issues and implications of pastors and governing boards within a local congregation.8 According to

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 184

184 / Leading the Congregation

leadership theorist Robert K. Greenleaf, “The most important qualification for trustees should be that they care for the institution, which means that they care for all of the people the institution touches, and they are determined to make their caring count.”9

The Roles and Responsibilities of Trustees The members of the church board have at least four crucial roles and responsibilities that must be carried out. They are (1) to be the guardian of the institutional mission; (2) to create a continual climate of trust; (3) to empower leadership and ministry teams; and (4) to formulate guiding principles that begin with broad values and strategic initiatives that move toward specific policies, such as financial management, employment, crisis management, and legal issues.

The Guardian of the Institutional Mission After no small dissension and debate between the delegation from Antioch and the Pharisaic party within the Jerusalem church, those who participated in the Jerusalem Council concluded, “it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28a). This was an extraordinary proclamation given how deeply divided the parties were concerning the church’s identity and purpose. A variety of communication patterns was expressed in the process: personal accounts of spiritual experiences, the appeal to the scriptures in light of personal narratives, sharp debate, prayer, silence, and listening. As with many conflict results, the peace lasted for a few days before Paul and Silas parted ways with Barnabus and Mark to strengthen the churches in Syria and Cilicia (Acts 15:3641). Nevertheless, this narrative remains a watershed chapter in the history of the infant church that provides important lessons for leadership. A study of church boards uncovered a malady of disillusionment that paradoxically had two frequent complaints among board members: “(1) ‘It’s run just like a business’ and (2) ‘It’s not run enough like a business’!”10 We agree with Greenleaf that the most crucial role of trustees is to define the institution—its goals and purposes.11 Providing leadership for congregations that must make a change in their direction is not easy. In a recent study 44 percent of pastors reported that they and their lay leaders spend most of their time in meetings with “keeping things going,

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 185

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards / 185

keeping the congregation functioning” while 56 percent said that they “discuss and define future needs and directions of the congregation.”12 The same study further reported that those congregations who plan for their future are “more likely to believe that their congregation has a clear vision for its future, are excited about its future, and believe that the congregation is serving its wider community.”13 Boards do well when every decision is measured by an adherence to the mission and goals of the congregation, often asking themselves: What is our purpose? What are we trying to accomplish? Will the communities we serve be different because of our ministries? To be clear about the mission of a congregation is perhaps the most critical role for the board; upon these decisions lie the future of the church. Thus those who ignore these questions abdicate their primary responsibilities. As Greenleaf points out, “If purpose and direction are flawed, the very best managerial effort may fail.”14

Create a Continual Climate of Trust However, a compelling purpose is not solely enough. There is also the need for the trust and care of those within the congregation where the more able and less able serve one another. According to Greenleaf, this type of trust is the bedrock of all major institutions.15 But it is also the most difficult. The early discipleship community of Jesus reminds us of how hard it is to form a community that is dedicated to God’s redemptive purpose for humankind without getting sidetracked by petty differences, power plays, and betrayal of their leader—none of which contribute to a “continual climate of trust.” For example, consider boards and pastoral teams who fail to work through their disagreements regarding the future direction for the congregation and mission priorities. When members of the congregation are not clear as to who is steering the ship or when they believe the board and pastor are attempting to steer the ship in opposite directions, it can be expected that the members will be confused and, therefore, take sides, causing trust to erode throughout the congregation. Pastors and board members must work to strengthen trust within the pastoral team and the congregation; apart from this, the leaders will not fulfill their responsibilities. Passive board members often provide a cover of legitimacy for the pastor’s intentions. However, when political maneuvering dominates

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 186

186 / Leading the Congregation

relationships among the board and pastoral team, trust is soon lost. When leaders get what they want by playing political games, they may be viewed as powerful but not to be trusted. Thus people relate to one another in ways that foster entanglements and favors. In such situations, the congregation invariably senses that not all is right at the core of the organization, and the members of the congregation begin to distrust the leaders.

Empower Leadership and Ministry Teams Effective governing boards empower pastoral teams by clarifying their roles and responsibilities and ensuring their main purpose of equipping people for ministry (Eph 4:11-12). More specifically, the following roles of governing boards are for your consideration: equip the pastoral team to be effective within the unique culture of the congregation and its community; and provide adequate staffing needs for ministries that fulfill the congregation’s mission within its community and in the world. Equip the pastoral team to be effective within the unique culture of the congregation and its community. Each congregation is living out its own narrative, and members of trustee boards who have been part of the community can help leaders more fully understand the history, set of values, critical incidents, and other unique aspects of the culture that are important to the congregation and its community—especially those who are new to the leadership scene and do not readily know the nuances of cultural phenomena below the surface. In order to lead well, the pastoral team will do well to understand the implicit expectations of the board and the congregation. Understanding the cultural dynamics within a congregation may help to explain confusing patterns of behaviors and the “unreasonable positions” promoted by certain members. For example, the conventional wisdom assumes that a pastor not follow another who was long-term and greatly admired by the congregation. But the problem is neither the long tenure nor the close relationships, but that over time values and habits become embedded in the life of the congregation that the incoming pastor cannot possibly know. Yet some boards take little time to fully acquaint the pastor with the unique characteristics of the new setting. Thus when pastors find themselves in serious trouble, the board seems paralyzed and unable to protect pastors from protracted criticism and “trench fighting.”

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 187

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards / 187

Provide adequate staffing needs for ministries that fulfill the congregation’s mission within its community and in the world. Congregations embrace a variety of staffing needs for ministry that include paid and volunteer ministries. It is rare for any church to find a pastor who is equally competent in the various roles as leader, preacher, teacher, caregiver, and manager. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the pastor and ministry team, the board understands the congregation well enough to provide the necessary variety of pastoral staffing needs and the respective volunteer ministries that are required for effective ministry. With few exceptions, boards who participate in the decision-making regarding the staffing needs of the church, take little away from the authority of the pastor. Rather, the board’s involvement reinforces the solidarity of support for decisions regarding leadership throughout the congregation. It might be said that the pastor and ministry team should represent something of a highly spirited horse with the bit in its teeth and fire in its eyes, and with a driving passion burning in its heart. In this role the board is to provide a hand on the rein to guide the horse so that efforts are not wasted, and the results are consistent with the needs of the congregation in fulfilling its mission within the surrounding environment.

Formulate Guiding Principles That Begin with Broad Values and Move toward More Specific Policies A compelling mission, a clear statement of values, and well-thought out strategic initiatives are indispensible to effective decision-making at all levels throughout the congregation. In their absence, decisions implicitly reveal mission priorities, vision, and strategy but are often accompanied with conflict and wasted energy. Leadership teams who spend adequate time on clarifying the congregation’s guiding principles demonstrate good stewardship for its future. Paul Chaffee suggested that general policies give direction through basic values and goals, specific policies offer details, guidelines specify certain kinds of behaviors, and sanctions offer special permissions (“the choir director keeps the key to the organ”) and penalties (“drink at youth camp and you’ll be driven home”).16 General policies invite theological reflection in areas such as leadership development, decision-making processes, financial stewardship, sexual misconduct, natural perils, and managing conflict among members. Other policies require good

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 188

188 / Leading the Congregation

judgment in legal affairs to keep current with the latest laws and standards of fiduciary responsibilities, employment, crisis management, safeguarding facilities, discrimination, and transportation safety.17

The Chairperson of the Board Robert Greenleaf makes the claim that “great institutions are more likely to emerge when the chairpersons of their trustees or directors are strong, influential people of vision.”18 The chairperson of the board is not one who is managed by the “executive” or one whose main role is to facilitate the board meeting. Rather, the chairperson knows that integrity for governance lies with the entire board, not solely with the chair or with the lead pastor and the pastoral team. Church polity varies on whether the chair of the board is also a member of the clergy team. Polity that prohibits clergy from being the board chair follows good principles of governance but risks the bifurcation between those leaders actively involved in ministry and others who make policy decisions about ministry. Polity that promotes a clergy chair of the governing board risks a potential leadership vacuum during pastoral transitions, the concentrated power of the lead pastor, and the inability to manage conflict effectively when the lead pastor as board chair is also a participant in the conflict. A major role of the chairperson is to enable the trustees to become a leadership team where there is common commitment, mutual support, and accountability among the trustees and the pastoral team. Consider the following guidelines for chairing meetings that fulfill the board’s responsibilities: 1. The chair ensures the board do a good job, which is not assuming an intermittent CEO role on the board; 2. The chair focuses attention on leading the board, not leading the CEO or top administrative leadership; 3. The chair helps the board define the impetus and boundaries of its work, not implementing the chair’s agenda for managing the organization. This may mean exploring the moral, and sometimes legal, imperatives of trusteeship; 4. The chair facilitates the board in identifying discipline, rules, and expectations: for example, attendance at meetings,

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 189

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards / 189

dealing with members’ dissent, and coming to meetings unprepared; 5. The chair assists the board in evaluating its own performance; 6. The chair helps the board take responsibility for its own agenda, paying attention to its own separate role and responsibility in the organization; 7. The chair facilitates meetings that ensure full participation of the members—effective and efficient meetings have a climate of respect, freedom to disagree, perhaps the use of a simple poll to find out if people have made up their minds, and an agenda that does not cut off important debate and yet keeps the conversation moving forward; and 8. The chair sees beyond effective and efficient board meetings toward the long view of capacity-building for the organization; this includes uncompromising attention to the long-term ability to govern the organizational mission and values.19

Primus Inter Pares—First among Equals Greenleaf identified the single chief executive and the low participation of board members as a design for mediocrity.20 The alternative to the “lone chief” hierarchical structure is primus inter pares, or “first among equals,” which is still being tested as a leadership concept.21 Proposed in primus inter pares is a top leadership team of equals with a primus or first. The primus leader is one who has team-building strengths, the capacity to encourage a common purpose through diverse gifts and perspectives, and a big picture perspective with a commitment to show the way. The primus offers a process by which the board will “do the right thing” in the best interests of the congregation. Several years ago we consulted a congregation of nine hundred members that had five pastors. The communication between the pastors and the board could hardly have been worse. One pastor told us that during his seven years as a pastor he had been invited to meet with the board three times.

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 190

190 / Leading the Congregation

The board complained that the pastor was not effective. But how would they know? They had never observed his ministry firsthand, they did not meet with him, and they had not provided training in the areas of his weakness. If the pastor was doing a poor job, who was to blame? First, the senior pastor had provided his staff with no training. Second, the board did not call the senior pastor to accountability for not training the pastoral staff.

Common Problems Confronting the Board Peter Drucker mused that all types of boards have one thing in common: They do not function.22 When the board does not function effectively, the ministry teams and entire congregation are bound to suffer. In our work with congregations, we have observed three problems that erode the board’s ability to function: when members of the board are underutilized, when members of the board are incompetent or immature, and when trust is replaced by extreme conditions of compliance or control.

When Members Are Underutilized The more than 360,000 congregations in the United States have members who would make excellent trustees but will never be given the opportunity, or perhaps they have served in the past but will not serve again. There are also current church boards whose performance is less than adequate. A question to consider is this: how many of those who are not currently utilized are capable of influencing more congregations to become distinctive in their service and ministry? Richard Ingram explained the rule of thirds in describing the makeup of boards.23 The first group is the movers and shakers. They seldom miss meetings, they actively participate in the life of the congregation, they are forthright in their own principles while listening to the views of others, and they gladly take on board assignments. The second group, the semi-activists, will usually respond to a call for help, but often they require encouragement and coaxing. They will usually come through when called upon, but they are not consistently dependable. Ingram identifies the third group as the phantoms. Though their names are posted

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 191

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards / 191

on the list of board members, they are neither seen nor heard at the meetings—phantoms are often the silent minority on any board. Many board members do not fully know their responsibilities. Some shy away from them; others bring their own assumptions that conflict with others. Many boards are not fully informed about important decisions they are asked to make, and some may feel patronized when they are expected to comply with decisions that are already made. As a result, board members may acquiesce to the status quo, or end their service. Others fight for control.

When Members Are Incompetent or Immature The vital interests of the congregation are ignored when protecting the incompetent or immature board member or pastor.24 Edwin Friedman described this condition as “adaption to weakness rather than strength.”25 Immaturity is expressed in many forms, some of which include the following: political infighting, constant complaining and blaming, refusal to take responsibility, engaging in passive-aggressive behaviors, playing out the victim’s role, interpreting reality through dichotomous thinking (“good” or “bad,” “for” or “against”), and looking for the “quick-fix” solution. These self-defeating patterns sacrifice at great costs the necessary time and energy needed to coalesce the board’s efforts to concentrate on the most important issues. Some pastors have experienced the devastating influence of an antagonist on the board. One board “bully” can paralyze the board’s effectiveness and, therefore, seriously wound the ministries of the entire congregation. Likewise, there may also be a group in the congregation who has the board antagonist in their pocket. Now the goal is “to clean up the church” or to represent the positions of a small group bent upon disruption. Awkward as it may seem, you must confront the antagonist, asking him to change, or to leave the board. This seldom happens because the pastor and the board members cave in to the temptation “to do good”— which excuses and protects the sullen or belligerent member.

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 192

192 / Leading the Congregation

When Trust Is Replaced by Compliance or Control The dysfunction of church boards fluctuates between the two extremes: compliance and control. The compliant surrender their authority and shy away from conflict by sweeping it under the carpet. They are predominantly passive with little energy to invest themselves in the life of the board. Others, however, should not mistake compliance for commitment or an easy path to unity; it may in fact be covering up a deep resistance that surprisingly can sabotage the board’s best efforts. On the other hand, controlling boards fight for influence, going to the extreme of getting rid of others or destroying them. In power plays, pastors and boards will blame each other for the conditions within the congregation even as they struggle to control the outcomes of the board’s decision-making. As a result, the lack of trust can quickly sever the relationships among the board members, with the pastoral team, and ultimately with the congregation. Every interaction among board members in low levels of trust is treated with suspicion. A great deal of energy might be spent in board meetings, or in the parking lot, but for all the wrong reasons. In a conflict consultation, a pastor confided in us regarding his frustration with the members of the church board. He told us that one meeting had an agenda that included forty items, all of them trivial, including a discussion regarding the correct temperature of the water in the baptismal font. Of course, such important trivia require time, and the meeting adjourned at 2 a.m. A friend who is a member of a para-church board told us that the leader viewed the board members primarily as fundraisers. Our friend was constantly bombarded with mail depicting frightful descriptions of the dire plight of the agency. He was convinced the agency director’s only interest was to frighten or shame him into working harder to keep the place funded. He soon found a good excuse to get off the board. Perhaps our favorite story is that of a fifteen-member church board that spent two hours on one item until 11p.m. trying to decide how to reduce photocopy costs.

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 193

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards / 193

In their leadership role, trustees who care deeply for the congregation do well to better understand the issues of ambiguity and governance.

Ambiguity and Governance Effective boards learn to think through the issues of ambiguity in their role of governance—these include: the issue of trust regarding power and authority, the ambiguity of specialization and generalization, and the ambiguity of belief versus criticism.26

The Issue of Trust: Power and Authority The issues of power and authority are of central concern in any organization, and the church is no exception. Greenleaf observed that multiple constituencies are invested in the exercise of power within a local congregation. People can “withhold effort, support, or money in ways that give them some coercive power over others. The power structure of any large institution is a complex network of forces, both seen and unseen.”27 While the trustees hold legal power, they should not use this power operationally even when they are responsible for how power is used throughout the congregation. This is a central issue in churches and nonprofits that often results in confusion between what separates the power that belongs to the board and the power that belongs to the pastor and ministry teams. Effective boards have learned to exercise their power in ways that create a climate of trust and a commitment to the mission and strategic priorities of the congregation. Achieving a balance of power between the board and the pastoral team can be difficult. Leaders misunderstand power when they view it as being static and limited in the ways it is exercised through the various ministries of the congregation. However, power is not static. It is in flux, moving from one source of influence to another, and power is also dynamic as it increases and lessens in intensity. Therefore, the board that empowers the pastoral team does not necessarily yield its influence, nor does the pastoral team who empowers those in ministry surrender its power. Power grows and expands in many directions and in intensity when the congregation is effective in its ministries—and when there is trust. Thus the leadership team of trustees and pastors, and the entire congregation, become more influential in all efforts to serve others.

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 194

194 / Leading the Congregation

What we have said about power being dynamic and expandable can also be said about weakness. When the trustees are weak, trust is often sacrificed for the predominance of political forces at work; therefore all ministry efforts of the congregation, however sincerely expressed, are likewise diminished. For example, when pastors are weakened in their influence and authority, other ministries of the church can lose vitality and also become weakened. The leader who lacks power is often unable to empower others in their responsibilities. Specific issues of trust arise when the governing board: (1) does not ensure that the leadership teams use their influence to effectively fulfill mission and strategic ministry priorities; and (2) does not monitor the use of power with sufficient care to be certain that it is not abused by the leadership team and others. In his letter to Bishop Mandell in the late nineteenth century, Lord Acton wrote: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”28 It is worthwhile for religious leaders to ponder this maxim. The board must be certain that the use of power is carried out positively so that those who are involved in the ministries of the congregation are empowered to serve through their commitment, experience, gifts, and passion. Greenleaf wrote [Boards] delegate the operational use of power to administrators and staff, but with accountability for its use. . . . Furthermore, [the board] will insist that the outcome be that people in and affected by the institution will grow healthy, wiser, freer, more autonomous, and more likely to become servants of society. The only real justification for institutions beyond certain efficiency is that people in them can grow to greater stature than if they stood alone. It follows then that people working in institutions will be more productive than they would be as unrelated individuals.29

It is the nature of the church that authority is fraught with ambiguity. First, there is the ambiguity that is inherent in the relationships between lead pastors and their team, as well as the relationships between the pastoral team and the congregation. The question remains: who works for whom? On one hand, the pastor is viewed as the steward who is responsible for the performance of paid staff and volunteers. On the other hand, the volunteers are likely to be members of the congregation;

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 195

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards / 195

as such they may also exercise voting rights in matters of hiring and retaining the pastor, as well as the board of trustees. Thus, there is a real sense in which the pastor is working for the volunteers when they are members of the congregation. A constant point of frustration—especially in times of conflict—is expressed in the question, who works for whom? Second, in order for the church to remain effective, the church must demonstrate stability while at the same time remain open to change. The congregation embraces timeless values while remaining open to timely change and opportunities. Healthy churches maintain a stability that embraces its deeply cherished values while remaining open to innovation and risk. Together these ingredients hopefully provide a climate of trust in which people feel at ease within the structures of the church while also keeping their eyes open to new opportunities. For some, this remains a tension. Necessary to stability and change are leaders on the board and pastoral team who work through the ambiguity of their authority. The board too often abdicates all strategic planning to the pastoral team. Should the board of trustees not advocate or be involved in the strategic planning process, their resistance may disperse into a variety of issues—most of them not being strategic. As a result, board members become politely neutral or disavow any involvement in the strategic plan and changes advocated by the pastoral team. Thus, the congregation is thrown into confusion. At this point distrust in the pastor and the board escalates. Now when the congregation is not clear as to the strategic direction— or when members believe the board and the pastor are attempting to move in opposite directions—distrust and resistance throughout the congregation are to be expected.

The Ambiguity of Specialization versus Generalization A second ambiguity in the church is the specialization that relates to the competence of the pastoral ministry team, the board, and the congregation. Regardless of the size of a congregation, most people expect quality. In order for the small church to attract new members—and to carve out a niche for itself—it must do at least one thing well (perhaps better than any other church in the community). The gifts and strengths exercised by the pastor, board members, and congregation work together to fulfill a compelling mission.

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 196

196 / Leading the Congregation

The complexity of larger congregations demands specialization and coordination in order for pastoral leadership and volunteers to employ their best gifts, and team members must develop a specialized focus in their ministries. However, persons tend to view the ministry of the congregation from their own personal perspective. Therefore, the lead pastor and board of trustees do well when they maintain the larger perspective of the congregation and its ministries. Trustees who care that the congregation becomes distinctive in its service will help the pastoral team and congregation discern which ministries require support, which ministries need to change, and which should be laid to rest after a time of remembering and celebration.

The Ambiguity of Belief versus Criticism A third ambiguity is the healthy tension between belief and criticism. The pastor and ministry team must believe they are doing the right things in their program ministries. The board, on the other hand, needs to be critical in a constructive sense so that the pastoral team is free to pursue a course of ministry because they have the assurance of a dedicated board supporting them. Healthy congregations deserve leaders who are supportive, accountable, and critically loyal to one another and to their ministries—to the end that the congregation is known for its distinction in witness and service within the community.

A Spirituality of Church Boards The persons who are selected to serve a congregation’s board or religious nonprofit may soon discover a variety of expectations as they make their way to their first board meeting. Consider the prevailing ethos of many church boards as characterized by author Charles Olsen: Advisory culture: What special wisdom do you have that the people responsible for the program of the church rely on? (Is there also an expectation that your dollars will accompany the wisdom?) Political culture: What group(s) or individual people in the church rely on you to carry and voice their interests before the board? Broker culture: Who owes you a favor that you as a member of the board could “cash” for the benefit of the church?

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 197

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards / 197

Bureaucratic culture: Who stands to lose if you reorganize? Managerial culture: What program area are you responsible for in order to carry out the mission of this board through other people? Corporate culture: What failure would be intolerable for this church? Strategic culture: Do you know where you are going, and do you have a plan to get there? Parliamentary culture: Is this matter “out of order”?30 Given these cultural vestiges that are embedded in the behaviors of boards, the question remains for many if spirituality can influence and transcend these prevailing cultures. It is easier to see how Christian faith is a natural part of worship, education, small groups, spiritual direction, and witness and service. But there also exists a hunger to find ways to integrate Christian spirituality within the existing leadership structures of the congregation, including pastoral team and board meetings. Charles Olsen has proposed the reframing of board meetings as “worshipful work.”31 Why not incorporate the spiritual disciplines of scripture reading, prayer, silence, meditation, study, and journaling into the life of the board? Viewed this way, preparing the agenda for a board meeting has similarly prayerful forethought and exercise of creativity as planning for worship, though it does not replace the board meeting agenda. However, the board’s spiritual practice can include worship themes, prayers, and opportunities for reflection on actions during the meeting. Further, Olsen recommends that boards consider replacing the litany of reports with “spiritually rooted practices.” For example, consider the following approaches: Story telling or history giving. Allow a portion of the meeting to surface spiritually rooted practtices in general or in relation to a specific occasion or issue. Biblical and theological reflection. The master stories from Scripture, when woven with our stories and reflected upon theologically, will produce a center, a basic purpose, and a focused mission for the church. Prayerful discernment. Decisions are to be “discerned” with a spiritual eye rather than through a rational or deductive process. “Visioning” the future. Take the long, unhurried look. Anticipate the fulfillment of trends as well as the intervention of God through the unexpected.32

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 198

198 / Leading the Congregation

A major role of the pastor is to equip the members of the board, helping them become competent in their responsibilities, and showing the way by integrating spirituality with board processes. If the board members are not disciplined in making themselves available to the means of grace, then grace will be lacking in the board sessions, and the decisions made and carried through may be lacking the Spirit’s creativity, prophetic boldness, and fruitfulness. The bottom-line responsibility for the governing board is to guard the mission and to create trust; together these form the simple belief that the board is capable of—and dedicated to—serving the needs and interests of the congregation and its witness to the world. A simple yet important guideline for the board in carrying out its responsibilities is this: if we do this, will it contribute to our mission, and will it create trust? In order to fulfill its legitimate leadership role in the church, the governing board must: 1. Learn to find ways to integrate spirituality with the life of the board. 2. Provide for the professional growth and spiritual development of the board, pastoral team, and staff. 3. Continuously deal with the philosophical nature of power, authority, and ambiguity. 4. Deal with the operational processes of setting goals and determining the ministry direction of the congregation. 5. Design the top ministry structures that empower people to fulfill their purpose in ministry. 6. Pay attention to the necessary changes that will ensure that the future of the congregation remains vital. 7. Proactively address the issues that get in the way of desired results. 8. Guard the institutional mission and use it as a means to evaluate board decisions and measure the effectiveness of program ministries. The board of trustees that concentrates its will and energy on these things is almost certain to be effective in its leadership and worthy of the congregation’s trust.

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 199

The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards / 199

Questions for Reflection on Governing Boards of Congregations 1. Review your board’s agenda for the last several meetings. What would the agenda say about how your board understands its purpose and responsibilities? 2. Review your experience in training for board trustees; specifically what training was helpful and what training was not helpful? 3. Think of a recent conflict (or a reoccurring one). What might this conflict have to do with ambiguity and governance (for example, the ambiguity of power and authority)? In what regard does this conflict have to do with issues identified as common problems of boards? What are some positive steps the board must take to address these issues? 4. Would the pastoral team, staff, and congregation say they are empowered to fulfill their roles in ministry? What steps can the board take to further empower others for ministry? 5. How would you describe your board’s self-understanding in light of John Carver’s list that promotes the board’s responsibility? 6. How would you assess your board meetings in relation to Charles Olsen’s descriptions of eight board cultures? 7. Has your board experimented with integrating spirituality and the business agenda? What have been the results? Is it time to explore new models? How will you discover new ways to experience the spiritual life in board meetings? 8. What have you learned in this chapter that is important to bring to the table for the board to consider?

BBMU004201QK012.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:37 PM

Page 200

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 201

PART THREE

LEADING TOWARD TRANSFORMATION

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 202

PART THREE

Leading toward Transformation So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 2 Cor 5:17-19 Conversion includes soul and body, the individual as well as his community, his own way of life as well as the system in which he lives. Conversion is in tendency as universal as the kingdom of God, in whose imminence it is both made possible and demanded. For that reason there is no room here for a narrowing down to the individual or the collective, the religious or the political sphere. But for that reason too conversion is the concrete form of the people of God, which gathers together in the kingdom’s imminence.1 Jürgen Moltmann

R(Col 1:20) is a grand vision of transformation. Just before Jesus econciling all things “whether on earth or in heaven” through Christ

ascended, he told his disciples that the reconciling good news of forgiveness of sins is for everyone (Luke 24:47). For the disciples’ inauguration in this transforming ministry, they were to stay in Jerusalem until they had “been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The same Spirit who descended upon Jesus during his baptism and who inaugurated his ministry, burst upon the company of those who had gathered in the room upstairs from all parts of the world (Acts 2:5). The outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was a historical turning point for the church—that which was prophesied to include the Spirit on “all flesh” that transformed social and cultural boundaries of the old and young, rich and poor, sons and daughters, male and female (Acts 2:17-18). 202

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 203

Leading toward Transformation / 203

The Easter story describes the transformation of Christ’s earthly body to becoming the mystical body of Christ at Pentecost, embracing a vast community of followers who are guided by Christ on their journey toward Christlikeness. Thus the church—being filled with the Spirit—actively extends the ministry of Christ as a signpost of the kingdom that ushers the divine will to be done on earth as it is done in the heavens (Matt 6:10). Congregations can believe that the same Spirit who inaugurated the ministry of Jesus and who transformed the diverse community of believers at Pentecost will unleash unlimited creative empowerment in order for the people of God to partner with God in a ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18-20). The transformation of which God speaks is personal and of universal proportions with infinite room for congregations to discover their unique callings that are fulfilled through individual charisms united in love for the sake of others. Jean Vanier expresses it this way: Each new community is called forth by God, as he inspires a particular man or woman or a group of people to respond to a specific cry or need of humanity at one particular moment of history. This cry can be obvious: the cry of the dying in the streets of Calcutta or of the street kids in New York or of people with physical and mental handicaps. Or else it can be a hidden cry: the need of the sixth-century Church for the oases of prayer, the need of the thirteenth-century Church in Assisi for communities close to the poor. There is a cry hidden in the heart of God, of the Church and of the saints to give life. . . . Each new community with its founder has a specific charism, gift and mission, responding to a particular cry for help, for recognition and for love.2

The outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost was a dramatic event, but another important lesson from the early church is that the journey of transformation was experienced by the people of God in ordinary life together—worshipping, praying, learning, and breaking bread (Acts 2:42). The Spirit brings life and intimacy to the community in order for its members to be encouraged and challenged to participate with God to fulfill God’s redeeming purpose in the world. Imagine the conversations among the early Christians in their homes: what were they learning about sharing the faith with others, how would they support the families whose members had been persecuted, and who would be able

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 204

204 / Leading the Congregation

to host in their home a new group of Christ followers? The household churches of the Apostolic Age spread the good news in their neighborhoods and throughout the Roman Empire amid brutal hostility and persecution. The focus of these early bands of Christians was the experience of a rich, communal spiritual life while engaging themselves in spreading the good news. In less than three centuries, the transformational witness of early Christians experienced a major shift with the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in A.D. 313 as the Apostolic Age succumbed to the Age of Christendom.3 Instead of Roman persecution threatening Christians, the Roman populace became Christians “de facto” through citizenship. Now the missional focus of Christendom included the countries on other continents that were “converted” through missionary endeavors and political colonization. In simple terms, the emphasis was the Church and the Empire maintaining power and reinforcing one another to protect their mutual gain and influence. The Church that occupied the cultural center throughout the Age of Christendom during the last many centuries finds herself increasingly on the cultural margins in Western societies. The local congregation that spends its resources to maintain the weary, worn vestiges of the status quo, at a time when there is declining commitment to the institutional church, will certainly lead itself to its own extinction. With the decline of Christendom, there are compelling voices at present that are calling for a new apostolic age that would recapture the transformational power of the first-century church for the twenty-first century as contemporary congregations discover for themselves what it means to participate in the missio Dei.4 The transformation will take various forms as it crosses denominational identities. Editor of The Christian Century and pastor John Buchanan describes the necessary balance between spirituality and transformational witness for congregations; he writes: So the church is called and commissioned by God to tell the good news of Jesus Christ and to show the good news in transformed relationships within and acts of love and justice in the world. The world is hungry for that kind of religious wholeness. There is plenty of evidence that modern men and women are not much interested in a religion that is entirely private and personal and has nothing to do with the world. There is also evidence that modern men and women are not

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 205

Leading toward Transformation / 205

much compelled by church social service or social activistic programs that are not related clearly and openly to belief in God and faith in Jesus Christ. There is plenty of evidence that when both occur in the life of a church, the gospel is communicated, Jesus becomes real, and transformation, personal and social, begins to happen.5

Thus far we have attempted to make the argument that leading a congregation is based on the leader’s commitment to a healthy interior life (Part One), and the premise that forming teams can influence the vitality of the congregation’s ministries (Part Two). Now we examine in Part Three what leadership teams bring to the congregation that will enable the necessary transformation through the congregation’s spirituality or relationship with God (chapter 13); we also explore the dynamics of the transformational exchange between the congregation and its environment—when congregations possess a clear and compelling mission (chapter 14), when people are possessed by a shared vision (chapter 15), and when congregations understand the dynamics of change (chapter 16) in order to freely participate with the grand vision of God’s reconciling all things to God. Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. A prayer attributed to St. Francis

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 206

Chapter Thirteen

The Spirituality of the Congregation An authentic faith journey always leads to concern for others, to a radicality of love, in some form or other. We begin to see, to feel that a lack of concern for the world or an inability to bear the burden of others and to share in their suffering is a sign that we share neither the mind nor the heart of Christ. We realize that the highest form of love is not simply to love God but to share in his love for others. We no longer seek to love like Christ but to love with him, and in him and through him.1 Katherine Marie Dyckman and L. Patrick Carroll Without contemplation and interior prayer the Church cannot fulfill her mission to transform and save mankind. Without contemplation, she will be reduced to being the servant of cynical and worldly powers, no matter how hard her faithful protest that they are fighting for the Kingdom of God.2 Thomas Merton

Oas for the individual:

ur working definition of spirituality for the congregation is the same

Spirituality is a growing awareness of God and receptivity to God’s Spirit in our lives, and the means by which we keep that receptivity alive and vital toward the end that we are becoming formed in the Spirit of Christ for the sake of others and indeed for the world.

The spirituality of the congregation is a shared journey among members with different personalities, perspectives on their faith, and experiences 206

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 207

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 207

in life. Our individual thoughts, feelings, and intentions are combined to make up a “spiritual depth” within us—most of them are outside of our awareness but nevertheless they are also “most revealing of who we actually are and why we do what we do.”3 Dallas Willard further explains how a person develops into a certain “form” or character in the process of spiritual formation irrespective of a specifically religious identity or context. The implications are far-reaching, as Willard explains: “Terrorists as well as saints are the outcome of spiritual formation. Their spirits or hearts have been formed. Period.”4 Simply stated, all of life becomes part of our spiritual formation; however, the congregation’s spirituality is more than the sum of its individual members, and it is necessarily more than the doing of ministry. The deep work of the Spirit in persons and their faith communities goes against the grain of a culture that is predisposed not to reflect about its common life together; instead culture is predisposed to reach a destination quickly and relatively free of struggle or pain. The New Testament epistles describe entire faith communities with a vast array of theological questions, conflict, and religious practices. The Apostle Paul forthrightly upheld these differences to the congregations so that they would look honestly at their life together, and hopefully deal with their differences. The experiences of Christian communities in the first century— and how leaders helped members interpret the vast array of experiences in light of their faith—became part of their communal spirituality. Like the individual person, congregations are being formed—but into what likeness? Paul described the process of diverse members coalescing their differences into a unified identity of Christ himself; Paul explains: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12: 12-13). Though spiritual growth in the New Testament was never restricted to the individual disciple, this is often the experience of contemporary Christians—either because increasing numbers no longer intimately belong to a church, or because the congregations to which they belong are not intentional about a communal spirituality. In contrast to a Protestant emphasis on personal spirituality, the New Testament views the spiritual life as being formed within a community of the Spirit.

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 208

208 / Leading the Congregation

In a letter to the believers at Ephesus, Paul also described a major role of leaders as equipping the congregation for ministry so that the body is being built up until all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. . . . But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. (Eph 4:11-13, 15-16)

Leaders do well to fulfill their leadership role in equipping others for ministry so that the body becomes formed “to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” But when leaders ignore, perhaps subconsciously, Christ as head of the body, they inadvertently limit the congregation’s spiritual growth. The life of faith is a dynamic journey that is central to a congregation’s existence when calling its members to interpret all of life’s experiences in a conscious, gifted relationship with Christ. The spirituality of the congregation is deepened through a trust that surrenders in love for God and challenged by a call to serve others, often sacrificially. Thus spiritual discernment is possible when congregations are guided by the Spirit, when thoughts and motives are transformed by the scriptures, and when members are nurtured and challenged within the community of faith. The spiritual journey has the potential of becoming wholly whom God intends for individuals and congregations to be. Becoming this, the purpose of the spiritual journey is not self-fulfillment as much as it is the capacity to see the world through a kingdom perspective—and respond out of love and obedience to Christ. Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright explains: When the church is seen to move straight from worship of God we see in Jesus to making a difference and effecting much-needed change in the real world; when it becomes clear that the people who feast at Jesus’s table are the ones in the forefront of work to eliminate hunger and famine; when people realize that those who pray for the Spirit to work in and through them are the people who seem to have extra resources of love and patience in caring for those whose lives are damaged, bruised, and shamed.5

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 209

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 209

The Western Model versus the Scriptural Model of Spirituality Spirituality is the means by which persons may be related to the Spirit who is God—the joining of the person’s spirit with God’s Spirit. This view of spirituality is explained by Jesuit theologian Richard J. Hauser, who contrasts the predominent Western model of spirituality with one that is demonstrated in the scriptures (see Figure 13.1).6 Figure 13.1 Scriptural Model of Spirituality versus a Western (Neo-Western) Model of Spiritualy

According to the western model of spirituality, external behaviors are more important than internal motivations. Because the Spirit is outside of the person, the motivation comes primarily from natural capacities. The self is the initiator of good deeds; thus God rewards a person by proffering grace outside of the person—with the focus being personal reward, whether now or in heaven. The scriptural model of spirituality assumes that we are being formed according to Christ’s likeness (2 Cor 3:18) so that an inner power flows from the presence of the Spirit of Christ within us. Thus grace is extended to the one who is being transformed into the likeness of Christ by the freely given gift of the Holy

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 210

210 / Leading the Congregation

Spirit. Now the focus is on the love of God and others here and now, and not at some later time; the emphasis is on inner attitudes and a consciousness of the internal movements of the Spirit.7 Christian spirituality includes the capacity to develop a discerning heart among the many voices and motivations, and to determine which aspirations were “seeded” by God. The Western model of spirituality has prevailed in the American Protestant Church since the “spiritual awakening” in the late 1800s until the present. The emerging trend in several segments of the Protestant Church might be categorized as a neo-Western model, which in many respects resembles more closely the scriptural model of spirituality but set in the context of the Western world. It is fair to assume that this paradigm shift will continue and spread into larger segments of the church.

Christian spirituality is being conformed to the image of Christ and patterning a congregation’s life after the example of Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that “Christ is willing to take form amongst us here and today”8 However, our formation in Christ’s likeness is not achieved by spiritual efforts to become like Christ; rather a pattern takes place when Christ—Incarnate, Crucified, and the Risen One—forms within us.9 To be formed with the One Incarnate means “no more pretense, no more hypocrisy or self-violence, no more compulsion to be something other, better and more ideal than what one is.”10 To be formed in the likeness of the One crucified requires a call to suffering, pain, and death; this may become the more radical nature of the leader’s spiritual life, bearing the anguish that is imposed upon him in ministry as a “fellowship of suffering” with Christ. Such suffering eventually produces endurance, character, and hope (see Rom 5:3-5). Consequently, to be formed with the Risen One is to experience Christ’s life in the midst of death, and yet to become Christ’s new creation,11 and to become a new leader before God and the congregation. Many leaders fall into the trap of equating ministry with spirituality. Ministry and spirituality are related, but they are not the same. Ministry

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 211

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 211

consumes energy whereas spirituality restores energy. Ministry that is not supported by authentic, holistic spirituality is ultimately doomed to boredom, stagnation, disappointment, and infirmity. Spirituality is paying attention to the life of the Spirit within—bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and selfcontrol (Gal 5:22-23). The Spirit’s fruit is a formational spirituality that stands in stark contrast to the congregation whose spirituality is being formed into another likeness, such as “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” (Gal 5:19-21).

Espoused Spirituality versus Lived Spirituality In our work with congregations, we are left with an abiding impression: A vast gulf sometimes exists between the spirituality espoused by a congregation and the spirituality lived out by the members. A group may find itself in serious conflict and yet demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit, or a group may quickly move to enmities, factions, quarreling, slander, gossip, and disorder—while all the time claiming to be deeply spiritual people. Many of these people would never think of missing church on Sunday. Therefore the practice of spirituality has become a performance, and the results are far removed from the fruit of the Spirit that Paul encourages for the congregation. There are various spiritualities, but to espouse a particular spirituality does not necessarily make one a spiritual person. For example, there is a Pentecostal spirituality, demonstrated by such phenomena as glossolalia, prophecies, and healings. However, after having worked with Pentecostal churches in severely damaging conflicts, we observe that not everyone who espouses a Pentecostal spirituality is being formed in the image and example of Christ. As a matter of fact, some of these people can be surprisingly unlike Christ when they do not get their way in the congregation. Yet, when told this, they respond by saying, “If you were more spiritual, then you would

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 212

212 / Leading the Congregation

know that God is leading us (and not you).” The same can also be said for persons espousing other spiritualities, whether confessional, activistic, charismatic, Wesleyan, reformed, or Roman Catholic. How can this be? Because many congregations are taught the corpus or form of their spirituality without ever being formed by it; individuals may handle the elements of a spirituality without allowing themselves to be formed by the Spirit of Christ.

The life of the Spirit within the congregation must be tended; otherwise it will not bear the fruit and ministrations of the Spirit. Regardless of theological and denominational identities, what is becoming more clear for many who are involved in sacrificially serving others is the need for prayer, meditation, intimacy with God, fidelity to the Holy Spirit, and the conviction that Christ, not we ourselves, is the architect and builder of God’s kingdom. While action is necessary, leaders must be mindful that the many ministries and activities of the congregation do not smother the more delicate and important elements of prayer and submission to the pruning activity of the Holy Spirit. “If action is missing and there is prayer,” writes Carlo Carretto, “the Church lives on and keeps on breathing, but if prayer is missing and there is only action, the Church withers and dies. . . . I am convinced that if [the church] gave half its energies to prayer, it would achieve much better results. . . . I, too, was one of these crazy people, working away and not praying sufficiently.”12 If preaching and liturgy were sufficient to form the congregation in the nature and example of Christ, then every congregation would have been so formed long ago. If the work of ministry were enough to form the church in the Spirit of Christ, then the congregations would have been formed in the image of Christ within the past many decades by preaching, liturgy, social ministries, pastoral care, and evangelism. These are necessary elements for the life of the church, but they are not enough. Lacking in our time is a confession that one may espouse a particular spirituality without becoming a spiritual person. Indeed, the leaders of the congregation must see it as a major responsibility to tend the spirituality of the congregation so that its espoused spirituality becomes its lived spirituality.

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 213

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 213

Being spiritually formed requires more than attending the Sunday services and becoming involved in specialized program ministries, small groups, social action, or evangelistic outreach. But some have never seriously considered spirituality as something different from involvement in worship and program ministries. As a result, those who would never think of missing the Sunday service may not yet be conformed to the image of Christ, and others who work (often overwork) in the church and the community may not be following the example of Christ, who practiced solitude and sacrificial ministry to others. While the rhetoric may be otherwise, pastors in almost every denomination discover that basic pastoral acts—such as prayer, searching the scriptures, or offering spiritual direction and companionship—are hardly noticed or rewarded by those responsible for clergy placement or the congregation’s search committee. What is highly rewarded is the “success” track record of increased church attendance, growing programs, the amount of resources given to denominational administration and missions, or service on a denominational board. Though it may lead to poverty or a lack of recognition in the eyes of other leaders, pastors must take seriously the challenge of forming congregations in an authentic Christian spirituality. In assuming this responsibility, there are certain roles the pastor must fulfill: the leader’s experience and example, the pastor as spiritual companion, and the pastor as “knower” of seasons.

The Leader’s Experience and Example Perhaps the most important effort that a pastor might bring to the spirituality of the congregation is her own experience and example of being spiritually formed. As with other important lessons in life, spirituality is more caught than taught. Although there is much that can be taught about spirituality, nevertheless the congregation may never fully understand or desire the spiritual journey proffered by the Spirit until they connect with it through the example of leaders. When people asked Jesus the way into a deeper spirituality, he invited them to follow him and learn from him. The term example implies that a leader express her spiritual values through discipline, personal experience, and relationships with others. In matters of the Spirit, it does the congregation little good if the pastor

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 214

214 / Leading the Congregation

attempts to represent something she has not accepted as normative for her own life. Mother Teresa represented best the attracting power of influence through the leader’s example by living a faithful witness of the Christian life; in doing so she simply said, “Just allow people to see Jesus in you; to see how you pray, to see how you lead a pure life, to see how you deal with your family, to see how much peace there is in your family. Then you can look straight into their eyes and say, ‘this is the way.’ You speak from life, you speak by experience.”13 Concerning the spiritual journey, a guide must know the way from personal experience—and accompany other sojourners along the way. Merely pointing in a general direction is not enough.

The Pastor as Spiritual Companion There are times we wish to talk to someone with whom we could share our anguish as well as our celebrations and future dreams—one who would listen to us in our present condition, or just be with us. When leading the congregation on its spiritual journey, consider the following two assumptions: first, the pastor must be on an authentic spiritual journey since he cannot lead where he has never been; and second, the congregation normally will not venture where the pastor is not leading. It would be more comfortable to provide a map with instructions, but spiritual formation is an open process whereby those who have eyes to see can lead; the unseeing and unknowing cannot. The pastor’s role as a spiritual companion of the congregation should be central to pastoral ministry. Expanding this premise, author Eugene Peterson has identified the acts of praying, reading scripture, and giving spiritual direction as three pastoral acts that “determine the shape of everything else. . . . They do not call attention to themselves and so are often not attended to. Without these practices there can be no developing substance in pastoral work. Without an adequate ‘ascetic’ the best of talents and best of intentions cannot prevent a thinning out into a life that becomes mostly impersonation.”14 Peterson’s understanding of these basic pastoral acts is not unlike that of the leaders in the ancient church who, when they saw their ministry responsibilities expanding, made hard choices in order to give themselves to prayer and serving the Word (Acts 6).

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 215

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 215

Thus spiritual companions are first disciplined themselves; then they are willing and able to teach others how to pray, how to search the scriptures, and how to practice the spiritual disciplines pertinent to each person’s journey. In essence, the pastor becomes for them a spiritual companion and guide. However, pastors who become a guide to others need soul companions themselves. The wise pastor seeks out a long and regular relationship with a spiritual director and knows that this relationship will be a source for spiritual growth, discernment, and replenishment. Likewise, pastors who are in regular supervision are able to reflect upon their inner processes during ministry, knowing that a gifted supervisor can provide them with invaluable and objective feedback—and a compassionate place to share their thoughts, feelings, reactions, and intentions.

The Pastor as Knower of the Seasons The pastor can bring to the congregation an understanding of how the Spirit leads congregations on a spiritual journey. Thus spirituality is a way, more than a station—a journey as much as a destination. But the journey is also a spiritual encounter and a process of moving closer to a land of promise that God prepares for God’s people. Each congregation—and every individual—encounters a journey that takes its own twists and turns. Therefore God’s call and presence relate to each congregation as unique and special to God, a journey that has been called the way of the heart.15 As unique as a congregation’s journey may be, it is not capricious or misguided. Indeed, the scriptures and the records of church history have left a witness that God leads each congregation with intentionality and purpose; some experiences are joyful and bright, others sorrowful and dark—but through each of them God leads to the land of promise. The Exodus story is a journey of God’s leading the congregation of Israel into and out of slavery, through the wilderness wanderings, and finally into the Promised Land. The journey with God continues into the Gospels, where many who follow Jesus embark on their own journey of resistance, persecution, trial, and torture into and out of the wilderness of death—and finally into resurrection and new life. Over the centuries the church has recognized that its journey is much like the experiences of the congregation in the Old Testament and those who followed in the path of Jesus. It became clear that life could be

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 216

216 / Leading the Congregation

understood as a people passing through certain seasons to celebrate the unfolding of the mystery of Christ; the church named these seasons Advent (coming of Christ), Christmas (birth of Christ), Epiphany (light to Gentiles), Lent (journey toward death), Easter (resurrection and new life), Pentecost (power of the Holy Spirit), and Kingdomtide/Harvest Tide or Ordinary Time (God’s renewing, sustaining presence). Along the way the church recognized that these seasons describe the experience of every congregation; as a result the liturgical calendar was organized around these experiences as a way of reminding, guiding, and comforting individuals and congregations as they embarked on the spiritual journey within their own lives. Liturgical colors and themes were given to each season as a means of visually and poetically communicating the felt experience in each season; thus the seasons with their respective colors and themes may be suggested as follows:16 Figure 13.2 The Seasons of Spiritual Experience SEASON

THEMES

COLORS

ADVENT

Preparation, Expectation, Longing, Hope

Purple (royalty)

CHRISTMAS

Surprise, Joy, Celebration, Birth, Gift

White (pure, unsoiled)

EPIPHANY

Light, Manifestation, Call, Mission, Witness, Sowing the Seed

Green (new things growing)

LENT

Introspection, Repentance, Tiredness, Discouragement, Death

Purple & Black (royalty & death)

EASTER

Resurrection, New Life, Redemption, Triumph

White (pure, unsoiled)

PENTECOST

The Holy Spirit, Power, Dynamite

Red (flames of fire)

HARVEST TIDE / ORDINARY TIME

Gathering in, Reaping, Fruitfulness

Green (growth & fruitfulness)

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 217

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 217

In our role as spiritual companions in spiritual life retreats, in covenant groups, and in the practice of spiritual direction, we have discovered that the seasons of experience provide a context for people to more clearly understanding the spiritual journey; they begin to recognize the experiences as their own and can also identify the seasons experienced by their congregations.17 Therefore, they are able to better understand their responses and resistances to God’s Word, to prayer, and to the work of the Spirit. The names given to the seasons are not as important as a realization that God leads congregations and each spiritual pilgrim through the seasons. Effective pastors understand the realities that characterize this model, learning how to discern the season the individual or congregation is in at a particular time and then knowing how to lead through them. To lead others who are in Lent (a season of introspection, tiredness, and discouragement) as though it were a Christmas or Easter may drive people more deeply into a sense of unworthiness and abandonment. Therefore, an important gift the leader brings to the spiritual journey of others is to be a companion with them where they are—not where the pastor thinks they ought to be at the time—and to help others prepare for the next season.

Pastors who live out the Western model of spirituality often have difficulty when relating to the seasons of spiritual experience, because the Western model naturally leads to a spirituality of doing—keeping busy, doing good, meriting divine favor, earning rewards, and escaping judgments. The motivation behind these endeavors is to get God’s attention or the recognition of others, while little attention is given to the interior work of the Spirit. The scriptural model operationally views the Spirit of God within us; therefore, a vital relationship with God requires that we develop the capacity to be still, to be transparent, and to pay attention to the gentle nudges, imaginations, and insights by which the Spirit guides us ever closer to ourselves and to God (see Pss 37:7; 46:10).

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 218

218 / Leading the Congregation

The scriptural model of spirituality presents the continual embrace and movement between action and being still, doing and reflection, experience and discernment, solitude and community, conversation and silence. All experiences in life—both good and ill—-become grist for the mill, and they are used by the Spirit to instruct and change us so that we continue becoming formed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. In the scriptural model there can ultimately be no Easter without Lent, and no Epiphany without the preparation of Advent and the wondrous gift of Christmas—God and child come together in Bethlehem. To view the spiritual life as a journey rather than a fixed condition reframes the leader’s thinking about how to support the congregation’s spiritual growth.

The Prerequisites for Spiritual Formation The scriptural model of spiritual formation suggests that individuals within the faith community develop dispositions and abilities (prerequisites) that enable them to pray with mind and heart and to meditate on the scriptures; to reflect on life’s experiences; to tell their story to others; and to discern God’s will in fidelity to the gospel and God’s direction in response to their present journey of experience.18 The prerequisites for spiritual formation are touchstones to be visited again and again as those in faith communities continue to progress on the spiritual journey, as depicted in Figure 13.3. The intent of the prerequisites is to discern how the movements of the Spirit gently, persistently, and sometimes forcefully shape the inner self—and direct the outer life as it is being lived day by day. However, the discernment process is impossible to sustain without the disciplines of solitude and a faith community. Solitude provides the space for us to listen more deeply, pray affectively, and hear the Word that has been planted within us. Belonging to a faith community “flows from the deep human need to objectify—to get whatever is inside outside. We need to speak to another in order to put our deepest feelings, fears, hopes, and dreams out in front of ourselves where we can look at them. The very process of articulation can itself be a healing experience.”19 When we tell our story, this also becomes an opportunity for others who care for us to pray with us and ask questions that enable us to become more attentive in our discernment.20

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 219

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 219

Figure 13.3 The Prerequisites for Spiritual Formation

An understanding of these prerequisites for spiritual formation is of great utility to the pastor who chooses to take seriously the singular opportunity of teaching the congregation the process of being conformed to the image of Christ in order to effectively serve others. The prerequisites immediately suggest crucial needs for the spiritual journey: to teach people how to pray with mind, heart, and body; to teach people how to reflect on their life experiences in such a way as to discern God’s leading in their lives; to assist busy, noisy people in learning the discipline of sustained silence without anxiety in order to get in touch with the interior movements of the Spirit; to create small, trusting communities in which people may tell their whole story without fear of judgment or others predisposed to give remedies; to hear the voice of God responding through the scriptures, conversations, and relationships with other members of the community; and finally, to teach people the ways and means of discerning the will of God throughout the totality of life.

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 220

220 / Leading the Congregation

The Balance between Solitude and Community In the Western model of spirituality we have little difficulty in understanding the emphasis of individual spirituality. The model is based on the premise that solitary Christians, each having exceedingly private access to God, are responsible for their own lives. Perhaps a few saints and isolated hermits make the journey alone, but many of us—whose promises to God far exceed our practices, whose spirits are withering from lack of bread for the journey, and whose trail is marked with the scars of personal failings—know that we cannot make the journey alone. Nonetheless we keep trying because we know no other way—or perhaps we do not wish to know. But there is another way—the way of covenant communities: small groups of spiritual pilgrims journeying together, some sharing meals, each participating in the others’ burdens, and each holding the other up in the most intimate and private affairs of one’s life and journey. Thus an essential ingredient for forming the congregation in the nature of Christ includes the spiritual dynamic of sustaining solitude and being together in community. So interrelated and interdependent are the two experiences of solitude and community in the formative process that those who best understand the means by which a congregation can be formed in the nature of Jesus, consistently claim both conditions as vital. Consider the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair. Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.”21 Spiritual followers need other pilgrims who will speak God’s Word, especially when Christ’s Word in one’s own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of a fellow pilgrim, while one’s own heart is uncertain and the fellow pilgrim’s is sure.22 According to Nouwen, the dangers of being alone on the spiritual journey include the following: “Boredom, resentment and depression are all sentiments of disconnectedness. They present life to us as a broken connection. They give us a sense of notbelonging. . . . We perceive ourselves as isolated individuals surrounded, perhaps, by people, but not really part of any supporting or nurturing community.”23

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 221

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 221

Participation in the ancient church presupposed daily household gatherings where “they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts” (Acts 2:46b). This was true of the Jerusalem movement and the fledgling communities organized by Paul; they met regularly in private households, sharing their lives together while strongly identifying and bonding with the larger Christian movement that was ever expanding.24 The conviction that spiritual nurture and growth depended on smaller faith communities that would meet regularly for mutual guidance and support has survived to this day. In chapter 3, we discussed the desire of Jesus to have a small community with whom he lived in covenant—encountering ecstasy and anguish. What is true for leaders who live in covenant with a small community can also be true for the members of the congregation. Unlike a variety of small groups within the church, the purpose of covenant communities is to provide a setting in which people are free to articulate their own experiences as well as to provide a place where mutual face-to-face support and accountability can be shared in order for people to discern the leading of God for their lives. Thus authentic community is a place where we can be our real selves with God in the presence of others. Bonhoeffer contrasts the fear and loneliness of the pious community with the freedom to be honest; he has this to say: The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone in our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. But it is the grace of the Gospel, which is so hard for the pious to understand, that it confronts us with the truth and says: You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come, as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you. He wants you as you are; He does not want anything from you, a sacrifice, a work; He wants you alone. . . . This message is liberation through truth. . . . He wants to see you as you are, He wants to be gracious to you . . . you can dare to be a sinner.25

The faith community has the potential to be a place where we receive the acceptance from others that we often fail to provide for ourselves, a place where we can embrace the challenge, albeit reluctantly, to move beyond where we are at present. Has the community served the

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 222

222 / Leading the Congregation

individual well in helping her become free, strong, and mature, or is the individual weak and dependent? Has it taken the person by the hand for a while in order that she may learn to walk again or have relationships made the individual feel uneasy and insecure?26 Beyond the concepts of solitary endeavor and of covenant community, and the understanding that there are certain crucial prerequisites to spiritual formation, there are also the means of grace, which God provides for the community and individuals.

The Means of Grace The means of grace refer to process, not ends—and to grace, not merit. The spiritual disciplines have no intrinsic value in themselves; there is no merit in simply doing disciplines for their own sake—though we eventually learn to practice them “with no strings attached.” The spiritual life is not a quest for the right technique or regiment for the proper spiritual disciplines that would live up to the promise of spiritual satisfaction. M. Robert Mulholland, Jr., observes, “Somewhere between the extremes of avoidance of discipline and the imprisonment of discipline is the holistic practice of balanced spiritual disciplines which become a means of God’s grace to shape us in the image of Christ for others.”27 As stated earlier, there is no choice but to become formed into someone; thus there are alternatives to being formed in the Spirit of Christ. When we participate with the Spirit’s loving presence to transform us from the inside out, we experience wholeness in Christ. But to resist the Spirit’s loving transforming process within us can move “us into destructive and dehumanizing emptiness, into increasingly dysfunctional lives that are self-destructive and treat others as objects to be manipulated and used for our own purposes.”28 In contrast the transforming process of the Spirit is the capacity through the consistent practice of the disciplines to prepare members of the congregation to receive the vital grace that only God can give. The means of grace were taught and modeled through the example of Jesus, as he kept his own spirituality alive and vital. God’s love through the means of divine grace becomes transformative in prayer, searching the scriptures, the Lord’s Supper, fasting, and spiritual conversation. Additional outward means of grace include: acts of mercy (holistic ministries), avoiding doing harm to anyone, and attending all the ordinances and services of the church.

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 223

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 223

The means of grace as listed above were taught by the Reformers and the post-Reformation church in Europe. In recent years, the means of grace have been expanded by certain groups to match their own understanding and experiences. For example, Richard Foster, in his contemporary classic, The Celebration of Discipline, writes that “the Disciplines are God’s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where [God] can work within us and transform us. By themselves the spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done.”29 Thus the spiritual disciplines are the “door to liberation”— listed under three categories as follows: the inward disciplines (meditation, prayer, fasting, and study); the outward disciplines (simplicity, solitude, submission, and service); and the corporate disciplines (confession, worship, guidance, and celebration). Dallas Willard views the spiritual disciplines as daily, “natural” acts that we do to further abilities we would not otherwise have; he writes: When through spiritual disciplines I become able heartily to bless those who curse me, pray without ceasing, to be at peace when not given credit for good deeds I’ve done, or to master the evil that comes my way, it is because my disciplinary activities have inwardly poised me for more and more interaction with the powers of the living God and [God’s] kingdom. Such is the potential we tap into when we use the disciplines.30

For Willard the disciplines divide into two major categories: disciplines of abstinence (solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, and sacrifice) and disciplines of engagement (study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession, and submission).31Abstinence is closely related to “asceticism” or training, as in an athletic discipline for a sporting event. The disciplines of abstinence are supplemented by the disciplines of engagement, both of which provide the “outbreathing and inbreathing of our spiritual lives, and we require disciplines for both movements. . . . Abstinence, then, makes way for engagement.”32 A review of the historical and contemporary understanding of the means of grace reveals the common threads that run across the centuries— namely, the concept of private and communal disciplines, inward and outward movements, activity and passivity, work and rest, action and waiting. An understanding of the means of grace is important to anyone

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 224

224 / Leading the Congregation

who desires to become a companion to a congregation or an individual on the spiritual journey. Some of the means of grace are readily understandable to the Western model of spirituality; others are foreign. The more active means of grace—such as acts of mercy, serving others, attending Bible studies and church services—immediately catch the attention of the pastor formed in the Western model. However, the more passive means are often ignored or not emphasized—such as fasting, silence, prayer, solitude, the Lord’s Supper—and are not common practices in many churches acclimated to the Western model. The pastor who is seriously concerned to provide sufficient bread for the spiritual journey of the congregation will model and teach all disciplines, knowing that individual personalities and life experiences may require them on the journey of transformation. In this chapter we have suggested that the spirituality of the congregation is something different from other areas of the congregation’s life and work. All church life is interrelated, and there is an exchange of influences. Nonetheless, the total sum of the church’s activities does not necessarily correlate to a vigorous spirituality in the scriptural tradition. If the congregation is to journey toward a deeper and more intimate relationship with God, the leaders must set the tone. The greatest resource for spiritual intimacy with God is the example and transparent experience of the pastor. Out of her own spiritual journey the pastor offers spiritual companionship to others in the congregation whom the Spirit calls to be on a spiritual pilgrimage. The context for spiritual formation includes small communities of people within the congregation living in covenant with one another regarding their commitments—individual and shared—to God and to the community. The Spirit provides bread for the journey through the means of grace in order to transform individuals and congregations with the hope of becoming more intimate with God and with one another, and to engage in loving service to the world. Finally, the journey is different for each congregation, group, and individual. God leads all through the seasons of spiritual experience. Again and again, the questing group or individual will visit each of the seasons, not in a strict linear order, but as the Spirit chooses to lead them. To be the spiritual companion and guide for the congregation is perhaps the pastor’s highest calling and privilege. Out of a spiritual encounter,

BBMU004201QK013.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:39 PM

Page 225

The Spirituality of the Congregation / 225

people and congregations see God and themselves in an entirely new light, as well as seeing differently the opportunities for service to which God is calling them.

Questions for Reflection on the Spirituality of the Congregation 1. When you look at the life and ministry of your congregation, how is spirituality defined and practiced? 2. How would you describe the spirituality of your congregation as a whole? In what ways does your congregation reflect or deny the identity and ministry of Christ? 3. Review Hauser’s Western versus Scriptural models of spirituality. How do your spiritual life and your congregation’s relate to these models? 4. When you review your calendar during the last month, how much of your time is dedicated to being a spiritual companion to others? Would you hope that others follow your example in living out the spiritual life? 5. After reviewing the seasons of spiritual experience, which of them relate to your experiences? Which season(s) are you in now? Which seasons characterize your congregation and its specific program ministries? Which seasons characterize your family and personal relationships? 6. Are the spiritual prerequisites described in the chapter part of your own spiritual life? To which are you drawn to experiment and more fully learn? Do you resist any of the prerequisites? 7. Can you affirm that your own spirituality is characterized as a “means of grace” rather than condition or merit? Would those who know you best agree with you?

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 226

Chapter Fourteen

A Clear and Compelling Mission Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture and support, for one’s fellow human beings and for that matter one’s fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world—all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make.1 N. T. Wright The Particular End is to carry Christ into the homes and streets of the slums, among the sick, dying, the beggars and the little street children. The sick will be nursed as far as possible in their poor homes. The little children will have a school in the slums. The beggars will be sought and visited in their holes outside the town or on the streets.2 Mother Teresa

Jwalks of life to belong to a discipleship community with him. In spite esus invited persons in good social standing and “sinners” from varied

of the early disciples’ bewilderment and interpersonal jealousies, Jesus sent them on a mission to “proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons” (Matt 10:7-8a). Perhaps the mission for the newly committed disciples seems premature in our judgment; one could believe that more training with their rabbi would circumvent mistakes and errors in judgment. Nevertheless Jesus sent them out not too long after they banded together so that they might experience a new spiritual life that would flow out of them in their service to others.3 226

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 227

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 227

Since the disciples “received without payment,” they were also to “give without payment” (Matt 10:8b). Their identity was to be “sheep among wolves . . . wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16). All they took with them was the integrity of Christ’s mission and their trust in its effect—they had among themselves “no gold, or silver, or copper in [their] belts, no bag for [their] journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff” (Matt 10:9). For these early followers, mission clearly involved trust, risk, and obedience to Jesus’ commands. One clearly imagines the tension that grew among the early disciples, and it remains with us today: the tension between the safety of being in community, on the other hand, and the sacrifice of journeying outside the community to give living witness to others—the mission.4 However, community and mission are not meant to be mutually exclusive, rather they are in truer forms indispensable to each other. There is no lasting community without an external purpose, and there can be no purpose without the community’s accountability and support. We know many who engage themselves in ministries such as ministering to the homeless, visiting prisoners, and working with gangs who report that their motivation diminishes in the absence of the time their covenant community spends together. Jesus spent much of his time in forming a community—to be with them and to prepare them for a divine mission. After the resurrection, these Spirit-filled disciples who composed the first immigrant church on the Day of Pentecost were compelled to leave the comfort of the Upper Room, and they “turned the world upside down.” Every authentically Christian community that breaks through the cultural and social barriers—similar to the experience of those from all parts of the world on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2)—becomes a “ ‘sociological impossibility’ that has nevertheless become possible.”5 It is not surprising that people with diverse backgrounds would quarrel among themselves and find it difficult to fully accept the reconciling mission of Jesus, later interpreted by Paul as a liberating gift of divine love (Eph 2:4-8) and a radical peace proposal to break down the dividing walls of human hostility (Eph 2:14-17). Those who were once strangers and aliens are welcomed members into God’s household, and in Christ they were being “built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God” (Eph 2:22b). The newly announced mission was to the early Christ followers, and is to us, a grand proposition.

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 228

228 / Leading the Congregation

However, even as the church is a dwelling place for God, the proclamation of mission extends far beyond its walls, according to mission theologian Lesslie Newbigin, to God’s sovereign reign over the whole cosmos and its history. In this light, mission is not complete until God has fulfilled “all that God has begun to do in the creation of the world and of humankind.”6 Consider Newbigin’s distinction between the church and its mission: [Mission] is not the property of the church. It is not domesticated within the church. Mission is not simply the self-propagation of the church by putting forth of the power that inheres in its life. . . . On the contrary, the active agent of mission is a power that rules, guides, and goes before the church: the free, sovereign, living power of the Spirit of God. Mission is not just something that the church does; it is something that is done by the Spirit . . . who changes both the world and the church, who always goes before the church in its missionary journey.7

Comprehending the missio Dei (mission of God) within the current religious and sociopolitical realities can be challenging and difficult to implement, in large part, because of the past and present successes of Protestant church families. Viewing through the lens of “successful” church life that is embedded in religious consumerism makes it almost impossible to consider alternative ways of understanding missio Dei. Things are working—look at our successful programs, attendance, and budgets—so let us keep doing what we’re doing. If things no longer work as they once did, let us try harder, return to what we know best, or look for the latest success story to emulate. Sociologist Walter C. Hobbs poses an interesting contrast were the North American church to consider itself a missionized or a missionizing people. He asks, “If we were a people to whom the gospel had been preached by others from afar, would those others say that our (newfound) faith is rooted firmly in the Text? Or would it be obvious, at least to them, that our understanding of the gospel has been molded along the contours and emphases of our indigenous way of life?”8 An honest conversation among theologians and practitioners who make up the missional movement has brought a fresh perspective of missio Dei that is changing the religious landscape of the North American Church.9 As the missional church movement has been ushered into multiple denominational streams, many are convinced that the conceptual breakthrough of the movement is as monumental a par-

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 229

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 229

adigm shift as the Reformation itself.10 Reggie McNeal of Leadership Network cites examples of a missional paradigm shift for the following local churches: (1) a church in Texas espoused “No child will go hungry in this county” as its next ministry chapter; (2) a church in Ohio invested considerably in community projects while voting not to spend fifty million dollars for church campus expansion; (3) a congregation developed a mentoring sponsorship for every released inmate from a correctional facility; and (4) a pastor leaves a tall-steepled church for secular employment and he now organizes simple house churches in different neighborhoods.11 Thus every congregation embodies a particular aspect of the gospel as its ministries intersect a particular cultural context. More churches that are intentional about addressing tangible needs in the community—and earning the trust of those outside the church—are practicing the well-known imperative of Saint Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”

Mission Is Contextual Loren Mead summarizes how profoundly contextual and creative the good news is in the ministry of Jesus; he writes: For a blind man, good news is sight. For a lame person, good news is the ability to leap and dance or even walk. For the guilt ridden, good news is being forgiven. For the person in prison, good news is getting out of prison. For the lonely, good news is community. For the person—or society—crushed by oppression, good news is freedom. For a person possessed by demons, good news is to be released from their power. For hungry travelers, good news is food before they face the journey home. For a marriage running short of wine, good news is a few buckets of good wine. . . . He listens, and where people will open up their bad news, his good news is ready. He does not force or push his good news, but he never holds it back.12

The above illustrations authenticate the message of the good news with the premise that biblical mission is intrinsically holistic, comprehensive, and specific. For example, the one who fell among thieves on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho personally experienced the difference between the “mission” of the good Samaritan and the “mission” of the priest and Levite (see Luke 10:25-37). However, the issues of the human condition—such

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 230

230 / Leading the Congregation

as poverty, disease, terrorism, sex trafficking, economic pressures, and the environment—seem overwhelming because of their systemic nature. But more congregations are joining forces with Christian relief, development, and advocacy organizations within their own denominations or with independent organizations such as World Vision (a recent Google search on “Christian relief organizations” resulted in over 2.5 million hits). Congregations are also learning from others who have embraced community organizing efforts or community development entities, such as creating 501(c)(3) nonprofits with a specific mission for serving tangible needs within their communities. Theologian and veteran community organizer Robert Linthicum described his visit to Carton City, a slum situated below a lush river valley of Nairobi, Kenya. Linthicum and his colleague Reverend David Ashiko smelled the stench of burned and charred buildings. They saw homes without roofs and scorched walls, and many people living in cardboard cartons and sheet-metal roofs (hence the name, Carton City). Linthicum returned sixteen months later to experience a transformed community: there were mud-brick houses, the dirt streets were clean, each family had a toilet, there were a new piggery and fowl farm, and a large vegetable garden provided enough food for everyone. What happened? Linthicum was told that Clement Adongo came to be with them—one of four who were trained by World Vision community organizer David Ashiko. Clement Adongo entered into the lives of the people who lived in Carton City, spending time with them, listening to their stories, and began to organize them in house meetings. In a relatively short time, the people were empowered to transform their own community into a place in which they could live with their families—a place that gave them pride. And in the process, they organized and empowered the people to address the systemic economic and political powers that had stubbornly stood in the way of any progress.13 The opportunities increase every day for individuals and small groups through the social media to express their faith through the support of a variety of global causes; a few of these include world hunger, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, and the personal financing of microenterprises in developing countries.14 Many churches are traveling to all parts of the world to build homes, work in orphanages, drill wells for clean water, and work in medical clinics. Children are organizing to do something about the plight of their peers in other parts of the world. The agenda for increasing numbers of enterprises is to address problems systemically and empower

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 231

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 231

people all over the world to solve their own problems. Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church launched an ambitious five-point PEACE Plan which is “a massive effort to mobilize Christians around the world to address . . . spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy by promoting reconciliation, equipping servant leaders, assisting the poor, caring for the sick, and educating the next generation.”15 Mission is holistic when the church aims to address individual sin and suffering as well as the shortcomings and wrongdoing of society’s structures.

The Local Church Mission and Its Environment Healthy congregations connect their mission with the environment in clear and compelling ways. Leaders who ignore or misread the environment are on a collision course with declining influence in their communities and ultimate failure. The congregation’s self-preoccupation with internally focused programs at the expense of a potentially vital mission narrows the congregation’s identity and demonstrates the strength of its will to serve. As a result, some congregations have become richly endowed religious clubs for a selected few while other congregations suffer from a lack of sufficient resources to sustain their life and ministry—ultimately these congregations will grow weary and wither away. Terry Fullam was ready to be questioned during his first interview as a potential candidate at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut. Upon meeting with about twenty people from the church, no one seemed to have anything to ask. It appeared that quite a few had already made up their minds. Fullam had previously written out a list of one hundred questions he wanted to raise and, when no one was forthcoming, he asked the first one: “If this church were to disappear tomorrow, would anybody miss it?” A ton of silence fell upon the room. No one breathed; all looked straight ahead for several seconds. Then they began to look at each other, seemingly embarrassed. Finally someone said, “Probably not much.” Fullam then asked, “Do you really want to be a church, or are you actually looking for a chaplain for your club?” More silence.16

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 232

232 / Leading the Congregation

Fullam inquired into the missional understanding of Saint Paul’s leaders, and he framed the concept of mission in stark contrast by his use of two words, “church” and “club.” Every congregation could profit from asking the question, “If our church were to disappear tomorrow, would anybody miss it, and if so, who?” If the only ones who would miss it are already on the inside, then the congregation has already settled down into being a nice, comfortable club. The following parable illustrates how a vital mission can succumb to the status quo: On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought of themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew. Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in this club’s decorations, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 233

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 233

out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did. As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown!17

Mission flows out of the identity and ministries of the congregation in ways that embody the good news of God’s reconciling love and purposeful justice that results in transformation. Mission by nature reaches out—there is no such thing as internal mission. From a prison cell before his death near the end of Nazi Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer jotted down an outline for a book idea in a letter to his close friend, Eberhard Bethge. In the proposed chapter, “A Stocktaking of Christianity,” Bonhoeffer described the church standing up for a cause, but with a diminishing spiritual force and Jesus’ disappearing from a declining personal faith. The decisive factor for the church’s diminishing force was that the church, being on the defensive, did no risktaking for others.18 His conclusion has been quoted countless times: “The church is the church only when it exists for others.”19

A Creative Tension between Mission and the Environment There exists a pull between the church’s prophetic relevance and its mission to the world. Theologian Langdon Gilkey, in the title of his book How the Church Can Minister to the World without Losing Itself, describes the creative tension that is not something new, for “all through the centuries the church has in one way or another been conscious that, like its Lord, it is in but not of the world.”20 The relationship between the church and its environment can be expressed through two extremes. On one hand, if the church becomes too cozy with its environment—becoming acclimated to its surrounding culture—it loses its distinct identity, thus becoming “the easiest club to enter and the hardest from which to be expelled.”21 On the other hand, if the church insulates itself from the environment so as to not become contaminated—deciding not “to

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 234

234 / Leading the Congregation

get its hands dirty”—it forfeits its mission. Anglican theologian N. T. Wright expands this point when he writes: That radical distortion of Christian hope belongs exactly with a quietism that leaves the world as it is and thus allows evil to proceed unchecked. This is where the surprise of hope catches people unawares, and they react by telling us Christians what they think our hope ought to be—a hope that will cut the nerve of, and the need for, any attempt to make things better in the present world of space, time, and matter.22

The Apostolic Church: A Frontier Mission within a Hostile Environment Loren Mead describes the apostolic paradigm of the early church as “conscious of itself as a faithful people surrounded by an hostile environment to which each member was called to witness to God’s love in Christ. . . . They were impelled to take the life they shared within the congregation and cross over the boundary into the hostile world outside. They called it ‘witnessing,’ the Greek word for which is ‘martyr.’ ”23 The environment was so hostile in many places that to even associate with a Christian was a capital offense. Baptism symbolized death to the world and a new life in the way of the cross. Nurtured within an intimate faith community—often fraught with conflict—these household congregations were empowered by the Spirit to engage in a compelling mission within their immediate environment, even though it was antagonistic to their presence and message. The early Christians crossed the boundaries of personal safety because they believed that God so loved the world and their neighbors; thus they would risk life and limb to reconcile others with God.24

The Church in Christendom: Ministering within a Friendly Environment Whose Mission Is a “Far Off” Enterprise Beginning in the fourth century—shortly after the conversion of Constantine in A.D. 313—the church revised its view of the environment. Contrary to the apostolic church, the Christendom church viewed its environment as friendly, even to be admired, and eventually equated its

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 235

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 235

own identity with that of the Empire. The defining element of the Christendom paradigm is its view of the church as being linked with the Empire while serving as its religious arm. Since everyone in the state was “Christian” there was no need for missional outreach. Thus the missionary frontier was no longer at the congregations’ doorstep; instead it was identified more as a political boundary often on other continents far away.25 By “far away” Mead is saying that in the Christendom view of its environment, the church believes that the only true need for mission activity lies “far away,” beyond the boundaries of the church and its more immediate environment. Reframed this way, professional soldiers and missionaries brought new nations to the Christendom Empire through colonial expansion. Most importantly, this paradigm undercut the individual’s responsibility for witness since mission was carried out by the “heroes of the faith and the armies of the nationempire.”26

A Current Challenge for Local Congregations Though purer forms of Christendom have lost their influence over the centuries, its vestiges remain when the church, intended for all peoples, is equated with a specific patriotism or political affiliation—or where the program-centered church employs professionals to carry out its ministries exclusively for congregants. Thus, people go to church as they would a concert or shopping center, and people belong to a church as they would a service or community club.27 Barbara Brown Taylor drives the point home through the following questions: “What if they were blessed for what they are doing in the world instead of chastened for not doing more at church? What if the church felt more like a way station than a destination? What if the church’s job were to move people out the door instead of trying to keep them in, by convincing them that God needed them more in the world than in the church?”28 The social location of the North American church presently finds itself having shifted; Alan Roxburgh explains that “congregations must now learn how to live the gospel as a distinct people who are no longer part of the cultural center. The emerging experience of the churches is indeed that of being on the culture’s margins.”29 What was once perceived as Christendom’s identity with power and strength in occupying the cultural center with politics, education, business, and other institutions has

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 236

236 / Leading the Congregation

become its Achilles’ heel, since all institutional pillars are becoming increasingly suspect in the minds of the public. Worldly power should not be substituted for the church’s true identity as a community of the cross—believing “that God, not nations, rules the world, that the boundaries of God’s kingdom transcend those of Caesar, and that the main political task of the church is the formation of people who see clearly the cost of discipleship and are willing to pay the price.”30 Any crisis of identity for the local congregation and its role in society is an invitation to rediscover how its members are invited to participate in God’s kingdom so that God’s “will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). This mission is not ethereal or other worldly; rather it participates within a divine purpose that connects with the fundamental needs of humanity: being poor and experiencing blessings, conflict and peacemaking, illness and health, betrayal and reconciliation, the problems of pain and suffering, discovering the meaning of life in all things, and what it means to end well. People in such conditions desire good news, and most hope to experience God, though not always as expected, through the faithful actions of people who care enough to live out God’s mission through their efforts for the sake of others.

Discerning the Congregation’s Mission The congregation’s view of its environment, and the relationships it attempts to establish with it, exert a highly dynamic influence upon the types of ministries the church will offer, and upon the long-term results of those ministries. In order for leaders and members to discern the mission of the congregation, there are four important benchmarks to consider. First is the imperative to search the scriptures to determine the nature of God’s purposes through the local congregation and its ministries. Second is the call of Christ to tend to the needs and opportunities that are present in the congregation’s local communities. Third is the recognition of the shifts in the regional and global environments— the forces in the world beyond the congregation’s control that often will open new (and unexpected) windows of opportunity. Fourth is the realization of God calling a congregation to specific ministries that fulfill God’s mission in each community—and in the world.

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 237

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 237

The Timeless and Timely Aspects of Mission The mission of the church comprises two streams (see Figure 14.1) that flow together to form a congregation’s mission. One missional stream based on biblical images and imperatives is timeless; the other missional stream that impacts the environmental realities is timely.31 Figure 14.1 Missional Components of the Congregation

The diagram illustrates that biblical imperatives and environmental opportunities help to define the mission of a local congregation. The biblical imperatives assume there are aspects about mission that never should change whereas the environmental realities imply the freedom for congregations to discern and creatively minister within unique

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 238

238 / Leading the Congregation

cultural opportunities. The timeless aspects of mission were identified by Jesus, who instructed his disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:19-20). Jesus’ pronouncement of liberating captives from alienation and brokenness and reconciling people to God and to one another remain timeless for the local congregation. However, Jesus also specified a timely mission for his disciples when he instructed them to: feed the hungry, refresh the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the prisoner (Matt 25:42-45). Following this stream we understand that the mission of the church is to alleviate human sufferings that plague the body or crush the human spirit. The church embodies Jesus’ anointing to minister release to those who are beset by all manner of hardship and evil. Such realities are more or less unique to every community—providing ministry opportunities for local congregations to consider. Though unable to address every need in the community, a congregation does well to embark on a journey to discern which issues its members are called by God to focus on through their gifts and callings. The synergy of persons coming together around a specific mission is greater than the sum of individual efforts. Thus the congregation becomes a living organism, whose structure is mainly for members to see how their gifts might coincide with others to form new ministries. Congregations that focus on one of the streams—timeless or timely— to the neglect of the other may consider if there is something missing in their mission statement that would strengthen it. Should the mission statement be too abstract or less than compelling, it will not serve as a motivating force for members’ engagement or be used as a benchmark in measuring the progress of program ministries. And because a congregation and its leaders have gone through the process of finalizing a statement of mission does not mean they have necessarily become clear about mission. Clarifying mission can be a difficult process, and for many it may not seem worth the effort (“Everyone knows what we’re about—let us get on with our ministries”). Leaders who ensure that clarifying the mission is a worthwhile process must also remember, “the ultimate test is not the beauty of the mission statement. The ultimate test is right action.”32 And the litmus test will be to bear fruit that remains (John 15:16).

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 239

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 239

Three Questions of Missional Clarity Congregations exist to be transformed and to bring about transformational change in individuals and in society, but this is impossible to do without a clear and compelling understanding of mission. The answers to three questions will bring the religious organization to a clearer understanding of its mission: (1) Who are we? (2) What is our business (to what purpose has God called us)? (3) How do we decide on the right things and get them done?33 We will consider each question in order. Who Are We? The question of identity for congregations draws from a rich tradition in the biblical narratives: for example, the people of God on a journey with God, the diverse family of God, the multiple-gifted body of Christ, fruitful vine and branches, or salt and light influence in a decaying society. The implications of these metaphors for local congregations remain pertinent, and the study of these metaphors and dozens of others in the scriptures offers valuable insight to congregations who are on journey to define or rediscover their mission. Diana Butler Bass, in her rich study of fifty mainline Protestant churches that had experienced renewal in their practice and faith, identified the importance of identity. Bass writes: Whether threatened by spiritual boredom or facing church closure, each congregation had asked two questions: Who are we? What is God calling us to do? They discovered a renewed sense of identity and a clear purpose in serving the world. They experienced a change of heart that transformed their communal understanding of who God had made them to be.34

In Bass’s study, the unique identities through specific metaphors emerged in these revitalized congregations; they included: (1) a suburban village (the architectural renovation connected the sanctuary with an education building by a glass-walled gathering place that included a fountain and open-air café); (2) a spiritual center (a reputation for its monastic practices connected to the ancient spiritual disciplines); (3) a jazz church (a music metaphor that describes the Spirit drawing people together from diverse experiences and backgrounds), (4) a radical

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 240

240 / Leading the Congregation

liturgical (traditional paschal candle, altar table, and font that was integrated with contemporary media through moveable chairs, lighting, video screens, and a rock-band setup); and (5) downtown common (specific ministries to the downtown poor, downtown workers, and current parishioners through weekday services during lunchtime, concerts, labyrinth walks, book studies, and prayer groups).35 Certain characteristics of a congregation’s identity evolve over time: some are known for their outstanding preachers, unique architecture, seasonal music productions, active youth ministry, or controversial commitment to social issues. A corollary question is “who do others say we are?” Beyond the congregation there are constituencies in the community who have perceptions regarding the congregation’s identity. Their impressions are important for the leaders to consider in the process of clarifying the mission. Thus the conversations from this question get leaders outside of the church and into the community. Some congregations desperately try to shed their undesired identity: for example, the church whose pastor had an affair, or where child abuse occurred, the “country club” congregation that is unfriendly, or the church in perpetual conflict that can’t keep its pastor but for a short time. Recently, three pastors serving a congregation in Southern California attended one of our classes. They became interested in discovering the responses the community might give to the identity question. They asked the members of the congregation to invite friends who had never attended the church before to be present on a given Sunday, and to participate in a focus group the following Monday evening. In the focus group, they asked the visitors, “From everything you have ever heard about us, and your experiences in yesterday’s worship service, what words would you use to describe your experiences and impressions?” The answers were insightful, and some very powerful. One of the participants, confined to a wheelchair, said she always thought the church was friendly, until she attended and discovered that the church had made no preparations for her participation. She arrived alone only to discover that she could

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 241

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 241

not get up on the sidewalk because there were no ramps (eventually someone came to help her). She visited the women’s room only to discover that the stall doors were too narrow to accommodate her wheelchair, and she entered the sanctuary but no one told her where she might park her wheelchair.

Throughout the class the pastors maintained that theirs was a friendly church, conscious of the needs of others, and quick to accommodate visitors. To a certain extent this was true, but there was room for improvement that was more obvious when the congregation became intentional to find out how others in the community experienced their church. If the congregation is serious about discovering “who do others say we are?” they must be mature enough to welcome the critique, refusing the temptation to become defensive or self-righteous. A third question that must be answered before the congregation fully understands its identity is “who do we want to be?” Some members may be satisfied with its reputation of having a distinctive architecture, the finest music productions, or a distinctive ministry to the homeless, while others may desire an identity that also promotes a vibrant children’s ministry, a contemporary worship experience, or a robust program in spiritual formation. These examples illustrate a certain reality that the issues of identity are important to a variety of stakeholders in the congregation—and they must be addressed in order to clarify the mission of the congregation. The answer to the “who are we” question seems deceptively simple, but the answer may not always be obvious. What Is Our Business (To What Purpose Has God Called Us)? There is a familiar story of Jesus as a twelve-year-old boy in the temple who was separated from his parents during the day’s journey on their way home from Jerusalem. After three days Mary and Joseph found him in the temple sitting with the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. Jesus’ response to his anxious parents was: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house [or business, KJV]?” (Luke 2:49).

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 242

242 / Leading the Congregation

Beyond the initial reaction of his parents, the mission of Jesus remained a controversial issue for the disciples throughout Jesus’ ministry until after his death when the Spirit revealed the mission with a specific focus, and then empowered disciples to continue the mission of Jesus; it was said of these followers that they “turn[ed] the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). Every generation must discover how God’s “business” of redeeming the world becomes incarnate within the human story of a particular time and place. The story of Charles Simeon illustrates how he solicited the community to define the business of Holy Trinity Church through his conversations with the poor who lived in the congregation’s neighborhood. In the later part of the eighteenth century, Charles Simeon was appointed vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge, whose congregation had dwindled to a handful of unwilling parishioners. Simeon began his ministry by going from door to door throughout his parish, with these words, “My name is Simeon. I have called to inquire if I can do anything for your welfare.” The poor and despised living in the bounds of his parish freely offered their suggestions, which Simeon gathered together into innovative ministries. Soon the poor and despised began to attend his church in ever-increasing numbers, and this caused the few rich members of the church to hate them even more. The rich members locked their pews during the morning service and hired a guest lecturer in the afternoon. Undaunted, Simeon made portable benches with money from his salary and placed them in the aisles and foyer. This went on for eleven years; in the twelfth year, the walls of conflict came down and the congregation was finally united. Simeon stayed for fifty-four years continuing to work with the poor.36

Simeon’s story reminds us there are times when leaders contend for the right mission regardless of controversy and resistance—and when God’s mission is at stake though fraught with sacrifice and struggle. Important guidelines for engaging a congregation or non-profit in mission clarification are helpful for leaders. Drucker identifies three “musts”

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 243

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 243

of a successful mission: build on your strengths and performance; explore outside needs and opportunities; and determine what you really believe in.37 1. Build on your strengths and performance. What ministries do we naturally operate well without strained effort—even while other congregations strain to do the same ministries? What ministries do we operate poorly even though other congregations are more naturally gifted in the same ministries? Clarifying a compelling mission builds on the unique gifting by the Spirit for the congregation to engage in God’s reconciling purpose. 2. Explore outside needs and opportunities. What opportunities exist in our community—and in the world—that we can take on and really make a difference even with limited resources? What would it take to set a new standard of excellence through our mission and program ministries? What could we do that, if it were not done, would cause people outside the church to wish we were still “in business”? Drucker points out that a well-defined mission reminds us of the need to look outside the organization for “customers” and for “measures of success” because the temptation for non-profits is “to substitute good intentions for results. It is precisely because of this that the successful and performing nonprofits have learned to define clearly what changes outside the organization constitute ‘results’ and to focus on them.”38 3. Determine what you really believe in. The disciples’ commitment to the mission of Jesus was tested over time, and eventually deepened through the Spirit’s empowering them for sacrificial witness and service. Does mission connect with missio Dei in a clear and compelling way?39 Does it align with our own values and gifting? Will it speak to our imagination and penetrate our hearts in ways that express our deepest commitments? Is mission a marker of God’s will “on earth as it is in the heavens”? How Do We Decide on the Right Mission Priorities and Get Them Done? The church stands in the vortex of God’s eternal purposes and human needs. There is no singular mission strategy because each congregation’s identity, environmental opportunities, and resources are unique. Larger congregations may have a comprehensive mission strategy that addresses a variety of needs in their local community as well as global efforts. However, a congregation would do well not to try to do those things that

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 244

244 / Leading the Congregation

do not fit with its gifting or at the expense of quality. It is better to be excellent in one thing than mediocre in everything. Who is our neighbor? An important discipline for the local congregation is to scan its environment, to know its neighbors and their needs, and to develop meaningful relationships that mature over time. Congregations have experimented with different ways to learn more about their communities: interviews with public leaders, door-to-door conversations, taking leaders of the congregation on a “walk through the community,” conducting surveys, conducting focus groups, and partnering with community development projects or community organizing efforts. Carl S. Dudley has identified six steps to scan the environment in order to choose the right focus of ministry. They are: Step One: Define Your Community. What words would you use to describe your community? How is this description distinctive from neighboring communities? Identify the boundaries that separate neighborhoods and business—and the home/work addresses of your congregants who belong to your community. Who are the anchor institutions? Where do people gather for activities and entertainment? Step Two: Identify the People. What words would you use to describe the populations and lifestyles of those in your community? What are the historical developments, current issues and trends that are predominant (review newspapers and television media). What demographic data characterize your community? Step Three: Find the “Invisible” People. Discover the people in your community who are ignored or marginalized. These “invisible” people may be the key to discerning the right things to do with regard to your mission. Step Four: Analyze the Intangible Forces. How would you describe the social, economic, political, and religious forces at play in your community? These forces can be incentives and barriers in the lives of people your congregation is trying to reach, and they can inform the development of new ministries.

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 245

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 245

Step Five: Listen to Your Community. Based on your findings in the above four steps, you can float some ideas through members of your congregation with community leaders to discern a tentative choice for ministry. What are the most evident of human needs in your community? What are your congregation’s strengths in light of these needs? Who is showing interest in taking the next steps? Are people coalescing around common interests? What is the gospel calling you to do? Should you explore a partnership with other congregations or non-profits? Step Six: Choose Your Focus of Ministry. Now you bring the results of your community analysis to the table to decide on the ministry or ministries that best exemplifies the fit between your congregation’s mission and its social context.40

Planned Abandonment The importance of discerning new opportunities for ministry is balanced by the discipline Drucker calls “systematic abandonment” of those ministries that do not support the mission, that do not meet the needs of intended individuals or groups, and that fail to make a distinctive contribution to the mission and ministries of the congregation.41 The failure of leaders to make decisions—sometimes the toughest because of their past success and the emotional attachment to them—increases the potential for organizational entropy that takes away the necessary energy to support revitalization and the launching of much needed new ministries. A crucial question to ask periodically of every ministry, regardless of its longevity and past success, is this: “Knowing what we know today with the current assessment of trends and opportunities, would we start this ministry today—or would we put our efforts and energy into something else?” The mission of Jesus connected the eternal verities with the human needs of those whom he served. The opportunities for congregations to serve are not diminishing; rather they are increasing to an overwhelming breaking point in some communities. The question remains: Is the congregation willing to engage in the struggle to discover relevance in its mission, and thus emulate Jesus’ ministry, by making efficacious connections between human suffering and Kingdom veracity?

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 246

246 / Leading the Congregation

Maintaining the status quo and doing what is familiar through abstract statements of mission will not survive the much-needed discernment to decide on the right mission priorities—and get them done! The congregation that embraces its essential values from the biblical witness, creatively aligns itself with the missio Dei and specific environmental opportunities, and identifies the unifying goals for ministry will do well in this era of uncertainty and transition. The alternative is a lukewarm atmosphere that is preoccupied with problems, structure, blame, and its own wealth or poverty—unable to unite around the call of God to make disciples of all nations, to offer a cup of cold war, clothe the naked, minister to the sick, visit the prisoner, or extend a welcome mat to the stranger. Actions such as these demonstrate God’s love in tangible and fresh ways, offering hope in desperate conditions. An important difference between the two congregations is a clear and compelling mission, expressed metaphorically by theologian Emil Brunner, who writes, “The church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.”42 A community becomes truly and radiantly one when all its members have a sense of urgency in their mission. There are too many people in the world who have no hope. There are too many cries which go unheard. There are too many people dying of loneliness. It is when members of a community realize that they are not there simply for themselves or their own sanctification, but to welcome the gift of God, to hasten his Kingdom and to quench the thirst in parched hearts through their prayer and sacrifice, love and acts of service, that they will truly live community. . . . If a community becomes lukewarm, people will die of thirst. If it bears no fruit, the poor will die of hunger.43 Jean Vanier

Questions for Reflection on the Congregation’s Mission 1. Does it seem that Jesus sent the disciples on a mission “prematurely”? Was there a risk? Is there a risk in not sending them soon enough? 2. Do you agree with Newbigin’s claim that mission can be domesticated by the church? 3. Do you identify with the missional movement? 4. What would people in your community and in the world miss if your congregation no longer existed?

BBMU004201QK014.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:41 PM

Page 247

A Clear and Compelling Mission / 247

5. Where would you place your congregation and its ministries on the following continuum in the seacoast parable? Seacoast Lifesaving Station 1 2 3 4

5

6

7

8

Seacoast Club 9 10

6. Do you see aspects of the apostolic church as well as Christendom in your local congregation? 7. How would you assess your current statement of mission in relation to the timely and timeless aspects of mission? What changes would make the statement more clear and compelling? 8. Of the three questions regarding missional clarity, which provide impetus for further reflection concerning your statement of mission? 9. What environmental changes—global and local—have impacted your own congregation and its ministries? Who is your neighbor? Has your congregation recently scanned its local environment? If so, did it make a difference in your mission and ministries? If not, is it time to do this? What are the next steps? 10. What has been your experience with mission clarification processes in the past? Is it time to engage in another round? What will you do differently? What roadblocks need to be addressed? 11. Have you ever asked the question of planned abandonment: “Knowing what we know today with the current assessment of trends and opportunities, would we start this ministry today—or would we put our efforts and energy into something else?”

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 248

Chapter Fifteen

The Vision We Share Our dreams are what get us from one finished moment in life to the next one that is trying to be born in us. . . . Without people with the ability to imagine a better world, sin smothers the world.1 Joan Chittister The future announces itself from afar. But most people are not listening. The noisy clatter of the present drowns out the tentative sounds of things to come. The sound of the new does not fit old perceptual patterns and goes unnoticed by most people. And of the few who do perceive something coming, most lack energy, initiative, courage, or will to do anything about it. Leaders who have the wit to perceive and the courage to act will be credited with a gift for prophecy that they do not necessarily have.2 Thucydides Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Hab 2:2-3

Tsive, or for those who discover that the vision did not live up to its

he visionary mandate creates anxiety for leaders who find vision elu-

promises. Any vision that comes from manipulation or guilt eventually reveals its more pretentious intent and short-lived results. For some leaders, discovering a compelling vision for the congregation comes naturally to them, but perhaps to a fault should they ignore the aspirations of others. Author Hermann Hesse’s character the servant Leo, who accompanied a band of people on their mythical journey, was used by Robert Greenleaf to describe a leader who is servant first. Leo did the menial chores for the group, but his gifts of spirit and song also bestowed life 248

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 249

The Vision We Share / 249

to the group. When Leo disappeared, the group fell apart because they could not take the journey without him, the singing servant.3 Greenleaf believed that prophetic voices would speak with wisdom about the most difficult issues of the day, but the difference between those periods that are rich in prophetic vision and those periods that are barren lies at the level of people who are seeking and the responsiveness of the hearers.4 It is not always the grand vision that depicts the visionary leader; it may also be the one who, like the servant Leo, keeps singing a song that sustains the congregation’s spirit in its daily ministries—the one who sees the subtleties of grace in daily events. Then in the servant leader’s eventual absence, the people recognize the vision that sustained them along the way. In chapter 5, we examined the leader’s essential spiritual condition, which is to remain open to the possibility of being possessed by God’s vision for ministry. However, vision is not in the leader’s private domain. In a healthy congregation, vision will reside in the hearts of many as leaders nourish a spirituality that sets people free to discern God’s vision for their life and ministry. A congregation is at its best when vision is breaking out everywhere.

The Difference between Vision and Mission Vision and mission are closely related, but they are not the same. Vision is a compelling image of a more desirable future or the capacity to reframe present realities; mission is active, it is now. If vision is the “what” that describes the future and present realities God wishes to create for the world, then mission is the “why” that explains God’s purpose for congregations in the world. Vision generates energy, and ignites passions. Mission consumes energy as it channels passion into purposive action. The mission puts flesh and muscle on the vision, bringing it to fruition. Consider the following examples that illustrate the difference between mission and vision: Jesus’ vision is the kingdom of God on earth as it is in the heavens. Jesus’ mission was to bring good news to the poor, release captives, recover the sight to the blind, and set free the oppressed. Moses’ vision was to enter the Promised Land.

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 250

250 / Leading the Congregation

His mission was to liberate the children of Israel from Pharaoh and to lead them through the wilderness into the Promised Land. Paul’s vision was to see people transformed by the mind of Christ. His mission was to evangelize the people and to establish Christian churches throughout the Roman Empire. John Wesley’s vision was a renewed church. His mission was “to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land.” Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision was all people living together in equality and harmony. His mission was racial integration and civil rights.5

The vision of the congregation is a compelling hope of God-given possibilities for present or future realities; it is God dreaming God’s vision of kingdom realities within the hearts of the congregation that results in the congregation’s unshakable belief that God is working a purpose through them that is larger than any of them could imagine. So important is vision that the scriptures declare the people will perish without it (see Prov 29:18). The vision of a congregation encompasses an intense yearning for a more desirable future that is shared among the people. It is a desire that captures the hearts and minds of a people into a common volition toward a destination, and it coalesces the resources of a group toward whatever action is necessary to bring the shared vision to a concrete reality. Thus vision transcends; it can be a pathway where there has been no path to follow, it can bring clarity where there is obscurity, and it can provide the impetus to keep going in spite of difficult roadblocks. It is important that the congregation’s shared vision of its life and ministry clearly connect God’s dream—shaping the values and actions of the corporate body and its individual members. Apart from this, the vision is little more than a pipe dream— words blowing in the wind. Vision may not always be future oriented in its time frame; it is also the capacity to reframe current realities. A Sunday School teacher, feeling tired and stressed, may see Sunday mornings as an obligation with-

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 251

The Vision We Share / 251

out much joy or anticipation; the kids are misbehaving, and it is impossible to keep their attention. Another Sunday school teacher sees the children as gifted and energetic, full of promise and the hope of their becoming faithful Christians and responsible leaders. Our perspective (or vision) makes the difference. Visionary leaders, not preoccupied only with the present, spend time thinking about the future, imagining what will lift the spirits of people, what will energize their dreaming new ways of sacrificial service in their neighborhoods, or what it would take for the congregation to be a shining beacon of hope in the community. Such leaders are not satisfied with the status quo; they desire to make a difference, to make things happen, to change the existing realities, to do something that hasn’t been done before. In a study of ninety highly successful leaders, Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus concluded that all of them had an agenda, an unparalleled concern with outcome. Leaders are the most results-oriented individuals in the world, and results get attention. Their visions or intentions are compelling and pull people toward them. Intensity coupled with commitment is magnetic. And these intense personalities do not have to coerce people to pay attention; they are so intent on what they are doing that, like a child completely absorbed with creating a sand castle in a sandbox, they draw others in. Vision grabs. Initially it grabs the leader, and management of attention enables others also to get on the bandwagon.6

Leadership is judged not by the magnitude of problems or opportunities, but by the quality of response to both; vision that reframes a problem or imagines how things could be different plays a crucial role in most instances.

Three Ways of Imagining the Future The congregation as a corporate body can have its own vision. However, individuals and ministries within the congregation may also have their visions for the ministry to which God is calling them. When we have listened to leaders and members of congregations, we have discovered that these conversations fall into at least one of three categories that describe how they convert desired images of the future to concrete action; the categories are wishing congregations, dreaming congregations,

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 252

252 / Leading the Congregation

and visionary congregations. One can soon identify which of the following categories characterize a congregation after participating in its public services, participating in its ministries, or engaging in conversations with the leadership team and individual members.

The “Wishing” Congregation A vision for the future can be a powerful motivation for the congregation. There are times, however, when a vision of the future makes no difference vis-à-vis the present realities—things don’t change; they stay the way they are and always have been. This describes a wishing congregation. While a wish is a desired condition, no one really expects the dream to come true. Because of this, there is no shouldering of responsibility, expended effort, or positive results. A wish means very little because, while the leaders and the congregation would like to see the wish come true, they believe that the “wished for” reality is beyond anything possible. The future desired image will never come true, at least for them. Further, a group may absolve itself from any responsibility to convert their wishes into realities by wishing for totally impossible things. They get their kicks out of talking of lofty wishes—while grumbling about the present—and then excusing themselves from any responsibility that could change a single jot or tittle. People who are wishing a desired future spend much time talking to one another, which is about all they do beyond their normal complaints.

The “Dreaming” Congregation Congregations also dream; this is another way by which many congregations express their hopes of the future. One distinction between a wish and a dream is that dreams are attached to the persons’ emotions. A dream is a wish accompanied by emotional responses. However, while much emotional energy is attached to the dream, congregations will not invest the resources necessary to turn a dream into a reality. In fact, they spend all of their energies pining over their dreams and thus have no energy left to put the dream to work. A pastor may be enthusiastic about fresh ideas received from attending a recent seminar, and she may convince others of her new ideas. The excitement may last for a time, but it soon diminishes because it is

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 253

The Vision We Share / 253

emotion without commitment. Thus it remains only an emotional dream of the congregation. Some congregations dream of the future by dwelling on the past. With much emotional energy, these congregations play “if only” scenarios about the past and—like those who wish for the future— do precious little to search for a fresh vision of the future. They may express their dreams with tears, pain, or enthusiasm, but eventually they wake up to “reality” and once again take up the task of safeguarding the status quo. The difference between a wish and a dream is that wishes are expressed and then lightly discarded. But dreams cling to the emotions and paralyze the congregation because they know it is too good to be true—for them. If the conversations of a wishing congregation are dull, boring, and stupefying, then the conversations of dreaming congregations are enthusiastic, emotional, and paralyzing.

The “Visionary” Congregation Congregations that are possessed by a vision from God are distinctively different from wishing or dreaming congregations. A vision, while also a desired future reality, is more than an idea or an emotion— it is a full-fledged desire that captures the heart and mind in ways that coalesce the resources of the group toward whatever action is necessary to cause the vision to become a concrete reality. Expressed another way, “Vision is a waking dream.”7 Persons who have vision make great sacrifice, even to the point of death, to see that the vision they are pursuing becomes a reality. Vision is larger than life. A group may possess its own wish or dream while vision possesses the team and congregation. Wishers and dreamers attempt to shape the future through much conversation, but a vision shapes persons through a conviction that leads to action. Therefore, leaders and members of visionary congregations will see to it—somehow—that their dreams become realities.

Alignment through Shared Vision, Mission, and Core Values A youth pastor shared with us her commitment to disciple approximately 45 members of her youth ministry, but said that the lead pastor had recently threatened to fire her if she didn’t double the attendance of the youth ministry in six months. Her conversation with the lead pastor was as surprising and confusing, as it was devastating.

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 254

254 / Leading the Congregation

The leaders and respective ministries at cross-purposes expend wasted energy that is expressed through personal hurt and resentment, political infighting, territoriality, and individual fall-out from ministry. Without a unifying vision shared among all ministries, persons engage in their own “ministry clans” that function as a separate entity apart from others, or against others. Business author Patrick Lencioni describes the nonalignment barriers between departments as silos, which rise up “not because of what [leaders] are doing purposefully but rather because of what they are failing to do: provide themselves and their employees with a compelling context for working together.”8 Even the most dedicated and gifted members of a congregation may begin to question how their best efforts connect with others who portray different priorities that move in a different direction.9 Vision diminishes when people do not feel as though they are creating their realities—present and future. By contrast, when members internalize God’s dream for their congregation—and live out the vision through their specific ministries—there is little need for the “command and control” motivational strategies that are prevalent in traditional organizations. In order for a vision to become a living, unifying force within a congregation, the people involved in ministries must believe that God invites them to partner with God in shaping the future. As we stated earlier, the shared vision is the capacity to see what is or what could be in a compelling manner beyond the current “business as usual.” The common mission answers the who, why, and beginning how questions: Who are we? What is our purpose? And how do we get it done? The core values provide a “true north” daily compass for an organization in its desire to act in ways that are consistent with its mission while staying focused on the shared vision. For example, most people will see the incongruence of giving a staff member two weeks’ severance pay while listing a congregation’s core value of “caring for one another.” Therefore the tapestry of a shared vision and a compelling purpose must also connect to kingdom values that are lived daily in the lives of people through their ministries. When individual and organizational energies become harmonized, even diverse elements can have focused energy in an alignment that creates and sustains a common vision. Common spirit and synergy develop from an aligned team or joint effort.

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 255

The Vision We Share / 255

How Vision May Come to a Congregation There is no single way to create a vision for a congregation. For some vision is revealed through a mystical, mysterious experience. For others it is a serendipitous circumstance, being at the right place at the right time with the right idea. Yet for others it is the capacity to see through a need and reframe it as an opportunity for ministry rather than seeing the condition and becoming paralyzed by it, or denying that the condition exists. Vision may also emerge as people engage in conversations, sharing their hopes and dreams for the congregation. Finally, vision can be the result of the leaders’ foresight. We will now examine these concepts more closely.

A Spiritual Encounter The prophet Joel foresaw a time when God’s Spirit would be poured out on all flesh—a time when the people of God would prophesy, dream dreams, and see visions (Joel 2:28). During the expanding life of the infant church, Peter saw a vision of animals in a sheet lowered from the heavens, accompanied by a voice that said, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat” (Acts 10:13). However confusing this image is to the reader, the experience prompted Peter to reframe how the inclusion of Gentiles might fit into the life of the early Jewish sect who called themselves Christians. During the night Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man pleading for Paul’s help (Acts 16:9). Paul took action immediately. The consistent portraiture of vision in the scriptures is God communicating a vision to those who turn the vision into reality. In turn, these people are responsible to communicate the vision to God’s people. Though God continues to use dramatic means from time to time, authentic visions are also communicated through more ordinary means.

A Divine Impulse or Blessed Hunch Vision can come to people who in their solitude are more likely to hear a “still small voice”—or to pay attention to an inner nudging. The prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19), who experienced deep anguish even after God had earlier intervened on his behalf, found himself on Mount Horeb in solitary discouragement. Wrapping his face within a coat, Elijah came out of his cave—and a voice came to him out of “sheer silence” (19:12b).

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 256

256 / Leading the Congregation

Many who write for the public outside religious settings address the reality of vision in different ways, calling it intuition, or a divine impulse, or a blessed hunch. Visions can be born in the still moments of quiet reflection. However, intuition is also a discipline that must be nourished and practiced. Every person has some intuitive sense, but most do not pay attention to it. As a result, it is difficult to sense the impulse or pick up on a hunch; thus, when it happens leaders do not trust it. Throughout history there are examples of religious leaders who trained congregations to “see” God’s vision for them through simple processes. One of these was Joseph Cardinal Cardijn, bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium. Cardijn—in his tenure spanning 1906–67—was the founder of the Young Christian Workers movement, which is one of the most powerful examples of lay ministry in history. He first applied his method of assisting young individuals to gain a vision of what God is calling them to do in 1912, working with a group of girls and young women between 11 and 30 years of age. Dividing them into “cells” according to their type or place of employment, the young priest challenged them to make a positive difference in their place of work. Cardijn utilized a simple method to help these groups to see what God wanted them to do to bring the spirit of Christ into their work places. The method contained a three-step process with one definite role for the priest or pastor. The process was as follows: First, the girls would look carefully at the work setting and the people who labored there to identify a problem that God was bringing to their attention. Second, they would consider a Christian social teaching to discuss this problem; thus, the group would reflect on a Gospel passage that addressed the issue in some way. Finally, the group would prepare a plan of action that provided a Christian solution to the problem. Cardijn called this his “Observe, Judge, Act” plan. The role for the priest was that of chaplain or spiritual director. He taught them to pray and learn the stories within the four Gospels. Nothing more. Cardijn insisted that the young,

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 257

The Vision We Share / 257

illiterate, inexperienced young people plan and carry out their ministries. He insisted, “They have to be able to do it themselves, they have to fly on their own wings.” The Christian Youth Workers movement grew to 20,000 in Belgium alone and eventually spread to 109 countries.10 Cardijn’s method is a good example of training others to come to a vision through a simple divine impulse or a blessed hunch. The role of the religious leader is to teach people how to look at things, listen and pray, meditate upon the scriptures, and apply what they see and hear to a situation—believing that they are to do God’s bidding. No advice, no expert opinion, no help—but the leader consistently holding the group in prayer for God’s direction.

Seeing through a Need At times vision comes to a congregation when its leaders or members see “through” a need to imagine a more desirable condition. The vision can grow out of an intense desire to change a condition, or it may emerge from a halting response that is transformed into an encompassing vision. In our experience, this is a common means through which congregations embrace a vision—when an individual or group becomes aware of pressing needs or opportunities within the community, and a vision is born within them that compels them to act. We know a group of pastors, all serving smaller churches, who spent some time together talking about a common desire to involve their congregations in ministry within their respective communities. Without knowing what the other pastors were doing, each of them preached a sermon on Christian service that “sounded the call” for members to get involved with the real needs in the community. Within three months each congregation had discovered a new and compelling vision for ministry, which transformed the life of their congregations.

Bringing Together the Hopes and Dreams of the Members Though many leaders believe that the Spirit speaks to people in the congregation through a variety of means, few take the time to find out

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 258

258 / Leading the Congregation

what dreams lie resident in the hearts of the people. However, when the information asked for, the results can be transformative.11 Searching for a shared vision by tapping into the hopes and dreams of people in the congregation invites two approaches when facilitating the conversations: discussion and dialogue. Both of these are a natural part of discourse, but the synergy that comes from dialogue may be missed if the distinction is not encouraged in practice. Discussion is announcing an open forum for the congregation to discuss scenarios of future direction possibilities, but instead leaders often spend most of the time selling their ideas or latest plan. Leaders who do facilitate discussion do well to understand the limitations of discourse when it becomes like a ping-pong game—the ball goes back and forth over the net until it sails off into space, or hits the net and drops down on either side with no opportunity to make the play. Pastoral psychologist Sam Southard called such conversations “intersecting monologues.” Often the goal of those engaged in discussion, like that of ping-pong, is to win—or at least ensure that a particular point of view prevails.12 Dialogue comes from two Greek words—dia meaning “through” and logos meaning “word.” The flow of meaningful conversations among people is like a stream flowing between two banks. No one is trying to win through competing ideas. Rather, individuals seek to understand one another, forming an idea with others until the fuller meaning emerges. The group expects to gain greater insight than that which could be gained by anyone alone. Fruitful dialogue is based on three conditions: (1) individuals go into the meeting with an open mind, suspending their judgments as much as possible, (2) participants see each other as colleagues, and (3) there is a facilitator who hosts as the container of the dialogue.13 Thus a shared vision emerges as the leadership team listens to the personal aspirations and visions of others in the congregation. In a climate of openness and good will—as people share their hopes and dreams— the dialogue may seem messy and disconnected. But probing people’s ideas and encouraging reflective listening potentially tills the soil and makes it receptive for the sharing of vision, even though final clarity won’t happen in one meeting. The shared vision matters to people to the extent that it reflects their hopes and dreams for the congregation, and blends their personal vision into the overarching, common vision. In this type of vision casting, the leader functions as an orchestrator who draws

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 259

The Vision We Share / 259

out the artistry of many gifted players—who yet remain distinctive and harmonious.

Practicing Foresight A final way to consider clarifying vision is to practice forethought, which is the capacity to see what changes will most likely occur in the future and to dream of potential ministry opportunities that will impact change. To practice foresight is to think ahead five or ten years, asking, “How can we get there first?” “First” relates less to time and more to “readiness.” More specifically: What changes will occur in our own congregation? What will our community be like in five or ten years? What will be the most pressing needs, and how do we prepare ourselves to effectively deal with demographic changes, sociopolitical conditions, and regional/global trends? What resources, competencies, and programs do we need to think about and prepare now for the future? Foresight is not a 20/20 picture of the future, but it does provide the impetus for leaders to begin to get in touch with their ambitions now that could make a difference for the future. Greenleaf picks up on the theme of foresight when he suggests that leaders who lose their foresight are leaders in name only because “events start to force their hand . . . they are not leading but reacting to immediate events, and they probably will not long be leaders.”14

Shared Visioning Is a Process Vision cannot become a reality if it is not shared. A vision is shared when individual members of the congregation hold a similar image, and aspire together to achieve the future suggested by the image. Shared visioning is a process that: (1) begins with the spirituality of leaders and the congregation in their search for God; (2) develops in and through the leaders who facilitate conversations and communicate the vision to the congregation; and (3) calls for leaders to empower the congregation in such a way that they together enact the vision. Vision can bubble up from many sources within a congregation, and it is nourished or hindered by leaders, as we shall explore. But the most fruitful visions of individuals and congregations ultimately belong to God, who breathes and dreams vision (and hope) in the lives of God’s people.

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 260

260 / Leading the Congregation

Spirituality Is a Prerequisite for Vision Episcopal priest Terry Fullam understands God to be the creator of the vision we receive, which becomes a highly motivating, rallying point toward which the congregation moves with commitment and excitement.15 Fullam further describes his own experience in receiving a vision: “In my own case, the Lord spent most of a summer working on me to prepare me for this church, first through Scripture and then through a rather strange experience. . . . I didn’t hear God audibly, but his word to me was so clear that, had I heard him out loud, it [an audible hearing] would have added nothing. It gave me the courage to step into an unfamiliar role. It has provided stability for me ever since.”16 The congregations in the Old Testament and the ancient church of the New Testament proved to contain ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary deeds out of their encounter with God. Without exception, the “call” stories in the scriptures demonstrate that the call was accompanied by a vision of new possibilities, and an anointing of the presence of the Holy Spirit, who works alongside the people to make the impossible possible. Abraham, for example, in his later years responded to the call of God with his family to “set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb 11:8). Upon a closer look, one sees that those individuals within the scriptures who experienced a vision in their encounter with God were active people who possessed the ability to reflect on the value of results. Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. Gideon was threshing out wheat in the wine press. Saul was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” Out of the ordinary experiences, God’s visionary call to each one resulted in a sweeping transformation that altered history. While in community, the disciples of Jesus caught glimpses of his vision while following him around and listening to his teaching. However, the vision had not as yet “caught” them. It was only after they had time to reflect on their experiences and relationship with Jesus—and to experience an encounter of the Holy Spirit—that they gave themselves fully to the vision Jesus consistently held up before them. When they finally received the vision Jesus held before them, they went everywhere announcing the good news of redemption and writing about it for their congregations.

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 261

The Vision We Share / 261

Whether speaking of an individual or a community, the scriptures consistently describe the vision that comes to active people, already engaged in life or ministry, but who also have the capacity to reflect upon their actions—only to experience surprising results. Vision comes to ordinary people doing common things, but they begin to see new possibilities in a situation or they reframe a reality through an epiphany experience. In order to be possessed of a vision, the congregation must develop a “clear eye” toward their own situation and a “big ear” toward God. God does not speak to people out of a vacuum, but speaks out of their concrete realities. And God tends to speak softly—through nudges and hunches— in a gentle turning of one’s will toward God’s desires. Vision comes to those who have the capacity to sustain the silence and openness necessary to transparently assess their situation and its potentialities—thereby entering into the silence where God’s still, small voice can be heard. Thus far we have said that in order for a congregation to move through wishing or dreaming into vision, the leaders must (1) lead the congregation into a deeper, more vital spirituality, (2) teach them how to listen for God’s call, (3) support them to sustain the interior silence from which God speaks, (4) develop discernment within the hearts of the people, and finally (5) help people see (and perhaps negotiate) how their visions fit together with the shared vision of the congregation.

Encourage the Call in Individuals and Find Common Ground in a Shared Vision The shared vision matters to people to the extent that it reflects their own personal vision. Therefore, the shared vision moves closer to reality when it includes the hopes and dreams of the followers, thereby enabling them to blend their personal vision with the shared vision of the congregation. Leadership theorist Peter Senge employs the metaphor of a three-dimensional image of a hologram to illustrate how personal visions relate to shared visions; he explains that when a person cuts a photograph in half, each part shows only part of the whole image. But if you divide a hologram, each part shows the whole image intact. Similarly, as you continue to divide up the hologram, no matter how small . . . each piece still shows the whole image. Likewise, when a group of people comes to share a vision for an organization, each person sees his own picture of the organization at its best. . . . We each

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 262

262 / Leading the Congregation

have our own way of seeing the larger vision. . . . But as the shared vision develops, it becomes both “my vision” and “our vision.17

For Terry Fullam and his congregation, God did not provide the entire vision to one person; the people believed that the Lord would speak corporately to them as a people of God. Thus the responsibility of individuals was to embrace their commitment to know the will of God, and to become what God wanted them to become. Fullam describes the leaders putting the pieces of a jigsaw together in discovering God’s vision for them.18 In larger churches, more often than not, the vision is shared through the pastoral team and lay leaders, while in smaller congregations the vision is often shared through the pastor and committed members of the congregation. Traditionally, in most congregations it is expected that the pastor develop a compelling vision that captures the imagination and energy of the congregation. This process works well for many congregations. But there is another type of leader who, “rather than creating a single vision and then selling it to others, has the ability to listen to others and help them articulate a shared vision which reflects their deeply-held values.”19 Leaders who are committed to a common vision constantly encourage people to listen for their own call and discern a personal vision that aligns itself with the shared vision. Terry Fullam provides the following self-examination for every communicant in the congregation:

“Look at the stewardship of your life—your natural abilities and your opportunities—and tell me in letter form about yourself. What obedience is the Lord calling you to do? What thing is he commending? What are your dreams for your life, for this body, and for the interplay between the two? “I told them I would put their letters in order according to the parish list and then share their dreams, praying for each of them. I announced that on Christmas Eve I would bring all the letters to the altar, offering their gifts to the Lord. And then at this time next year, I will mail the letters back for review. “There’s a great reservoir of commitment in this church and a desire to find God’s will. In this way, I hope to help people focus on vision.”20

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 263

The Vision We Share / 263

Gordon Cosby describes how members in his congregation respond to a personal call for a specific mission; he writes: Our procedure is to start with one person or a small nucleus of people who have heard a call for a specific mission. Then others gather around that call; they gather initially around “call” incarnated in a person or persons. A new group begins with a clearly understood outward journey as well as a commitment to the inward journey. . . . The person upon whom the Word of God has come sounds the call in a variety of ways. Often in personal conversations within the community he or she discovers another to share the call. The fire of God kindled within his or her own spirit inflames another. . . . The person’s call may be shared with the Sunday morning worshiping congregation or with any segment of the community. A number of people may respond or none. If no one responds, the person waits, nurturing his or her own life in Christ and praying for those who can hear. He pursues his call individually, waiting for the moment others can share it with him. If others respond, they share their life together, evoking one another’s gifts, and praying for clarity in hearing God’s will as to their mission. If the new group lives and senses God in its midst, it may share its call within the church council to see if it is confirmed by the representatives of the existing mission groups. This serious testing of the call is extremely important.21

Since no congregation will exactly mirror each individual’s expectations, the difference becomes a leading edge for growth in the congregation and in the individual. Another requirement for shared vision is the leaders’ ability to communicate the vision in a clear and compelling manner.

Communicating the Vision An important skill that distinguishes visionary leaders from others is their use of language—often in metaphor and symbolic forms—to motivate others toward a deep commitment to a common pursuit. People are less likely to respond to communication that is unclear, pedantic, or dull—and that fails to connect to an inspiring image of possibilities. The “I Have a Dream” speech delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr., before 250,000 people on August 28, 1963—and the influence of his commitment to that vision—is perhaps modern history’s best example of

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

2:24 PM

Page 264

264 / Leading the Congregation

how a leader can communicate a vision to the people. Dr. King’s vision was not merely an idle wish or frivolous dream, which was attested by his willingness not only to love for his dream—but to die for it. So clear and compelling was the signal that his words convinced his friends and converted a host of his enemies, and his message still rings true today. Enlisting people to support a vision may finally come to rest on the leaders’ ability to communicate in a manner that excites not only people’s intellects, but also their imagination and passion.22 By using stories and metaphors, symbols and word pictures, visionary leaders creatively express a vision that brings people together and motivates them to act. Greenleaf believed that “someone in the church must paint the dream. . . . The growing edge church will be a painter of dreams for all of its people, something to lift their sights above the ordinary and give them a great goal to strive for.”23 Consider the following steps when discovering and communicating a shared vision of the congregation.24 1. Identify the various constituents in your congregation. Make a list of the individuals and groups whose honest response, input, and support you wish to elicit in support for the shared vision. In a larger congregation, identify key individuals, informal networks, and programs in the ministry structures; in smaller congregations, primarily work with key individuals. 2. Find the common ground in the needs, aspirations, and dreams of your congregation. In knowing and understanding the aspirations of the followers, leaders can reflect with them, “This is how your personal dreams can blend into a common vision for all of us.” Most people desire to see a leader symbolize their hopes and dreams, as Westley and Mintzberg explain: “By wedding perception with symbols the visionary leader creates a vision, and the vision, by evoking an emotional response, forms a bridge between leader and follower as well as between idea and action.”25 Visionary leaders discover the hidden potential that people can contribute to the shared vision, inviting their involvement in its enterprise. Among the plethora of survey techniques to discover people’s perceptions, there is no substitute for good, personal conversations that take place in the hospitality of caring relationships. 3. Articulate the vision in concrete and positive terms. A vision of the future must be made concrete in order for others to understand and support the vision. Some suggest that leaders be prepared to tell the essence

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 265

The Vision We Share / 265

of the vision in three to five minutes; when a vision is expressed in a few words, it has a better chance of being understood and accepted. The vision should also be stated in positive terms, such as “We will . . .” versus “We will try . . . ” While fear can be a source of energy, it is often short-lived in bringing about change in a period of time when survival is at stake. The longer-lasting energy is a positive aspiration that moves people toward a constructive vision of the future.26 4. Model the vision in your own behavior. If leaders are not excited about a vision to which they have little commitment, it will be hard to convince anyone else of the content of the vision. Without authentic passion, the vision will never get off the ground. It will remain merely a wish or a dream.

Empowering People to Enact the Vision A shared vision more likely comes to pass when the personal visions of the leaders and individual members coalesce in a synergetic relationship with God’s desires; however the degree of individual commitment to a shared vision is not “either-or.” In reality there are varying degrees of commitment to the vision. Peter Senge describes the difference between compliance and commitment toward a vision, identifying several levels of personal compliance. POSSIBLE ATTITUDES TOWARD A VISION Commitment: Wants it. Will make it happen. Creates whatever “laws” (structures) are needed. Enrollment: Wants it. Will do whatever can be done within the “spirit of the law.” Genuine compliance: Sees the benefits of the vision. Does everything expected and more. Follows the “letter of the law.” “Good Soldiers.” Formal compliance: On the whole, sees the benefits of the vision. Does what is expected and no more. “Pretty good soldier.” Grudging compliance: Does not see the benefits of the vision. But, also, does not want to lose job (or status). Does enough of what’s expected because he has to, but also lets it be known that he is not really on board.

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 266

266 / Leading the Congregation

Noncompliance: Does not see benefits of vision and will not do what’s expected. “I won’t do it; you can’t make me.” Apathy: Neither for nor against vision. No interest. No energy. “Is it five o’clock yet?”27

In our experience with congregations, what is often interpreted as commitment to a vision is a form of compliance as described above. Pastors express their desire for the congregation to “buy into” their vision without fully understanding the nuances of attitudes among the members of the congregation. Efforts to manipulate a congregation will result in some level of compliance, but the degree of commitment to a vision is ultimately measured by those who are motivated to make it happen. The attitudes of the people throughout the congregation are important in successfully implementing a vision. Warren Bennis describes three distinct levels pertaining to vision: (1) the strategic level of vision is the overriding philosophy (and theology) of the organization; (2) the tactical level of the vision is philosophy in action; and (3) the personal level of vision is the philosophy, which is demonstrated in the behavior of each individual in the organization.28 All three levels are crucial for a shared vision. For example, the Sunday school teacher or nursery worker who makes a personal sacrifice in the lives of children with an image of what the congregation might become in ministering to children is living out her vision of the congregation. But a greeter who is rude to those attending the worship service is working against the vision for that congregation.

Vision Is Nurtured in a Climate of Trust and Communication Trust and communication nurture psychological energy for a vision. Without trust, people are defensive, there is little freedom for honest communication, and the emotional climate works against the shared vision. According to Greenleaf, nothing happens until there is trust.29 When the trust level dissipates, feelings are disguised—information is clouded in personal protection from perceived threats. Parties communicate what they think others want to hear, and problems are avoided. Thus, vision dissipates. Everyone in the congregation plays a part in nurturing trust.

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 267

The Vision We Share / 267

Trust invites self-disclosure—being willing to express what you desire, what you value, and what you stand for. Trust also requires being sensitive to others—listening to their desires and viewpoints. Leaders do well when they keep in mind that “trust is almost always needed when leaders are accomplishing extraordinary things in organizations.”30

Why Visions Do Not Succeed Why do some visions succeed while others fail prematurely? Peter Senge believed that visions succeed through reinforcement that increases its “clarity, enthusiasm, communication and commitment. As people talk, the vision grows clearer. As it gets clearer, enthusiasm for its benefits builds. . . . Enthusiasm can also be reinforced by early successes in pursuing the vision.”31 And as momentum builds, more people commit themselves to the vision. But there are also factors that interrupt and may even destroy the visioning process. Senge examines four such conditions: 1. As people become involved in conversations about shared vision, the vision may dissipate when different viewpoints generate conflict that shifts the focus away from the vision.32 If people feel that the emerging vision can no longer be influenced by their input—or if they feel that their own visions do not matter—then enthusiasm for the shared vision diminishes. A vision, in order to become a reality, depends upon the support of many people. Leaders who are willing to empower visions of individuals and groups in the congregation further the possibility for a larger shared vision to evolve, and the sum of the whole will be larger than the many disparate visions that reside among the people. If, however, the visioning process becomes an advocacy process for the desires of a special interest group (even if it’s the leadership team), it will result in compliance or conflict—but not commitment. 2. Visions fade when they are beyond reach and require more persistence than people possess.33 By definition there is a gap between a vision and current reality. Organizational discouragement can happen when people are not able to hold together in creative tension the gap between vision and current reality. Many visions take years before they can be brought into reality. The vision that compelled Moses to bring the slaves out of Egypt into the Promised Land took forty years. However, most individuals and congregations cannot live and work for long periods of

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 268

268 / Leading the Congregation

time without seeing some small successes. For this reason leaders do well when they plan the work and ministry in such a way that there may be a series of small successes; these are highly celebrated in order to keep the larger vision clear, and to keep the people from being overwhelmed by the length of time a vision may take to come to fruition. 3. Visions decline when people feel overwhelmed by the demands of ministry, and thereby lose focus on the vision.34 Time and energy are necessary for the long haul, and sacrifice is needed to accomplish any worthwhile vision. When energy is drained from leaders who are trapped in reacting to current crises, and who are immersed in current day-to-day realities that consume time and energy, it becomes natural for the vision to be neglected, if not forgotten. For this reason the congregation’s shared vision must be ever and always held up as a top priority. Vision that is not given priority will never be more than an idle wish or a nostalgic dream. 4. Last, when people devalue or sabotage their relationships with one another, the vision dies.35 An important motivation toward accomplishing a shared vision is the desire for people to be connected to each other and to a larger purpose. How quickly the spirit of a vision can be blunted when people lose respect for each other. When the group is divided into “us” and “them,” into those who are loyal and those who are not, then relationships no longer promote genuine enthusiasm. People must be given time and skill to reflect on their own visions, and then be given the opportunity to share with one another their hopes and dreams for the congregation. Vision is the fusion of the passion, desires, and energies of the congregation into a compelling volition that gathers up the best of the past, present, and future of the congregation into one God-given and God-led pilgrimage. Whatever vision is for you and your congregation, it is meant to bring an indescribable sense of a better future in the will of God—the only thing worth dying for. The most successful . . . leaders saw their primary responsibility as unleashing the talent of others so the collective vision could be realized. . . . A spirited collegiality is the usual mood of these great groups. . . . Whatever the arena, genuine leaders find ways to make others want to come when they are called.36 Warren Bennis

BBMU004201QK015.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:45 PM

Page 269

The Vision We Share / 269

Questions for Reflection on the Vision We Share 1. What role has vision played in your own leadership experience? Has the emphasis on vision become a fad? Is it still an important process for a congregation? 2. Where do you find yourself on the range between “vision as a compelling image of the future” and “Leo singing his song to keep people on the journey together”? 3. How would you define mission in relation to vision? Do you emphasize one over the other? 4. Regarding wishing, dreaming, and visioning congregations, how do you relate your experience to these ways of connecting an image of the future to concrete action? 5. Do your ministries embody the alignment of vision, mission, and core values? Are there pressure points where individuals or ministries are working at cross-purposes with each other? 6. Have you had any experience with the five ways visions come to congregations that were discussed in this chapter? 7. How do you define the role of spirituality and God’s call in the process of identifying a shared vision? 8. After reviewing the different categories of attitudes toward vision, how would you assess your own attitude as well as that of people in your congregation toward the present statement of vision? What steps can you take to address how people view shared vision? 9. Can you identify with any of the conditions that help to explain why visions do not succeed?

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 270

Chapter Sixteen

Transformational Change Yet like ships, individuals and organizations are often confronted by storms. . . . These storms are usually preceded by dark clouds and other signals of danger. While the signals often call for transformation . . . we tend to resist. When our old habits of thought and action seem to be ever less effective in the face of the change, we are slow to abandon them in favor of learning our way into a transformed state. . . . Rather than accepting the need for deep change, most of us practice denial. We rationalize away the signals that call us to courage and growth. We work very hard to preserve our current ego or culture. . . . We strive to stay in our zone of comfort and control. Given the choice between deep change or slow death, we tend to choose slow death.1 Robert E. Quinn A self changes when it changes its consciousness about itself. This is true for any system—individuals, organizations, societies. As the system develops a different awareness, this changed awareness will materialize as new responses. If it fails to assign different meaning, it will maintain itself unchanged. . . . If we take time to reflect together on who we are and who we could choose to become, we will be led into the territory where change originates. We will be led to explore our agreements of belonging, the principles and values we display in our behaviors, the purposes that have called us together. . . .2 Margaret J. Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers God always has the capacity to do something fresh and different, to bring something new out of a situation.3 Rowan Williams

Weconomic crises, global turmoil, cultural revolutions, and natural

e are consciously aware of a nagging uncertainty during times of

catastrophes; these become more threatening to our individual and social psyche with the exponential speed of change. In spite of the conditions 270

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 271

Transformational Change / 271

that accentuate anxiety, the ways in which leaders and their congregations interpret the shifts in the environment—and respond to them—will determine how effective they will be over the long haul. The resilience of servant-leaders, such as Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, and Jean Vanier, have transformed the lives of those whom they have served while inspiring many others in the world. Countless others who possess extraordinary commitment to make a compassionate difference against insurmountable odds do not make the headlines; nonetheless, their ministries are tangible signposts of the kingdom. Growing numbers of churches are discovering for the first time, and others rediscovering, the ways that God desires to dream through them with the hope of transforming their world. The changes taking place during our lifetime are real and unprecedented with connectivity and speed that overlook no person, family, group, or organization. Furthermore, any significant change effort necessarily demands changes within the organizational culture itself, which is a difficult enterprise. Especially when things seem to be going well, most congregations ignore any subtlety of signal that calls for change. As a coping mechanism, many cling to the memories of former accomplishments, prop up the status quo, or retreat into the false comfort of a helpless cynicism that rails against the problems “out there”—all of which eventually leads to the demise of a slow death. But the magnitude and way of change required of North American churches also remain difficult for those who have heard the call for change in the face of unprecedented challenges. Leading congregations who have little urgency for change has convinced some religious leaders that new wine and new wineskins are necessary, no matter how satisfying the old wine has been (see Luke 5:37-39). Regardless of how deep the change must be within congregations, the rapidly changing environments will test the accuracy of our best assumptions and our capacity to deal with internal conflicts over how best to deal with rapidly changing realities. We can resolve these tensions in one of three ways: (1) we cling to our internal framework with the hope that the external conditions will conform to our own expectations, (2) we refuse to see the external changes as profound as they may be; instead we retreat into denial while blaming others for the conditions in which we find ourselves, and (3) we are open to self-examination in ways that cause us to adjust our interpretive frameworks in ways that we better understand the changing external realities—and what to do about them.4

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 272

272 / Leading the Congregation

Though many of the current challenges are unprecedented, the human response to changes throughout recorded history has provided much needed practical wisdom for contemporary religious leaders.

Orientation, Disorientation, and New Orientation The Psalms provide transformative lessons for leaders and their congregations on their journey with God. These writings are universal in that they express the full range of the human condition—from the sheer elation of pure ecstasy to the deepest levels of anguish, or even thirst for revenge. But the psalms do not end in these polarities of human existence—there is more. Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggemann aptly describes three categories of poetry expressed in the Psalms: the poems of orientation express the joy, delight, and goodness of God’s creation and blessings. The poetry of disorientation—explicitly expressing the human realities of alienation, pain, suffering, and death— evokes vivid expressions of rage, anguish, self-pity, and even hatred. The poems of new orientation are full of surprise when people experience God with new wonder, amazement, and fresh perspective. Brueggemann explains, These psalms affirm a sovereign God who puts humankind in a new situation. In this way, it is proposed that psalm forms correspond to seasons of human life and bring those seasons to speech. The move of the seasons is transformational and not developmental; that is, the move is never obvious, easy, or “natural.” It is always in pain and surprise, and in each age it is thinkable that a different move might have been made.5

Beyond these descriptions are “two decisive moves of faith” that may catch us off guard, and we likely resist them: The dismantling move from a settled orientation into the season of disorientation, characterized by the stubborn grip of hostility, fear, resentment, shame, guilt, and loneliness; and the transforming delight that rescued us from the pit of chaos when we “knew it was over.” But instead of everything being wiped out, now there comes a flooding within the heart of a deep joy and gratitude.6 The scriptures offer much wisdom of the human condition and in ultimately embracing the spiritual nature of change. The challenges are

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 273

Transformational Change / 273

unique to each generation, but what remains constant is God’s pervasive desire to reconcile all things through Christ (Col 1:20), and that God should further make God’s appeal of reconciliation through us (2 Cor 5:18-21). But even with the vision of reconciling transformation, change efforts are difficult—and complex.

The Nature of Change Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell convincingly describes how small change spreads quickly and pervasively.7 Documenting studies in medicine, business, and the social sciences, Gladwell describes the tipping point when a critical mass suddenly forms. Whether lowering the crime rate in a large city, a rapidly spreading virus, or the instant popularity of a television series, the fast-spreading phenomena share several things in common, which include (1) the law of a few—it doesn’t take many to start a movement, just a few key personalities; (2) the stickiness factor—the quality that compels people to pay close attention to the product, concept, or idea; and (3) the power of context—finding the “sweet spot” that tips a particular phenomenon into a magic number. For the latter, Gladwell illustrates how the religious Hutterites for several hundred years structured their communities to have no more than 150 individuals because they were persuaded that when communities were more than 150, people became strangers, and they were less efficient in their community. Interestingly, Gore Associates, manufacturers of hightech fabric Gore-Tex, follow the same rule with structuring work units— even their factories—to have no more than 150 people.8 One begins to imagine how these tipping-point factors—the law of a few, stickiness, and the power of context—with God’s Spirit were played out in the early churches that burst on the scene in the first century, and in countless examples up to the present day in which the church experienced phenomenal growth in different parts of the world.9 The nature of change can also be seen in recognizable patterns of growth and decline.

Patterns of Growth and Decline Living things exist in cycles of change with forces that are similar to an ocean tide of ebbing and flowing. British author Charles Handy uses

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 274

274 / Leading the Congregation

the Sigmoid “S” Curve to describe the life cycle of changes taking place in individuals, relationships, and organizations. With regard to the latter, everything new may start out with some exposure to vulnerability— whether it be the birth of a new ministry, congregation, or non-profit. However, the inevitable experience of an initial setback during the inception phase potentially turns into a pattern of growth (see Figure 16.1).10 Like planting a crop, it may be impossible to see any results under the surface, but eventually one can see evidence of growth and maturation. What varies among organisms is the length of the curve or how long it takes to reach certain points on the curve. In due time the energy and pain of growth that lead to maturity begin to plateau, and eventually the energy subsides or becomes self-defeating for the organism as it enters into a period of decline. The once mature harvest begins to die. Figure 16.1 Sigmoid Curve Depicting Growth and Decline

Perhaps the most important lesson in change for leadership is the capacity to surf the “S” curve—to consistently monitor where the organism and different ministries are on the curve, and at the height of success, before the eventual descent, plan to start another Sigmoid curve (see

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 275

Transformational Change / 275

Figure 16.2). Charles Handy believed that the way to prolong the life of an organization is to start a second growth curve. But this is difficult, and it makes no sense to most people—why would you start something new at the height of success when you are currently reaping the rewards of previous sacrifice and the old way of doing things? Would not the rules of success that brought us to the present plateau automatically continue the cycle of growth? Within this mindset we hope the signs of the plateau to be temporary; thus we often use the well-known tactic of trying harder with what has worked before.

Coexisting Curves The transition period between A and B (see Figure 16.2) is never clear mainly because it is difficult to see new challenges and opportunities at the height of success. Now the organization must make a decision whether to “ride the coat tails of success” to the end, or prepare to abandon the existing curve in search for another growth curve. Knowing when to start the second curve is not easy, but it is safe to say that it should be on track by the time the first curve is nearing its peak of success. Preparing the second curve too early is better than too late. The challenge for leaders who pay attention to the “S” curve is to be able to address the denial and resistance of others in order to sustain the old and new curves at the same time.11 The irony is this: there is no reason to change when things are going well, when everything seems to be working. But the reluctance to change eventually means that the organization is losing time—and creating vulnerability for its own decline. Change has the ability to thrust even the strongest organizations into decline. But this need not happen. The decline is due not to the change itself but to the organization’s response to it. Therefore, healthy organisms find ways to start the subsequent curves before the growth peaks. The signs are obvious throughout the decline, but the wake-up call is more difficult to hear during the height of success. Riding on the history of past accomplishments—combined with declining morale, a waning trust in leaders, and diminishing resources—fails to provide ripe conditions for visionary imagination. More will be said about transformational change later in the chapter.

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 276

276 / Leading the Congregation

Figure 16.2 A Second Curve of New Growth

The organism’s key ingredient to new cycles of growth is learning how to stay faithful to its God-given mission and kingdom values while purposefully relating to patterns and changes within the environment.

Environmental Change: Threats or Opportunities As the environment changes, the way the church thinks and acts must also change, or the congregation, still holding on to its outdated ways— however successful in the past—will soon find itself sailing in a sea of irrelevancy and obsolescence. Rapid, radical, and uncontrollable change is that which judicatories and congregations neither welcome nor appreciate. Indeed, many congregations expend large amounts of energy to ensure that everything stays the same. However, in the end the congregation will stand to lose it all. Two major factors contribute to the demise of every congregation and denomination: (1) the resistance to changes that comes with conflict over values, purpose, and methods; and (2) the inability or unwillingness to take advantage of new and unforeseen windows of opportunity that open

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 277

Transformational Change / 277

up because of change. The passing of the provincial congregation is necessary—though the majority of these congregations have served well in the past—because it was unable or unwilling to adapt to new environments. However, virtually all the congregation’s ministry expansion arises out of environmental opportunities. A congregation that is blind to the shifts in its environment is also blind to the impact created by the changes upon its ministries. Thus the congregation does not see clearly its emerging opportunities, and eventually its ministries will enter into decline. However, congregations who survive cultural shifts are those who engage in a discernment process that identifies the windows of opportunity in the environment, determine which specific needs to address, and take the necessary steps to implement a mission that reflects faithfulness to kingdom priorities. Another way to think about the nature of change is to think about different types of change.

Types of Change Leadership is fundamentally about dealing with change. Congregations in a crisis often recount stories and events as people try to make sense of current conditions, hoping that a clearer understanding of the past will help them move forward into the future. Consider the following types of change in relation to past and future consequences: closed change, contained change, and open-ended change.12 Closed change: the consequences of change are clear. Leaders who attempt to explain a current crisis in a congregation often reconstruct a narrative that explains what led up to the present situation. In closed change, what happened and why things happened enjoy widespread agreement among the congregation and its leadership. Understanding the consequences of past events among leaders is poised to impact the congregation’s future course of action. For example, congregations can point to events regarding a pastoral tenure, conflicts in the congregation, or an economic spiral that explain the current conditions, and leaders who track particular trends within a congregation have a good sense of how these patterns will play out in the congregation’s future. Contained change: the consequences of change are seen in terms of probability. In contained change, people construct a narrative of what

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 278

278 / Leading the Congregation

most likely happened, why things happened, and the most likely consequences for the congregation because of the change. For example, consider the congregation whose leaders were convinced that the change in worship style would cause a small exodus of members, but that the change would also bring new younger families into the church. When families did leave, some believed that people left primarily because of the way former worship participants (for example, organist or choir director) were treated. Others believed that smaller increments of change would have been less disruptive. Several new, younger families started attending morning worship, and leaders believed that the new worship style would continue to bring new people into the congregation. There were also some who generally agreed with the change in worship, but also believed the outcomes could have been different if the change had been handled differently. Open-ended change: the consequences of change are pure conjecture. In open-ended change, leaders remain uncertain, perhaps confused, about what caused a current condition in the congregation or what the future consequences will be. Perhaps the politics from conflict pose competing narratives, many of them created behind closed doors and subsequently nuanced for the public interpretation. There may also be so much chaos that there remains no widespread explanation for the sequence of events, why things happened, or what the future holds. Some leaders do not know what contributed to the growth of their congregations or what they should focus on to maintain the growth patterns. Other congregations, who struggle to determine how they got into a season of decline, are much less certain what to do about it. Fortunately, renewal and redevelopment ministries exist that provide much-needed strategic direction for congregations who find themselves in open-ended change. The challenge for leaders is to understand how closed, contained, and open-ended change play into the life and ministry of a congregation. An important distinction among the three types of change is that “The past and the short-term future are dominated by closed and contained change, but the long-term future is open ended. . . . When dynamics are chaotic, small changes escalate and self-reinforcing cycles develop, making it impossible to predict the specific long-term future consequences of events and actions.”13 However, because escalation takes time, leaders

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 279

Transformational Change / 279

can begin to forecast the short-term consequences. For example, ending what was once a successful ministry now in serious decline may seem necessary, even with predictable short-term political consequences and longer-term results unknown. All three types of change are necessary for survival, but open-ended change—sometimes called adaptive work14—is the most challenging for leaders. The lack of simple answers in open-ended change triggers more than enough anxiety in congregations. In efforts to calm their own fears, people look to leaders to offer them reassurances and clear-cut answers; they do not expect or want leaders to ask of them tough questions in the face of problems that defy simple solutions.15 But regardless of what congregations want in this regard, adaptive change asks of leaders to provide a hospitality that promotes honest conversations within the community to talk about the uncertainties and fears of the future, conflicting perspectives, hopes and dreams, and the trust for God’s provisions for the journey into God’s future. Engaging others in open-ended, adaptive change is filled with risk, and it will ensure push-back from others in a variety of forms, including denial and resistance.

Denial and Resistance Bringing change to an organization embedded in inertia and rigidity is likened to teaching an elephant to dance, according to change interventionist, James Belasco. Beyond the image of a dancing elephant is a lesson about being “bound to the past.” When trainers shackle a young elephant to a stake in the ground, the elephant learns to stay in place, giving up any attempt to pull up the stakes. After a while, all that is required to keep the elephant in its place is a small metal bracelet around one of its feet, even when it is not attached to any stake at all. Having once gotten the idea the bracelet is chained to a stake, the elephant will stay—all because of an inconsequential bracelet. Congregations, like elephants, are often bound by restraints, however insignificant they may be. Belasco drives the point home: “ ‘We’ve always done it this way’ is as limiting to an organization’s progress as the unattached chain around the elephant’s foot. Success ties you to the past.”16

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 280

280 / Leading the Congregation

In most change efforts—especially transformative change—leaders can expect resistance to take on different forms: confusion (people ask, “Why do we have to do this now?”), immediate criticism (people express disapproval before hearing all the details), denial (people refuse to see that things have changed), malicious compliance (people smile at first, and then disagree behind your back), sabotage (strong words and actions that are intended to stop the change effort), easy agreement (initial strong support with little commitment to follow through at later time), deflection (people change subject and go off on tangents), silence (no one says anything), and in-your-face criticism (people express what is on their minds).17 These expressions are different reactions of individuals who are testing their own assumptions about the change and the leaders’ persistence to lead the way. Resistances are natural and leaders can expect change to trigger defensiveness. Thus leaders do well to remind themselves that people care enough to express resistance. The alternatives to openly expressed resistance include the following: people do not care, they may fear what others might think of them or do to them, or they might believe that telling the truth is too difficult for others to hear. When encountering resistances of others, our default positions are often to use power to stamp out any signs of resistance, overwhelm others with reason and facts, simply ignore the resistance, play off relationships and make change a game, or give in too soon—denying the difficult but necessary choice. Leaders eventually learn, however, that default positions will likely increase the resistance. Therefore, it is more effective to go with the resistance in a way that takes others seriously and respectfully, that maintains the long view of open-ended change, and that looks for mutual gain with those who express different viewpoints.18 Asking honest questions—even when there are no easy answers—keeps the pressure on for people to be open to possibilities for that which God hopes to dream through God’s people in the most difficult of times.

Developmental, Transitional, and Transformational Change Some changes, such as 9/11, forever alter the ways we think about the world. Other changes are gradual. Some seem unimportant, and others are small increments that eventually add up to significant consequences such as global warming. Every congregation can look to specific

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 281

Transformational Change / 281

change events that altered the course of its own journey in transformative ways. Consider the following types of change on a continuum that you may recognize in your own life experiences and congregation: Revolutionary versus evolutionary Discontinuous versus continuous Episodic versus continuous flow Transformational versus transactional Strategic versus operational Total system versus local option19

The change descriptors on the left are more radical by nature with farreaching implications; the changes on the right are gradual and unrecognizable to many people except for those who remember the way things were earlier in the incremental stages. The terms that describe each continuum do not mean to suggest that conditions are mutually exclusive. However, the change strategies required in radical change are different from those in incremental change. Earlier we discussed the Sigmoid Curve that describes the life cycle phases of inception, growth, maturity, and decline. Paradoxically, the time to start a second growth curve is when the first curve is nearing its peak. The energy and resources are plentiful during the plateau of growth, but there is little motivation to change. Ironically, the motivation is inevitably stronger when the first curve is in decline, though change necessary for the second curve now takes a great deal of more effort. When organizations fail to prepare for the second growth curve, or should there be significant environmental changes that threaten the survival of a congregation and its ministries, the organization must now prepare itself for transformational change, which is fundamentally a spiritual journey. Change interventionist Linda Ackerman Anderson contrasts transformational change of a more radical nature with developmental and transitional change (see Table 16.3).20 Developmental and transitional changes take place within what could be described as the normal expectations of an organization as leaders improve what already exists in developmental change or as leaders address a significant problem in transitional change (see characteristics and examples below).

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 282

Table 16.3 Characteristics of Developmental, Transitional, and Transformational Change Types

Characteristics

Developmental

• Developmental change is a response to smaller shifts in the environment or the desire to practice continuous improvement. • There is a good fit between the organization’s mission and the environment, but minor adjustments are needed. • The improvement of skills, methods, performance standards, or a condition that does not measure up to best practices. The key change is to strengthen or to correct what exists by doing better or doing more of something. • The clarity of outcome is prescribed against an agreed-upon standard of best practices. • Assumptions: organizations are capable of making the necessary improvements through reason, resources, and training—and they are motivated to do so. • Examples: Provide training for small group leaders; adjust home group schedules for working parents; or apply best practices for financial management.

Transitional

• Transitional change is a response to more significant shifts in the environment. • A missional focus on how the congregation connects with major shifts in the environment. • Beyond improvement, transitional change replaces what currently exists with something that is substantially different and well defined. • The change is designed against an agreed-upon criterion for best practices. • Assumptions: people can let go of the present, visualize and desire something new, and move through a transition to get to the desired future. Though people see the need for change, there still may be resistance and the need to work through personal issues in transitional changes. • Three questions to consider: What aspects from the former/present need to carry over into the new? What aspects of the former/present need to be discarded? What aspects need to be created to ensure the success of the new? • Examples: Train congregants in pastoral care or spiritual direction; merge two congregations; start a church plant; reorganize a pastoral team; or create a new ministry.

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 283

Transformational Change / 283

Types

Characteristics

Transformational

• Transformational change is a radical shift from one state of being to another that requires a major shift in the assumptions by the entire organization, including leaders and congregation members. • The awareness exists of a mismatch between environmental changes and the organization’s ability to effectively relate to its environment. Thus there must be a “wake-up call” for a radical transformation within the congregation. This change is about survival—the organization must enter a change process and experience a breakthrough that is needed to pursue new opportunities or it will die. • The clarity of outcome is not initially known; rather it emerges through trial and error and continuous monitoring for any correction of course direction. • The stakes are high. A breakthrough is required in the people’s worldview and basic assumptions that will feel chaotic before a new order is discovered. • Examples: Address the systemic problems of diseases and poverty; effectively deal with deep-seated differences while maintaining unity within Protestant denominations; or reinvent dying congregations who find themselves adrift in irrelevancy.

Developmental change assessment questions: 1. Does change in your congregation and its ministries ask for an improvement in what you are already doing, or a radical change either with what you are doing or how you are doing it? 2. What knowledge, skills, performance, and communication are needed to carry out this change? 3. Does the current culture and mindset of the congregation support this change?21 Transitional change assessment questions: 4. Does change in your congregation and its ministries ask for you to dismantle your current way of doing things and replace it with something known but different? 5. As you begin this change process, do you have a clear, definitive picture of the new state after the change? 6. Is it realistic to view this change as taking place in a predetermined timetable?22 Transformational change assessment questions: 7. Do your congregation and its ministries need to begin the change journey before the destination is fully known and defined?

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 284

284 / Leading the Congregation

8. Must the congregation’s culture, mindset, and behaviors be fundamentally shifted in order to implement the significant change and arrive at the new state? 9. Must the congregation’s way of doing ministries, its leadership structure, technology, or policies and procedures radically change in order to connect with environmental shifts and new realities?23 Leaders do well to assess the conditions of their congregations and choose the appropriate change process, keeping in mind that transformational change is fundamentally a spiritual journey that may also include the implementation of developmental and transitional change.

Transformational Change Dean Anderson and Linda Ackerman Anderson describe transformational change as a process of a more profound nature. It begins with a series of wake-up calls during the height of success before beginning the journey of transformation through chaos, the death mindset that is forced to shift, and the organization’s re-emergence through visioning and learning (see Figure 16.4).24 Figure 16.4 Overview of Transformational Change

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 285

Transformational Change / 285

Congregations and new ministries are birthed with abundant energy and vision that carry them through reinforcing cycles of growth, which eventually lead to a comfortable plateau of success. But success does not last forever. A waning esprit de corps, a financial crisis, an aging congregation, a mass exodus of people leaving the church, or environmental shifts—such as a severe economic crisis within the community— are among the many normal rings of a wake-up call. At this point, leaders may ask themselves change assessment questions listed above to determine the change strategy. Wake-up Calls The following are four levels of wake-up calls as described by the personal change required, and the degree of awareness and skill to hear them (see Figure 16.5).25 Figure 16.5 Levels of Wake-Up Calls for Transformation

As the environment changes more radically, the former successful ways of doing things no longer meet the demands of change. Leaders who recognize that the status quo no longer is acceptable—and that something must change—most easily hear the level one wake-up call.

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 286

286 / Leading the Congregation

Beyond this, the level two wake-up call is a realization that transformation is needed, not developmental change (improvement of what currently exists) or transitional change (the new state is clearly in view). The level three wake-up call for leaders is that transformation requires new practices that are not currently done, which also requires change in the congregation’s culture and mindset. Business-as-usual leadership practices are not sufficient for transformational change. The level four wake-up call is the most radical and soul searching for leaders when they realize that they must change personally in order to effectively lead the congregation in transformational change. This requires a paradigmatic shift in the assumptions, mindset, and behaviors of leaders and the organizational culture that prepares the congregation to re-emerge into a new state of existence on the journey of transformation. As we have emphasized earlier, the fatal temptation for leaders is to give a deaf ear to the alarms, to “try harder” with earlier successes, or to treat wake-up calls with a technical quick fix rather than viewing the systemic nature of things. The greater the people’s anxiety surrounding change, the more they want clear-cut answers from leadership. However, what makes transformational change most challenging is that it calls for people themselves to change—their mindset, expectations, attitudes, and behaviors. It also requires people in the congregation to become less dependent upon leaders to rescue them, and instead partner with leaders on a journey that discovers new ways to rely upon Jesus Christ, the head of the body—and upon one another. Transformation begins when leaders “wake up to the alarm” that is deep and disturbing—deep because the change requires a letting go of cherished ways of doing things, and disturbing because the organization may be “forced out of business.” The costly irony is this: holding tightly to what we think will save us may ultimately sink us. Chaos, though not desired or welcomed, becomes a gift to the organization as it “shakes things loose” in order for people to come to grips with the difficult choices that become available in the experience of transformational change. Chaos Predictability and order are natural to a congregation’s existence within stable environments. But within transformational change, con-

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 287

Transformational Change / 287

gregations necessarily enter into the chaos of “disorder”—not being able to predict or control the future. One might view effectiveness in congregations as the capacity to live through periods of stability and instability, during crises and when all is well. But chaos theory does not see these characteristics as mutually exclusive. Rather the theory embraces the paradoxical combination of stability and instability. Margaret J. Wheatley probes this further when she writes, We have always thought that disorder was the absence of the true state of order, even as we constructed the word: dis-order. But is chaos an irregularity, or is order just a brief moment seized from disorder? Linear thinking demands that we see things as separate states: One needs to be normal, the other exceptional. Yet there is a way to see this ballet of chaos and order, of change and stability, as two complementary aspects in the process of growth, neither of which is primary.26

Congregations are among many types of organizations that spend much of their energy focused on order, control, and predictability. However, The principle of death and resurrection teaches us that when we are forced out of our comfort zone into disorder and instability, only then we begin to see that destructive forces potentially become the precondition for creativity and a new order. Wheatley explains, “The things we fear most in organizations—fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances—need not be signs of an impending disorder that will destroy us. Instead, fluctuations are the primary source of creativity. . . . These are new principles that highlight the dynamics between chaos and creativity, between disruptions and growth.”27 One can imagine what might have been said in the Jerusalem Council, and we know of the conflict and disorder surrounding the first several Ecumenical Councils that resulted in wellordered creeds—though no one at the time could necessarily control or predict the outcomes. The stories in the Gospels portray the disciples and others who were invited to experience chaos inherent within transformational change. Consider the parables that disrupted the disciples’ thinking as well as the assumptions of the religious leaders. For example, the Pharisees and their scribes were stuck in a paradigm that questioned why Jesus and his disciples would eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus responded to them with a parable:

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 288

288 / Leading the Congregation

No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, “The old is good.” (Luke 5:36b-39)

Chaos is familiar to the process of transformation in the Christian tradition, as are lessons learned in the experience of death. Death—Mindset Forced to Shift For many, death is the most difficult aspect of transformational change because we give up what we have worked so hard to create—our hopes, our efforts, our favorite ministries are finally surrendered to God. How difficult this is for leaders; after all, who wants to fail? But Jesus drove the point home when he said, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). The principle remains true that some things must die in order to bear fruit. The paschal mystery in the story of Jesus illustrates that the transforming power and wonder of his resurrected life could not take place without death’s painful chaos. Ronald Rolheiser illustrates the difference between terminal death and paschal death, between resuscitated life and resurrected life. While terminal death ends physical life, paschal death ends a certain kind of life in order to experience a new, deeper life. Lazarus was resuscitated and returned to his former life, while Jesus was resurrected to a new life that created new realities for his disciples and for the world.28 After the resurrection the early disciples let go of their expectations of being with Jesus in bodily form, and they soon experienced another chaos of Pentecost that unleashed the creative, loving empowerment of the Spirit to spread the good news of God’s love to the world. The paschal mystery is a paradigm for leaders and congregations who suffer in their grief of letting old dreams and successes die in order to remain open to the new possibilities offered by God. Re-emergence through Visioning and Learning During the uncertainty of transformational change, what remains constant is the congregation’s spirit—its fundamental purpose and core

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 289

Transformational Change / 289

values. This is the North Star that enables the congregation to navigate the troubled waters of deep change. Especially during chaos and the shifting mindset, people need to remember how the core purpose and values of the congregation partner with missio Dei without compromise. What is required of leaders who lead others in transformational change?

Proactive Leaders in Transformational Change Proactive leaders who lead others through transformational change are tuned into their own self-awareness, as well as the change dynamics taking place within the congregation and in the surrounding environments.

The Leader’s Conscious and Unconscious Awareness The degree of a leader’s awareness may be described as unconscious and reactive versus conscious and proactive.29 Unconscious, reactive leaders remain largely unaware of their own interior life that enables them to examine their intuition and spiritual discernment (see chapter 6). These leaders are personally invested in not identifying or addressing change. Instead they are content to remain in a “business as usual” comfort zone. The “autopilot” leadership may survive in stable environments, but not in organizations going through transformational change. The unconscious, reactive leadership motto is, “I can’t be responsible for what I do not know.” Conscious, proactive leaders, on the other hand, rely on personal intuition and seek to be intentional in their responsibilities. These leaders are self-reflective and seek to learn from others as well. They scan the environment and are curious to learn how major trends—political, social, economic, and religious—might connect to the changes within their congregation. Proactive leaders attempt to see the big picture dynamics at play between the organization and its environment, as well as the more subtle forces operating under the surface. Human intuition and curiosity— combined with a communal, spiritual discernment of God’s redeeming purpose in the world—work together to create a readiness for transformational change. Now consider Robert E. Quinn’s following change strategies: (1) telling people about change and why change is important; (2) forcing

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 290

290 / Leading the Congregation

people to change by using authority; (3) collaborating with others in a participating strategy; and (4) exploring the emergent realities in a transforming change.30

Change Strategies Normal change strategies31 assume there is stability in the expectations of people within the congregation. The internal dynamics of normal change patterns are predictable; thus leaders know what it will take to bring about a desired change. Two normal change strategies are telling and forcing: 1. Telling people about change and why the change is important. In preparation for change, leaders in a telling strategy make certain there is more-than-adequate information to educate the congregation by putting together a rationale for the change that addresses any potential resistances. It is assumed that a logical explanation with adequate information will meet any resistance and persuade others to support the change. 2. Forcing people to change by using authority to elicit compliance. Assuming people will resist the change, leaders use power and political leverage to coerce others to comply. A common example in congregations may be to remind others of pastoral authority; any “rebellious” members not willing to commit to the change are encouraged to find another congregation that better suits them. The forcing strategy evokes resistance, hurt feelings, ander and—most importantly—the erosion of trust. When we find ourselves engaged in power struggles, we do well to look at our own use of these normal change strategies. When we employ the normal strategies of telling or forcing others to change, we may assume more responsibility than is healthy or necessary, rather than sharing responsibility with others. An important question to ask is whether the people’s agreement to change is forced, manipulated, or a whole-hearted commitment. A third change strategy is participating: 3. The participating strategy is collaborative in welcoming the input of others through conversations—formal and informal—

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 291

Transformational Change / 291

regarding the change process. In doing so, leaders clarify values, expectations, and concerns. While this change process appears to enlist ownership in change efforts, an interesting dilemma occurs when participation does not produce necessarily good results—when people don’t “cooperate” or agree with the leaders’ direction. This happens when people are asked to participate—but feel the decision has already been made. Consequently people feel manipulated and wonder why they wasted their time participating in the conversations. Thus participatory change can still produce cynicism and loss of trust.32 For a variety of reasons leaders may choose the normal change strategies of telling and forcing, or perhaps the participating strategy. However, none of them adequately addresses the congregation whose journey is on the path of least resistance to “slow death,” characterized as follows: (1) the pervasiveness of “don’t rock the boat” culture, (2) the violation of trust, (3) the thirst for vision, and (4) burnout.33 The normal strategies of telling, forcing, or getting others to participate focus on the changes others must make, but transforming change focuses primarily on the deep change leaders must make within themselves. Thus, it remains the most difficult, and radically different from all others. 4. The transforming strategy explores the emergent change realities and examines the hypocritical gap that prevents the organization from becoming a productive community. This begins with the leader’s self-examination. Leaders of organizations who are caught up in the painful gap between what is and what is emerging may feel divided in powerlessness and guilt, which is also accentuated with denial. Deep change is based on moral courage and honest reflection that begins and ends within ourselves.34 The Christian story has always been about transformation that moves us outside our comfort zones—whether it be the Magnificat of Mary that expresses humble obedience and prophetic insight, the fundamental character change in Zacchaeus, the disciples’ grappling with the radical

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 292

292 / Leading the Congregation

nature of the kingdom of God before and after Jesus’ death, or the realization of the early church that its mission would dare to include Gentiles. The representative stories of deep change have continued to the present day, making visible God’s reconciling purpose for the world. The strategy of divine intent is transformative and comprehensive. In radically changing environments, congregations and non-profits may find themselves in what Quinn terms an emergent reality that threatens their celebrated accomplishments and ingrained assumptions. According to Quinn, the emergent reality also asks of the congregation to take the risk of pondering “what if,” of giving up control, and what he calls “plunging into the unknown . . . [and] walking naked into the land of uncertainty.”35 Thus the journey of transformation is one of vulnerability and dependency on God, whom we learn perhaps in new ways to trust, and to follow. Countless leaders have already taken this journey, and more will join them as leaders work with their congregations in learning the proactive disciplines that accompany change.

Proactive Disciplines of Change Leaders who desire to lead effectively their ministries and congregation through change do well to consider the proactive disciplines of excellence, innovation, and anticipation.36

Excellence Excellence requires a commitment to quality. The Apostle Paul wrote in a letter to the congregation at Colossae, “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters” (Col 3:23). Excellence is found in paying attention to the important things over and against the trivial and urgent matters that clamor for the leader’s attention. It is to be found when leaders (1) concentrate on the vision that establishes a compelling direction, (2) mobilize the people to achieve the vision, and (3) pay attention to the morale and motivation of those who do the work of the ministry. Excellence brings enormous benefit to the congregation in that it helps to maintain the esprit de corps of people involved in ministries. There are exceptions, but when one ministry team falls into a pattern of perform-

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 293

Transformational Change / 293

ing poorly, other groups likewise may lose their dedication to maintain best practices in ministry. But with high-quality ministry comes the increased sense of satisfaction and support among those for whom the ministry is carried on. The excellence of ministries whose members are enthusiastic can also launch the most dispirited congregation into a new stage of renewal—bringing systemic change throughout the entire congregation, not the least of which is that excellence changes people fully as much as it changes their ministries. Caring for others includes a commitment to excellence so that each person in the congregation is dedicated to engage in quality ministry. Without caring for one another, there can be no real and long-lasting commitment to quality. For example, if the worship leader does not care about the needs of his colleagues on the worship team, or for the deeply felt worship needs of the congregation, he may demand the highest quality from others, but the singers may sing without spirit when they know they are not valued by their leader, and the congregation may soon discern professionalism as a trade-off for authentic, heartfelt worship. Excellence requires that leaders take discipleship seriously. The ultimate test of discipleship is the quality of one’s disciples. Regrettably the path of least resistance is to teach about discipleship rather than disciple as Jesus did, which first and foremost was to be together in a purposeful community. Enthusiasm for doing quality ministry (whether volunteering for a summer camp, making a hospital visit, or serving in a community development non-profit) is caught as much as it is taught. A disciple learns by observing and following the example of the leader whom the disciple emulates as a ministry model. Thus excellence is first observed in the ministry of others, then decided as a standard for one’s own ministry, and then modeled by someone who demonstrates excellence in that area of ministry. Jesus knew and practiced these principles—and so his call to discipleship was “follow me.” Then, after the disciples had observed him sufficiently, he sent them out to try it on their own, always to return and to reflect on their own experiences. Thus they learned to be disciples and apostles. A fundamental key to discipleship is for the leader to demonstrate a commitment to total quality and to do one’s work with excellence—and then to call for total quality in the disciples’ efforts.

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 294

294 / Leading the Congregation

Innovation Innovation is searching for change, creating new ideas for ministries, and making change work for the good of the congregation. Innovation is doing better with what you have, and making something new out of existing resources, programs, and structures. It is the ability to let past successes die after they have lived their day in order to make room and release energies to grasp a new and better future. Innovation is a continual searching for the unexpected, whether good or bad, and using the new situation to leap ahead in exploiting the present and the future—it springs from a number of sources, which are summarized as follows: • The unexpected changes observed in successes, failures, and outside events; • The incongruity (or gap) between reality as it actually is and reality as it is assumed or as it ought to be; • Changes in society or the community that catch everyone unaware (for example, massive layoffs, increase in gang activity, housing bust or boom); and • Changes in demographics or changes in perceptions and attitudes, and so forth. Innovation is the “bubble up” principle, which is disarmingly simple; namely that leaders listen in order to discover what new ministry ideas are bubbling up throughout the congregation. When leaders begin to hear the same idea several times, they gather these people together to pray together and talk about their ideas. People soon discover if this is an idea whose time has come by the quality of their dialogue and the degree of commitment to their ideas. We know congregations who utilize this “bubble up” method to launch many of their ministries. The leaders regularly announce to the members of the congregation that if three or more persons have a vision for a new ministry, and when they have a plan, the congregation will support them in their ministry endeavors.37 Innovation is the principle of death and resurrection. God has created all things in such a manner that new life comes forth out of death. For this reason Easter is always preceded by Lent. This holds true for congregations as well. Yet many congregations and denominations forestall the

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 295

Transformational Change / 295

programs and ministries that promise new life, while they try to resuscitate programs and rites that exhibit every sign of readiness to die. Therefore, the ability to utilize the innovative principle of death and resurrection requires the leader to keep her eyes open—watch for programs that are trying to die, and then help them do so with dignity. On the other hand, keep your eyes open for ideas and ministries that are trying to be born—and whenever you discover one, encourage the birthing process. Innovation is seizing the unexpected and exploiting its potential for good. Leaders who participate in birthing something new—and who allow programs to die with celebration and dignity—participate in the ebb and flow of God’s leading. In many congregations, something may need to die in order for something new to be born. Perhaps leaders have little vision of what God wishes to birth through the congregation, because they spend most of their energy nursing dying ministries. According to Peter Drucker, the survival effort is exhausting. He writes, “ ‘Nothing requires more heroic efforts than to keep a corpse from stinking, and yet nothing is quite so futile’ is an old medical proverb. In almost any organization I have come across, the best people are engaged in this futile effort; yet all they can hope to accomplish is to delay acceptance of the inevitable a little longer and at great cost.”38 As we have said earlier, it is important to ask of every program ministry, “Knowing what we know now, would we launch this ministry today?” A strong reason for continued atrophy in many congregations and denominations is that vital resources and energies continue to be spent on maintaining life-support systems for comatose programs, agencies, markets, and their rituals. Innovation is capturing the opportunities that are present at the brink of death. Have you ever felt in your heart the words of Ezekiel as he gazed upon the congregation and pondered, “Can these dry bones live and breathe again?” Whatever else might be said about serving as a leader of a dying church, there is something freeing about the situation. When conditions are so bad that whatever you do can hardly make matters worse, you have arrived at the state of pure freedom. But to lay claim to this freedom, one must first name it, and candidly accept the situation for what it is. Many leaders and their congregations, however, deny the truth or ignore the conditions, going along as if every indicator were pointing forward. Such leaders are not really free. By not allowing themselves to feel the pain of perceived failure, they deny themselves the possibility

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 296

296 / Leading the Congregation

and freedom to succeed. If a church is dying, then name it for what it is, and then set about with abandon to see whether you might find the Golden Thread that holds the promise of breathing new life into the body. It can be done--maybe not always, but we will never know the odds if we don’t try. There is probably no time when a congregation is more open to innovation and entrepreneurial leadership than when it stands at the brink of death.

Anticipation Anticipation is the ability to view the congregation through its seasons of spiritual experience. In chapter 13 we described the pastor as the knower of the seasons who companions the congregation on its spiritual journey through Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Kingdomtide or Ordinary Time. Not all change pressing in upon the congregation is capricious. In fact, change—however chaotic and vulnerable—is fundamentally related to the Christian virtue of hope—the capacity to face the future with confidence in spite of the circumstances. God leads congregations with intentionality and design through changing seasons of experience. Thus each season provides a unique opportunity for the congregation to discern the Spirit’s leading on a journey with God and on fulfilling a divine purpose—not contrary to God’s desires for the congregation and its ministries. Failing to discern the season of God’s leading causes the congregation to swim against the tide of God’s desires for the congregation. Perhaps the most important discipline for this journey is to develop a discerning heart within oneself and the congregation. Leaders must learn to lead from the heart and the head; a precondition for this is a life resting on the means of grace that is sustained by periods of silence and reflection. Anticipation is the ability to employ discernment as a major process in decision-making. Akin to a discerning heart is the faithful decisionmaking method of discernment, or listening into the mind of God in order “to see through the essence of a matter.”39 Discernment is a faithful means of anticipating the seasons, the necessary changes, and the right direction for the congregation. The practice of solitude and silence opens up a time and space for those in a discernment process to reflect

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 297

Transformational Change / 297

on the current realities of the congregation and its ministries in light of the kingdom, and to imagine what God might be dreaming through them in their loving witness within their community, and beyond. The Latin root, discernere, means “to separate or distinguish,” whereas the Greek root, diakrisis, means “to test in crisis or to distinguish good and evil.”40 Anticipating how present issues may have important, future consequences assumes that God desires a relationship with us in the midst of difficult decisions—not leaving us alone or confused without the Divine Comforter.41 Thus discernment requires a clear understanding of the guiding principle (or mission) and pertinent issues at hand, and a precondition that members in the discernment process surrender their prejudgments about decision outcomes. Why? Because the most important assumption of group discernment is that God is willing and able to communicate God’s intentions to a discerning community, not only to selected individuals. But this will not happen without humility and personal preparation. To do this, individuals must trust each other enough, and believe that the Spirit can and will speak through the words of one another. Therefore it is necessary for people to fully listen to one another, anticipating that God’s will is discerned through praying together, searching the scriptures, theological reflection, and honest conversations (see Acts 15). Participants also do well when they remain open to creative epiphanies such as dream interpretations, prophetic witness, and other spiritual gifts.42 Even without an intentional discernment process, we have found it helpful when leaders create a space between formulating a problem and deciding how to solve it—allowing time out for a new perspective to emerge. The frame of mind necessary to formulate and analyze a problem is different from the creativity necessary to solve it. The two processes are different enough that most people cannot make the shift in the same meeting. Therefore, it may be more productive to do problem formulation in one meeting and decision-making at a later time. If this is not possible, we have discovered that even ten minutes between problem identification and decision-making can be helpful. In these conversations, we encourage the decision makers to be silent and listen for an answer or idea for a few minutes before sharing in conversation with others. The time is well worth it when groups engage in thirty days of silence, a period in which the decision makers do not discuss the matter among

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 298

298 / Leading the Congregation

themselves, or with anyone else. When we are working with groups in this process, we often provide the people with daily prayers, historical and contemporary readings, and a journaling method that all agree to follow during the period of prayerful listening. The agenda for the group after thirty days is to discuss what each individual experienced during the time in preparation for the dialogue concerning the discernment question. It has been our experience that, in virtually every instance, the group will come to a consensus without a formal vote. In sum, leaders set the tone for the conditions in which the congregation is encouraged and equipped to move into its future with excellence, innovation, and anticipation. Each of these proactive disciplines helps a congregation ripen in its readiness to embark on the second growth curve discussed earlier in the chapter, before it is too late. Leaders do well to ask themselves an important question: am I managing change, or being managed by it? The nature of change—especially the journey of transformation—is a difficult process. It requires letting go of what seems most precious in order to receive that which is most necessary. The journey is laden with risk, but who ever said leadership was not dangerous? There is nowhere God is absent, powerless or irrelevant; no situation in the universe in the face of which God is at a loss. Which is much the same as saying that there is no situation in which God is not to be relied upon.43 Rowan Williams

Questions for Reflection on Transformational Change 1. Does change paralyze or energize you, and your congregation? 2. Which resistances to change have you encountered more often? Which of these resistances characterize your own natural reaction to change? 3. How do you relate the Sigmoid curve to your own experience of change? 4. Can you give some examples that related to developmental and transitional changes? 5. Think of your own story related to transformational change. Do the steps identified in transformational change fit your own

BBMU004201QK016.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:47 PM

Page 299

Transformational Change / 299

experience—wake-up calls, chaos, death, and the re-emergence of visioning and learning? What were the results in your story? Was anything from your story missing in the model? What would you do differently? 6. How does Rolheiser’s concept of the paschal mystery relate to your experience of change? Does Brueggemann’s model in the Psalms relate to your story? 7. Which of the change strategies have you seen implemented— telling, forcing, or participating? Do you agree with the criticism of participating that people can feel manipulated? Is it still worth trying, even if your mind is made up and you desire people to have a voice? 8. Explain how the leader’s deep, personal change relates to the transforming strategy of change. 9. Of the three proactive disciplines of excellence, innovation, and anticipation, which of these have you seen most often implemented? Which are most natural to your own leadership?

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 300

Epilogue

On Finishing Well Many voices speak in the church today at a superficial level. They speak of how our personal needs may be met, or of patching up the old ship so that it sails as it did before in the sea of culture. . . . But the poet hears voices at a deeper level. . . . The poet knows that these are cries for something more than self-development or techniques of success; they are cries that long to be connected to a Word that calls them beyond themselves into a place of belonging that God gives within a people.1 Alan J. Roxburgh

Swinging on a Hinge of History

L nity and in what many are calling the post-Christian and posteading a congregation may become more challenging in postmoder-

denominational age. The shifts taking place in the twenty-first century are not ordinary but epic. Perhaps as far as the North American church is concerned, only four times in the history of Christianity have the changes equaled those we now experience in the twenty-first century: the genesis of the Apostolic Church, the founding of Christendom, the Reformation, and Vatican Council II in the Roman Catholic Church. The current generation of religious leaders guides a church that swings on a hinge of history with many congregations being forced to lay aside their aging vestiges once associated with Christendom. They may either ride out the present trajectory to the very end, or by waiting on God, respond to a wake-up call that partners with the Spirit in the world. God’s call was to bless Abraham—who was 75 years old at the time—so that Abraham would bless others (Gen 12:2). Likewise, countless numbers of women and men over the centuries have been summoned and sent out to bless others in the world as a continuing witness of God’s redeeming love. However, each era presents new challenges. Christendom’s assumption that the masses would fall in line with an allegiance to the church 300

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 301

Epilogue / 301

has changed significantly to include growing numbers who resist becoming a market niche for organized religion, another sign of Christendom’s waning influence. Increasing numbers of people who are representing a widening generational gap have given up on institutionalized religion, often pointing to its irrelevance and the hypocrisy of those whose public claims to faith belie their private actions. An empirical study observed that the perspective of people outside the Christian faith is this: “for many people the Christian faith looks weary and threadbare. They admit they have a hard time actually seeing Jesus because of all the negative baggage that now surrounds him.”2 The church is at its best in faithfully proclaiming the good news “when it extends the hospitality of Jesus Christ to the stranger, the lonely, the lost, and the outcast.”3 Thus a simple definition of church mission includes the reality of Christ’s redeeming presence: when people forgive others in spite of deep hurts, where hope is offered in the midst of human suffering, when a new church is planted, where a social ill is addressed through systemic change, or when someone’s life is turned around by a conversion experience. These benchmarks and many others offer a tangible witness of the church as a signpost of God’s reign here and now. Loren Mead describes the deepening sense of purpose for a growing number of congregations when he writes: We no longer look at the world for the gaps, so that we, in mission, can take God to where God is not now. Instead, we look at the world as the arena in which God’s care and love are already, everywhere, at work. We do not take mission out; we go out to meet the mission already there. We look for the places to which we are called to take our place in that larger, ongoing mission. . . . We can see the loving, judging, life-giving concern of God for the whole of the created order.4

The changes necessary for transforming a life, a congregation, or a community cannot be prescribed on specific terms. However, the foremost requirements for a healthy, vigorous congregation are leaders who have embraced deep change, whose lives have been transformed by the good news of the gospel, and who will not hesitate to give personal witness to their experience. How we may respond to the future is our choice. We may fear to encounter uncertainties of the future and bury our talents in the ground

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 302

302 / Epilogue

of our own despair for safekeeping. We may give into our anxiety by filling up our lives with trivia and urgencies that bear little if any resemblance to kingdom priorities. Or finally we may by faith stretch beyond our own abilities and allow God to do what God wills through us, and our commitment to faithful ministry. The choice is ours—whether to merely finish, or to finish well.

Striving to Finish Well Several years ago, the president of a Christian college said to us, “I will be fifty-five in November, and I would like to ‘finish well.’ I want to leave a better church in my trail.” The question remains for each of us: What will it take to finish well? The story of the two sons in Luke 15:11-32 describes two very different journeys. One son journeyed to the fields and back as he had done for years; the other son journeyed to uncharted territory where he squandered everything he had in self-indulgent living. At the end of the day, both sons returned to the same place, but how different their experiences of the homecoming. At the end of the day, the son who had faithfully labored in the fields returned angry, resentful, and feeling unappreciated— with strings attached regarding his devotion to his father. The other son returned home open to whatever might happen to him; he experienced the joy of feeling loved and welcomed. How different were their responses to the same destination. One son lost his fortune though it was placed securely in his hands while the other never “owned” his fortune though it was within his grasp every day. Henri Nouwen probes the interior life of the two brothers with penetrating questions: “Can the elder son in me come home? Can I be found as the younger son was found? How can I return when I am lost in resentment, when I am caught in jealousy, when I am imprisoned in obedience and duty lived out in slavery. . . . I can only be healed from above, from where God reaches down. What is impossible for me is possible for God.”5 Our journeys shape the interior attitudes that determine whether or not we finish well. It is sobering to think one could labor faithfully each day and come home disappointed, resentful, and not willing to enter into the celebration. The pain is real for some after a lifetime of faithful service. Did we do enough? Could we have done things differently? Why didn’t things happen as we had hoped? Why did things happen as we

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 303

Epilogue / 303

had not expected? Our story told through these questions affords us the opportunity for spiritual growth. How we define the “bottom line” is not as important as what we do with what we have, living in a conscious relationship with Christ, and remembering that one day each one of us will give an account of our stewardship (Luke 16; Matt 25). But in the accounting God is not the bookkeeper; we are—according to Robert Farrar Capon, who points out: “The only bookkeeper in the parable is the servant who decided he had to fear a nonexistent audit and who therefore hid his one talent in the ground.”6 There is no need to fear God because of our own disappointment in our bottom-line results. As Capon notes, “The servant with the little shovel and his mousy apprehension that God is as small as himself is such a nerd! He is just one more of the pitiful turkeys that Jesus parades through his parables to shock us, if possible, into recognizing the stupidity of unfaith.”7 There will be an accounting for the charism God has given each of us in our call to ministry. But it will likely not be as we imagine. In the treasure chest of the Rabbi stories lies this anecdote: A man one day approached a Rabbi and asked, “What will the day of judgment be like?” The Rabbi gazed upon the man and said, “On the day of your judgment God will look at you and ask, ‘What difference has your life on earth made? Did you enjoy the world I gave you? Did you take good care of your neighbors?’ This,” said the Rabbi, “is what judgment is like.” To finish well means that we must decide today our responses to questions such as these—and then spend the rest of our days making our responses come true. About beginning and finishing, Paul plies two themes. First is the theme of running. He often describes the Christian life and ministry as a race, and of this he says: “Run in such a way that you may win . . . exercise self-control . . . do not run aimlessly . . . so that after proclaiming to others [you] should not be disqualified” (1 Cor 9:24-27). To the Galatians, he writes: “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you?” (Gal 5:7 NIV). Second, Paul utilizes the theme of forgetting: “But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind . . . I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14). We are called to run, and to win. The race is difficult. So we have written to encourage you and ourselves to keep running and forgetting. Forget the paltry failures and deep disappointments. Forget the grand

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 304

304 / Epilogue

accomplishments and public acclaim. Written between the lines of Paul’s words is the eternal promise of God’s grace ever given—that we may run well, that we may lay down the memories that keep old wounds open, past failures stinging, and willful pride unbending—that we may, unencumbered, press on toward the prize that is inherent in our calling. What is this prize? It can be nothing less or more than hearing the words of the One who called us to our vocations, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come in.”

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 305

Notes

1. The Dangers of Leading 1. Leaders who possess the courage to do the right thing and who take on adaptive challenges can expect resistance and the dangers that come with the territory, such as “getting marginalized, diverted, attacked, or seduced. . . . when people resist adaptive work, their goal is to shut down those who exercise leadership in order to preserve what they have” (see Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading [Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002], 30). 2. Darrell L. Guder, ed., The Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1998), 46. 3. Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters (New York: HarperPerennial, 1982), 52. 4. See Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), ix. 5. Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, 52–53. 6. Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens: A Provocative Christian Assessment of Culture and Ministry for People Who Know That Something Is Wrong (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 43. 7. Heifetz and Linsky, Leadership on the Line. 8. N. T. Wright, Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1996), 43. 9. For a reflection on the temptations of Jesus and the application for Christian leaders, see Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York: Crossroad, 1991). 10. Kieran Kavanaugh, John of the Cross: Selected Writings (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), 57. 11. Ibid., 197. 12. Urban T. Holmes III, Spirituality for Ministry (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982), 43. 13. There is no denial of the leader’s individual responsibility for behaviors, but is it possible that systemic issues and unreal expectations within the local congregation build the pedestal from which leaders can too easily fall? 14. George S. Odiorne further illustrated this point: “Churches become enmeshed with covered-dish suppers and basketball leagues—activities generating little other than indigestion and fault feet. . . . Service clubs spend more and more time exhorting members to ‘support this activity’ with no hint of a worthwhile payoff.” Odiorne, The Human Side of Management by Integration and Self-Control (Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath and Company, 1998), 56–57. 15. Derek J. Tidball, Skillful Shepherds: An Introduction to Pastoral Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Ministry Resources Library, 1986), 314–15. 16. The desert fathers and mothers left their homes in cities after Christianity was adopted as the state religion in the fourth century, and it was no longer dangerous to be a Christian. Seeing how this change of status brought new temptations in the lives of Christians and churches, the desert fathers and mothers fled to the desert in order to confront the powers of evil there. Their warning was “swim for your life,” and with this, they began a movement of spiritual devotion that continues to influence “Christian spirituality and its practice. 17. Holmes, Spirituality for Ministry, 35, 60. 18. Gale D. Webbe, The Night and Nothing (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1964), 80. 19. Thus, the dangers of preserving an institution for its own sake are multiple. While seasoned pastors may have learned to acquiesce to the implicit expectations and financial security of institution building and their activity traps, the vision for managing the status quo does not appeal to young leaders. This danger for churches is that the trend of aging clergy has already created a leadership vacuum of significant scope—especially in

305

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 306

306 / Notes to Pages 11–20 churches that exist to preserve what was and is, rather than expanding into what could be. Which is more dangerous? The answer is self-evident. According to sociologist Patricia M. Y. Chang, in her study “Factors Shaping Clergy Careers: A Wakeup Call for Protestant Denominations and Pastors,” the data suggest that roughly 35 percent of graduates will not find a vocational role in the local church within two years after seminary. While some take on secular employment until a position opens up, those seminary graduates who do find jobs in the church will find themselves in the most challenging circumstances with smaller memberships and tighter budgets. See http://www.pulpitandpew.duke.edu/clergycareers.pdf, 2. 20. Heifetz and Linsky, Leadership on the Line, 12. 21. Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (New York: Paulist Press, 1977, 2005), 5. 22. Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones, Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? What It Takes to Be an Authentic Leader (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006), 213. 23. Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993), 119. 24. For several excellent references for studying leadership from a social science perspective, see John Antonakis, Anna T. Cianciolo, and Robert J. Sternberg, eds., The Nature of Leadership (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2004); Roger Gil, Theory and Practice of Leadership (London: Sage Publications, 2006); Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2010); and Gary Yukl, Leadership in Organizations (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, 2002, 1998, 1994, 1989). 25. Carole E. Becker, Leading Women: How Church Women Can Avoid Leadership Traps and Negotiate the Gender Maze (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 23. Also see Becoming Colleagues: Women and Men Serving Together in Faith (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000). 26. N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: Harper One, 2008), 269.

Part One: Leading from Within 1. C. Welton Gaddy, A Soul Under Siege (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991), 30. 2. Ronald Rolheiser, The Shattered Lantern: Rediscovering a Felt Presence of God (New York: Crossroad, 2004), 50. 3. James M. Hoppin, Pastoral Theology (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1885), 8. 4. Michael E. Cavanagh, The Effective Minister (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), 1. 5. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Spiritual Care (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1985), 45.

2. The Interior Attitudes of the Leader 1. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. (New York: Paulist Press, 1979), 53. 2. Carlo Carretto, The God Who Comes (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1974), 6–7. 3. This passion goes beyond personal ambition to a pure desire to follow Christ as witnessed by the disciples in their walk with him to Emmaus: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32). 4. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, 14. 5. Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey toward an Undivided Life (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 7. 6. Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer (New York: Crossroad, 1999), 22. 7. Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York: Crossroad, 1989, 2002), 20. 8. For a leadership application of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness (Matthew 4), see Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus (New York: Crossroad, 1989, 2002); and M. Scott Peck, A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered (New York, Bantam Books, 1993). 9. In Matthew 19, children were being brought to Jesus for his blessing, and the disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them. Jesus intercepted and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” (Matt 19:14).

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 307

Notes to Pages 21–32 / 307 10. Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming (New York: Image Books, 1992), 53. 11. Haddan Willmer lecture on “Child Theology and the Kingdom of God” at Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford, England, January 25, 2005. 12. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son, 54, 55. 13. Joyce Rupp, May I Have This Dance (South Bend, Ind.: Ave Marre Press, 1992), 96. 14. For an excellent discussion, see Louis Beirhaert, “Childlike Spirituality and Infantilism,” in Robert W. Gelason, ed., Contemporary Spirituality (New York: Macmillan, 1968), 270–77. 15. Michael Quoist, Prayers (Lanham, Md: Sheed & Ward, an imprint of Rowman & Littefield Publishers, Inc., 1963, 1991, 1999), 3–4. 16. See Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998), 76. 17. A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1888), 195. 18. Carlo Carretto, Letters to Dolcidia (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991), 19, 25. 19. Ibid., 62. 20. Ibid. 21. Ibid., 70. 22. Ibid., 57. 23. Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation (New York: A New Directions Book, 1961), 181. 24. Ibid., 180, 188. 25. Ibid., 190. 26. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1937, 1973), 118. 27. Richard J. Foster, Freedom of Simplicity (New York: Harper & Row, 1981), 81. 28. See Henri J. M. Nouwen, “The Selfless Way of Christ,” Sojourners 26 (July 1981): 26. 29. Carlo Carretto, Letters to Dolcidia, 50–51. 30. Rupert Hart-Davis, Hugh Walpole: A Biography (New York: Macmillian, 1952). 31. Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (New York: Paulist Press, 1977, 2005), 13–14. 32. Ibid. 33. Carlo Carretto, Why, O Lord? (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1987), 45. 34. W. K. C. Guthrie, Socrates (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1971), 151. 35. Marjorie J. Thompson, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life (Louisville: Westminster/ John Knox Press, 1995), 91. 36. Ibid. 37. After Gideon’s successful victory over the Midianites, the people of Israel wanted him, his son, and his grandson to “rule over” them. Gideon replied that neither he nor his son would “rule over” them because only God should “rule over” them. However, Gideon did make a request of them to give him a portion of their booty—fortythree pounds of earrings and royal garments and camel collars—from the conquest (see Judges 8:24-28). The biblical judges, including Gideon, were leaders often during a particular crisis and, afterward, leadership would return to tribal leaders. While Gideon did not respond to an invitation from the people to rule over them for three succeeding generations, he did choose gifts from the booty that became idolatry for him. Perhaps power was not Gideon’s weakness, but material possessions were. 38. See Theodore G. Tappert, ed. and trans., Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 124–30. 39. John T. McNeill and Ford Lewis Battles, eds., Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955), 35, 37. 40. See Steve Harper, Devotional Life in the Wesleyan Tradition (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1983), 18–27. 41. Thomas Oden, Becoming a Minister (New York: Crossroad, 1987), 12. 42. See C. Welton Gaddy, A Soul Under Siege (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991), 11.

3. The Leader’s Spirituality 1. Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Living Reminder: Service and Prayer in Memory of Jesus Christ (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco), 12.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 308

308 / Notes to Pages 32–48 2. Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island (New York: A Harvest/HBJ Book, 1955), ix–x. 3. Anthony Bloom, Beginning to Pray (New York: Paulist Press, 1970), 30. 4. See M. Robert Mulholland, Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 15. 5. Nouwen, The Living Reminder, 12. 6. Henri J. M. Nouwen, Gracias! A Latin American Journal (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), 44. 7. Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1956, 1958, 1982), 35. 8. William R. Nelson, Ministry Formation for Effective Leadership (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1988), 19. 9. Eugene H. Peterson, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1987), 1, 4. 10. John Wesley, Standard Sermons (London: Epworth, 1067), vi, as quoted by Steve Harper, Devotional Life in the Wesleyan Tradition (Nashville: Upper Room, 1983), 29. 11. Jon Telford, ed., The Letters of the Rev. John Wesley (London: Epworth, 1960), 103, as quoted by Steve Harper, Devotional Life in the Wesleyan Tradition, 11. 12. See Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 4. 13. Nouwen, Gracias! A Latin American Journal, 12. 14. Ibid. 15. Ibid., 40. 16. Carlo Carretto, Letters to Dolcidia (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991), 116. 17. Walter Brueggemann, Cadences of Home: Preaching Among Exiles (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1997), 10. 18. Ibid., 20. 19. See M. Scott Peck, A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered (New York: Bantam Books, 1993), 248–61. 20. Ibid., 249. 21. Thomas Keating, Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation (New York: Continuum, 1992, 2003), 130. 22. Thomas Keating, Intimacy with God: An Introduction to Centering Prayer (New York: A Crossroad Book, 1994), 84–85. 23. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriguez, O.D.C. (New York: Paulist Press, 1979), 24. 24. Henri J. M. Nouwen, Clowning in Rome (New York: Doubleday, 1979), 70. 25. William Johnston, ed., The Cloud of Unknowing and the Book of Privy Counseling (Garden City, N.Y.: An Image Book, 1973), 64. 26. Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 167. 27. Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998), 196. 28. John Wesley found the Lord’s Supper so important to the minister’s life and work that he taught that every pastor should take the Lord’s Supper as often as possible, at least twice a week. He also taught that every Christian should eat the meal as often as possible, at least once a week. 29. Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2004), 156–57. 30. Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 177. 31. Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2006), 220. 32. See Parker J. Palmer, The Active Life: A Spirituality of Work, Creativity, and Caring (San Francisco: JosseyBass, 1990). 33. Ibid., 9–10. 34. Ibid., 10–11. 35. Ibid., 17. 36. See Keating, Intimacy with God; and Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening (Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley Publications, 2004). 37. Palmer, The Active Life, 17.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 309

Notes to Pages 48–60 / 309 38. Ibid., 18. 39. Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1989), 60–71. 40. Carretto, Letters to Dolcidia, 88. 41. Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey toward an Undivided Life (San Francisco: JosseyBass, 2006), 55. 42. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (New York: Harper and Bros., 1954), 77–78. 43. Walter Brueggemann, “Covenantal Community,” New Conversations 2, 3 (Winter 1977): 4–9. Published by The United Church Board for Homeland Ministries. 44. L. Gregory Jones, “Friends,” The Christian Century (June 27, 2006): 31. 45. Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters (New York: HarperPerennial, 1992), 19. 46. M. Robert Mulholland Jr., The Deeper Journey: The Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 74. 47. Henri J. M. Nouwen, Creative Ministry (Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1971), xix. 48. See J. H. Howett, The Preacher: His Life and Work (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1928), 103. 49. Much of our thinking on this subject is from George A. Aschenbrenner, “Consciousness Examen,” Review for Religious 31 (1972): 14–21. 50. At first this practice of one or two fifteen-minute contemplative prayers each day may seem sterile or artificial. Integrating ourselves into a process of discernment is not always easy. It takes time and practice. 51. Fredrick C. Gill, Through the Year with Wesley (Nashville: The Upper Room, 1983), 48. 52. Aschenbrenner, “Consciousness Examen,” 15. 53. Aschenbrenner identifies the dangers of empty or unhealthy introspection. However, “a lack of effort at examen and the approach of living according to what comes naturally keeps us quite superficial and insensitive to the subtle and profound ways of the Lord deep in our hearts. The prayerful quality and effectiveness of the examen itself depends upon its relationship to the continuing contemplative prayer of the person. Without this relationship examen slips to the level of self-reflection for self-perfection, if it perdures at all.” Aschenbrenner, “Consciousness Examen,” 15. 54. Ibid., 17. 55. Ibid. 56. John Wesley listed general questions that a serious Christian may propose before evening devotions: “1. With what degree of attention and fervor did I use my morning prayers, public or private? 2. Have I done anything without a present, or at least a previous perception of its direct or remote tendency to the glory of God? 3. Did I in the morning consider what particular virtue I was to exercise, and what business I had to do, in the day? 4. Have I been zealous to undertake, and active in doing, what good I could? 5. Have I interested myself in the affairs of others than charity required? 6. Have I, before I visited or was visited, considered how I might thereby give or receive improvement? 7. Have I mentioned any failing or fault of any man, when it was not necessary for the good of another? 8. Have I unnecessarily grieved anyone by word or deed? 9. Have I before or in every action considered how it might be a means of improving in the virtue of the day?” (79). Wesley offered the following questions on Monday morning: “Did I think of God first and last? Have I examined myself how I behaved since last night’s retirement? Am I resolved to do all the good I can this day, and to be diligent in the business of my calling?” (82). Frank Whaling, ed., John and Charles Wesley: Selected Prayers, Hymns, Journal Notes, Sermons, Letters and Treatises (New York: Paulist Press, 1981), 79, 82. 57. Aschenbrenner, “Consciousness Examen,” 19. 58. Whaling, John and Charles Wesley, 80. 59. Joseph A. Tetlow, S.J., Choosing Christ in the World: A Handbook for Directing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola According to Annotations Eighteen and Nineteen (Saint Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1999), 3.

4. The Leader’s Call 1. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriguez, O.D.C. (New York: Paulist Press, 1979), 194. 2. William Stafford, “Ask Me” in Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening to the Voice of Vocation (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000), 2.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 310

310 / Notes to Pages 60–82 3. Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, 2–10. Thomas Kelley probes the mystery of the inner life when he writes: “Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is in our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny.” See A Testament of Devotion, 52. 4. See Mark D. Constantine, Travelers On The Journey: Pastors Talk About Their Lives And Commitments (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2005), 90–91. 5. Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing: The Search for Christian Spirituality (New York: Doubleday, 1999), 11. 6. David L. Fleming, S.J., Draw Me Into Your Friendship: The Spiritual Exercises (Saint Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Resources, 1996), 117. 7. Kelley, A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper and Bros., 1941), 52. 8. Fleming, Draw Me Into Your Friendship, 119. 9. Ibid. 10. See Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1937, 1973), 105. 11. Ibid., 41. 12. Constantine, Travelers on the Journey, 28. 13. The seven sacraments are Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Confession, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Marriage. 14. Søren Kierkegaard writes: “What a tremendous paradox faith is, a paradox which is capable of transforming a murder into a holy act well-pleasing to God, a paradox which gives Isaac back to Abraham, which no thought can master, because faith begins precisely there where thinking takes off” (Fear and Trembling [Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1954], 64). 15. Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 87. 16. Macrina Wiederkehr, A Tree Full of Angels (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988), 18. 17. Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 99. 18. Ibid., 40. 19. Nikos Kazantzakis, The Saviours of God: Spiritual Exercises, trans. Kimon Friar (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1960), 107–8. 20. Kelley, A Testament of Devotion, 117. 21. Carlo Carretto, The God Who Comes (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1974), 22. 22. J. Pelikan and H. T. Lehmann, eds., Luther’s Works (St. Louis: Concordia, 1953), 12–13. 23. Evelyn Underhill, The Spiritual Life (Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehouse, 1937, 1938, 1955), 29–30. 24. James E. Dittes, When the People Say No: Conflict and the Call to Ministry (New York: Harper & Row, 1979), vii. 25. Carlo Carretto, Letters to Dolcidia (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1974), 36. 26. See Edmund Colledge and James Walsh, trans., Julian of Norwich Showings (New York: Paulist Press, 1978), 242–47 from The Classics of Western Spirituality series.

5. The Leader’s Vision and Ensuing Mission 1. Edward Hays, In Pursuit of the Great White Rabbit: Reflections on a Practical Spirituality (Leavenworth, Kan.: Forest of Peace Books, 1990), 12. 2. Ibid. 3. Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998), 106. 4. William F. Lynch, Images of Hope (New York: New American Library, Mentor), 110. 5. Joan Chittister, Seeing with Our Souls: Monastic Wisdom for Every Day (Lanham, Md.: Sheed & Ward, 2002), 9. 6. To understand just how unthinkable one’s vision and mission may seem to others, and how resisted, imagine a fourteen-year-old girl in your congregation who reveals that she is pregnant, and who claims that the father of her unborn child is God. Think how Mary’s neighbors must have reacted to her vision described in Luke 1:46-55. 7. Norman Shawchuck, Managing the Congregation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 76.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 311

Notes to Pages 83–97 / 311 8. David L. Fleming, Modern Spiritual Exercises: A Contemporary Reading of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1983), 48–49. 9. Robert K. Greenleaf, “Ministry to the Strong,” in Anne T. Fraker and Larry C. Spears, eds., Seeker and Servant: Reflections on Religious Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996), 251.

6. The Interplay of Light and Shadow 1. Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer (New York: Doubleday, 1972), 37–38. 2. Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000), 78. 3. Barbara Kellerman, Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005), xiii. 4. See Barbara L. Fredrickson, “Positive Emotions and Upward Spirals in Organizations” in Kim S. Cameron, Jane E. Dutton, and Robert E. Quinn, eds., Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a New Discipline (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003), 163. 5. Robert Banks, Paul’s Idea of Community (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994, 1998), 15–20. 6. For an introduction into discernment, see chapter 12, “Guidance,” in Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988); Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999); David L. Fleming, S.J., Draw Me into Your Friendship: The Spiritual Exercises (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Resources, 1996); and Joseph A. Tetlow, S.J., Choosing Christ in the World: Directing The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola According to Annotations Eighteen and Nineteen (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Resources, 1999). 7. Traditional church teaching identifies the cardinal sins as pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust. 8. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters and Screwtape Proposes a Toast (Westwood, N.J.: Barbour and Company, Inc., 1961), 20–21. 9. Karen Horney, Our Inner Conflicts: A Constructive Theory of Neurosis (New York: W.W. Norton, 1945, 1992), 32. 10. James A. Ritscher, “Spiritual Leadership,” in John D. Adams, gen. ed.. Transforming Leadership: From Vision to Results (Alexandria, Va.: Miles River Press, 1986), 61. 11. It is also true that leaders can become prey of the dysfunctional congregation, living within the frustration and confusion of the congregation’s multiple shadows. 12. Parker J. Palmer, “Leading from Within: Out of the Shadow, into the Light,” in Jay Conger & Associates, Spirit at Work: Discovering the Spirituality in Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994), 24. 13. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, 85–91. 14. Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited (Boston: Beacon Press, 1949, 1976), 50, 53. 15. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, 88. 16. Ibid. 17. Ibid., 89–90. 18. Ibid., 90. 19. Ibid. 20. Ibid., 81. 21. The difference between neurotic and normal is one of degree on a continuum. See Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, Organizational Paradoxes (London: Tavistock Publications, 1980); Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries and Danny Miller, The Neurotic Organization: Diagnosing and Changing Counterproductive Styles of Management (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984); Unstable at the Top: Inside the Troubled Organization (New York: New American Library, 1987); Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, Prisoners of Leadership (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1989). 22. Kets De Vries, Prisoners of Leadership, 9. 23. See Kets de Vries and Miller, Unstable at the Top, 13. 24. Manfred Kets de Vries, The Leadership Mystique (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Financial Times Press, 2001), 148. 25. Ibid., 149. 26. Ibid., 152–53. 27. Ibid., 154.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 312

312 / Notes to Pages 98–110 28. Ibid., 157. 29. Ibid., 161. 30. Manfred Kets de Vries did not cite a dramatic conversion of the leader for organizational turnarounds. See The Leadership Mystique, 163. 31. Robert E. Quinn, Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996), 3. 32. St. John of the Cross made a helpful distinction between “dark night of the senses” and “dark night of the soul.” Very few people experience the dark night of the soul whereas most people will experience the dark night of the senses, a condition when our intellect and emotions no longer provide an avenue to an awareness of God as they once did. Thus God is inviting us into a more profound, intimate relationship with God. See Kieran Kavanaugh, ed., John of the Cross: Selected Writings (New York/Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1987); John of the Cross: Doctor of Light and Love (New York: Crossroad, 1999); and Thomas Dubay, Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel on Prayer (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989). 33. M. Robert Mulholland Jr., The Deeper Journey: The Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 80–81. 34. Marjorie J. Thompson, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1995, 2005), 90–91. 35. Ibid., 90. 36. Paul V. Robbs, S.J., “Conversion as a Human Experience,” in Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits Vol, XIV, No. 3 (St. Louis: American Assistancy, 1982), 7, 10.

7. Discerning Priorities, Making Choices 1. Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith (New York: HarperOne, 2006), 5. 2. Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989), pp. 31, 33. 3. Evelyn Underhill, The Ways of the Spirit (New York: Crossroad, 1990), 217. 4. Taylor, Leaving Church, 44. 5. Jackson W. Carroll, God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2006), 100. 6. Edwin H. Friedman, Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue (New York: Guilford Press, 1985), 3. 7. Carroll, God’s Potters, 96. 8. Taylor, Leaving Church, 75. 9. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus, 19–20. 10. Ibid., 22. 11. See the l’Arche Daybreak website, www.larchedaybreak.com. 12. See Robert E. Quinn, Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996), 59–60. 13. Ibid. 14. Dee Hock, Birth of the Chaordic Age (San Francisco: Berrett-Hoehler Publishers, 1999), 52. 15. Ibid. 16. See Donald O. Clifton and Edward “Chip” Anderson, StrengthsQuest: Discover and Develop Your Strengths in Academics, Career, and Beyond (Washington, D.C.: The Gallup Organizations, 2001–2002), 6. Also see Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn, Healing the Purpose of Your Life (New York: Paulist Press), 1999. 17. Lloyd C. Douglass, The Minister’s Everyday Life (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1926), 32. 18. The above discussion is influenced by notes taken of a lecture of Peter Drucker at a conference for clergy in 1989. 19. Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (New York: Doubleday Currency, 1990), 64. 20. See chapter 8 in Thomas Keating, Intimacy with God (New York: Crossroad, 1994). 21. James Glasse observes that in every congregation there is a unique set of things a pastor must do. When the pastor pays attention to these things, then the congregation will allow him or her to pursue the priorities. By

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 313

Notes to Pages 110–30 / 313 doing these few things the pastor is paying the rent, and when the rent is paid the congregation will go along with, and even support, the pastor’s use of his or her remaining time. See Putting It Together in the Parish (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972). 22. Don M. Frick and Larry C. Spears, eds., On Becoming a Servant Leader: The Private Writings of Robert K. Greenleaf (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996), 192. 23. Ibid. 24. Ibid., 193. 25. Richard A. Swenson, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1992), 13–14. 26. Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989), 150–56. 27. Ibid., 151. 28. Frick and Spears, On Becoming a Servant Leader, 302–3. 29. Henri J. M. Nouwen, “Time Enough to Minister,” Leadership Journal (Spring 1982): 105.

8. Team Ethos 1. Richard S. Ascough and Sandy Cotton, Passionate Visionary: Leadership Lessons from the Apostle Paul (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Novalis, St. Paul University, 2005), 81. 2. Ibid., 82–83. 3. The world would be very different—for radically different reasons—without “hero” leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Florence Nightingale, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin. 4. Ascough and Cotton, Passionate Visionary, 90. 5. Consider the unprecedented sales of Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life—the subtitle is “What on Earth Am I Here For?” (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002). 6. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, Leadership from Inside Out: Spirituality and Organizational Change (New York: Crossroad, 2004), 163. 7. Patrick Lencioni believes that questions around personal histories are proven ways to build trust on teams in all types of organizations. See The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (San Francisco: JosseyBass, 2002), 198. 8. Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002), 53–54. 9. Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones, Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? What It Takes to Be an Authentic Leader (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006), 13. 10. Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold Leavitt, Hot Groups: Seeding Them, Feeding Them & Using Them to Ignite Your Organization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), xiv. 11. Ascough and Cotton, Passionate Visionary, 83. 12. Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002), 63, 187 ff. 13. Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson, When Teams Work Best: 6,000 Team Members and Leaders Tell What It Takes to Succeed (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2001), 42–43. 14. Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2005), 155. 15. Dennis N. T. Perkins, Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition (New York: American Management Association, 2000), 4. 16. Ibid., 10. 17. Mary Benet McKinney, Sharing Wisdom: A Process for Group Decision Making (Allen, Tex.: Tabor Publishing, 1987), 13. It is also possible that some voices, however sincere, are irrelevant to the concerns of a group. 18. Ibid. 19. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: A Discussion of Christian Fellowship (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1954), 25, 30. 20. Ibid., 69–70.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 314

314 / Notes to Pages 130–48 21. For examples of the daily office, see Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants (Nashville: The Upper Room, 1983); Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People (Nashville: The Upper Room, 1990); and Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job, A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God (Nashville: The Upper Room, 2003). 22. M. Robert Mulholland Jr., Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 136. 23. Urban T. Holmes, III, Spirituality for Ministry (Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehouse Publishing, 1982, 2002), 165.

9. Team Formation 1. Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 61. 2. Ibid., 79. 3. Allan B. Drexler, David Sibbet, and Russel H. Forrester, “The Team Performance Model,” in W. Brendan Reddy with Kaleel Jamison, eds., Team Building: Blueprints for Productivity and Satisfaction (Alexandria, Va., and San Diego: NTI Institute for Applied Behavioral Science and University Associates, 1988), 45. 4. Carl E. Larson and Frank M. J. LaFasto, TeamWork: What Must Go Right / What Can Go Wrong (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1989); see also Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson, When Teams Work Best: 6,000 Team Members and Leaders Tell What It Takes to Succeed (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2001). 5. Larson and LaFasto, TeamWork, 27–38. 6. Ibid., 39–58. 7. Ibid., 59–72. 8. Ibid., 78–83. 9. Ibid., 84–94. 10. Ibid., 95–108. 11. Ibid., 109–17. 12. Ibid., 123. 13. The terms “forming, storming, norming, and performing” were developed by Bruce W. Tuckman, “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups,” in Psychological Bulletin, 63, 384–99. The terms “psuedo-community, chaos, self-emptying, and community” were developed by M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum: CommunityMaking and Peace (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987), chapter 5. The terms “connecting, competing, collaborating, and caring” were developed by Herman Gadon, “The Newcomer and the Ongoing Work Group,” in Reddy and Jamison, eds., Team Building, 161–75. Also see Jane B. Moosbruker, “Developing a Productivity Team: Making Groups at Work Work,” in Reddy and Jamison, eds., Team Building, 88–97; Jane B. Moosbruker, “Using a Stage Theory Model to Understand and Manage Transitions in Group Dynamics,” in W. Brendan Reddy & C. C. Henderson, Jr., eds., Training Theory and Practice (Arlington, Va.: NTL Institute/University Associates, 1987). 14. W. H. Dogterom, “Spirituality and Team Building: An Exploration” in Roger Heuser, ed., Leadership and Team Building: Transforming Congregational Ministry through Teams (Matthews, N.C.: Christian Ministry Resources, 1999), 269–94.

10. Teams Working through Conflict 1. Patrick Lencioni, Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005), 39. Lencioni has suggested that teamwork is not complicated, but it is hard work that requires an awareness and steadfastness to address five team dysfunctions: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. The opposite of each team dysfunction is a characteristic of health that more likely enables the team members to accomplish their intended results: building trust, mastering conflict, achieving commitment, embracing accountability, and focusing on results. 2. David W. Ausburger, Conflict Meditation Across Cultures: Pathways and Patterns (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992), 47. 3. Ibid., 16–17. 4. Ibid., 42.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 315

Notes to Pages 149–70 / 315 5. Ibid., 16. 6. See Norman Shawchuck, How to Manage Conflict in the Church: Conflict Interventions and Resources Vol. I (Leith, N.D.: Spiritual Growth Resources, 1983), 45–47. 7. Adapted from Speed Leas, Moving Your Church through Conflict (Washington, D.C.: The Alban Institute, 1985). 8. See Jerry Robinson Jr. and Roy A. Clifford, Managing Conflict in Community Groups (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1974) in Shawchuck, How to Manage Conflict in the Church, 35–39. 9. Jean Vanier, Community and Growth (New York/Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1979, 1989), 120. 10. See Shawchuck, How to Manage Conflict in the Church, Vol. II, 38; and Vol I, 46. 11. David W. Augsburger, Conflict Mediation across Cultures: Pathways and Patterns (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992), 64. 12. Ibid. 13. See Part Five in Norman Shawchuck and Roger Heuser, Managing the Congregation: Building Effective Systems to Serve Others (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996). 14. See Kenneth C. Haugk, Antagonists in the Church: How to Identify and Deal with Destructive Conflict (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1988), 21, 25–26. 15. Ibid., 27–30. 16. See William Ury, Jeanne Bret, and Stephen Goldberg, Getting Disputes Resolved: Designing Systems to Cut the Costs of Conflict (London: Jossey-Bass, 1988). 17. Ibid., 19. 18. See Shawchuck, How to Manage Conflict in the Church, Vol II. 19. These were developed by Chris Argyris, Intervention Theory and Method (Reading, Mass.: AddisonWesley, 1970), 15ff. 20. See Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984); and John Patton, Is Human Forgiveness Possible? (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1985). 21. Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, 37–38. 22. See Shawchuck, How to Manage Conflict in the Church, Vol II, 6. 23. See Daniel Bowling and David Hoffman, eds., Bringing Peace into the Room: How the Personal Qualities of the Mediator Impact the Process of Conflict Resolution (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003). 24. Simon Tugwell, The Beatitudes: Soundings in Christian Tradition (Springfield, Ill.: Templegate Publishers, 1980), 111. 25. Apophthegmata Patrum (Sayings of the Desert Fathers) in Simon Tugwell, The Beatitudes: Soundings in Christian tradition (Springfield, Ill.: Templegate Publishers, 1980), 111. 26. Interestingly, Edwin Friedman makes the following point: “When a self-directed, imaginative, energetic, or creative member is being consistently frustrated and sabotaged rather than encouraged and supported, what will turn out to be true . . . is that the person at the very top of that institution is a peace-monger . . . a highly anxious risk-avoider, someone who is more concerned with good feelings than with progress, someone whose life revolves around the axis of consensus, a ‘middler,’ someone who is so incapable of taking a well-defined stand that the ‘disability’ seems to be genetic, someone who functions as if they had been filleted of their backbone, someone who treats conflict or anxiety like mustard gas—one whiff, and on goes the emotional gas mask and they flit. And such leaders are often ‘nice,’ if not charming.” See A Failure of Nerve, 254. 27. Bowling and Hoffman, eds., Bringing Peace into the Room, 14. 28. Ibid.

11. The Team’s Emotional Processes 1. Edwin H. Friedman, Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue (New York: Guilford Press, 1985), 7. 2. David S. Freeman, Techniques of Family Therapy (New York: Jason Aronson, 1981), 18–27. 3. For selected examples of this literature, see Michael E. Kerr and Murray Bowen, Family Evaluation (New York: W.W. Norton, 1988); Edwin Friedman, Generation to Generation (New York: Guilford Press, 1985); Peter L. Steinke, How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional Systems (Herndon, Va.: The Alban Institute, 1993); Peter L. Steinke, Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What (Herndon, Va.: The Alban Institute, 2006).

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 316

316 / Notes to Pages 170–83 4. Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (New York: Seabury Books, 1999, 2007). 5. Ibid., 34. 6. In addition to previous sources listed, see the following selected sources applying family systems to religious organization: Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve; Charles H. Cosgrove and Dennis D. Hatfield, Church Conflict: The Hidden Systems behind Church Fights (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994); and Ronald W. Richardson, Creating a Healthier Church: Family Systems Theory, Leadership, and Congregational Life (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996); Peter L. Steinke, How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional Systems (Bethesda, Md.: The Alban Institute, 1993); and Peter L. Steinke, Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times (Herndon). 7. For an application of Murray Bowen’s family systems theory in organizations, see Kent E. Webb, “The Influence of Anxiety within a Business,” in Patricia A. Comella, Joyce Bader, Judith S. Ball, Kathleen K. Wiseman, and Ruth Riley Sagar, eds., The Emotional Side of Organizations: Applications of Bowen Theory (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown Family Center, 1996), 118; Murray Bowen, Family Therapy in Clinical Practice (New York: Jason Aronson, 1978); also see the website for the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family at Georgetown University: http://www.thebowencenter.org/pages/murraybowen.html. 8. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve, 61ff. 9. Ibid., 63. 10. Steinke, How Your Church Family Works, 14. 11. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve, 64. 12. Ibid., 18–20. 13. Ibid., 87–96. 14. Ibid., 96–106. 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid., 80. 17. Ibid., 106–11. 18. Ibid., 85. 19. Steinke, How Your Church Family Works, 14. 20. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve, 89. 21. Edwin H. Friedman, Reinventing Leadership (New York: Guilford Press, 2001), 36–37. 22. Murray Bowen’s natural systems theory described how people are different—the degree of interpersonal sensitivity, and the extent to which people preserve autonomy at a time when there are pressures for togetherness. See Daniel V. Papero, Bowen Family Systems Theory (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1992), 45.

12. The Leadership Team: Pastors and Boards 1. Luke T. Johnson, Decision Making in the Church: A Biblical Model (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), 25. 2. Peter F. Drucker, Managing the Non-Profit Organization (New York: HarperCollins, 1990), p. 178. 3. Robert K. Greenleaf, The Institution as Servant (Peterborough, N.H.: Center for Applied Studies, Window Row Press, 1972, 1976), 2. 4. Jerome, Dialogus contra Ludiferianos, ch. 21: PL 23, 175, as quoted in Edward Schillebeeckx, Ministry: Leadership in the Community of Jesus Christ (New York: Crossroad, 1981), 1. 5. Johnson, Decision Making in the Church, 65. 6. For a discussion of how Christendom and modernity have influenced the North American church and its leadership roles and structures, see Alan J. Roxburgh, “Missional Leadership: Equipping God’s People for Mission” in Darrell L. Guder, ed., Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1998), 190–220. Roxburgh traces the leadership migration from apostles to priests during Christendom, the transformation of priests to pedagogues during the Reformation, and eventually modernity’s leadership specializations as counselor, manager, and technician. Clearly these have implications in the role of the congregation in ministry and decision-making.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 317

Notes to Pages 183–97 / 317 7. See chapter 6, “Potters’ Problems: Commitment, Satisfaction, and Health” in Jackson W. Carroll, God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregation (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2006). 8. Governing boards are called by different names: board of trustees, board of elders, official board, and church council. The contemporary understanding of non-profit boards is that they fulfill their purpose through roles and responsibilities of governance and policy, not through management or administration. 9. Greenleaf, The Institution as Servant, 6. 10. Charles M. Olsen, Transforming Church Boards: Into Communities of Spiritual Leaders (Bethesda, Md.: The Alban Institute, 1995), xiii. 11. Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1977, 1991, 2002), 100. 12. Carroll, God’s Potters, 141. 13. Ibid., 142. 14. Don M. Frick and Larry C. Spears, eds., On Becoming a Servant Leader: The Private Writings of Robert K. Greenleaf (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996), 222. 15. Greenleaf, The Institution as Servant, 1. 16. Paul Chaffee, Accountable Leadership: Resources for Worshipping Communities (San Francisco: ChurchCare Publishing, 1993), 40. 17. See James F. Cobble, Jr., and Richard R. Hammar, Risk Management Handbook for Churches and Schools (Matthews, N.C.: Christian Ministry Resources, 2001). 18. Anne T. Fraker and Larry C. Spears, Seeker and Servant: The Private Writings of Robert K. Greenleaf (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996), 254. 19. See John Carver, The Chairperson’s Role as Servant-Leader to the Board: CarverGuide (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997), 11–13. 20. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership, 83. According to Greenleaf, the pyramid principle established by Moses and Jethro did not work precisely because of the abuse of power. He writes, “In the end the Lord sacked Moses. Why? Because in that dramatic incident of drawing water from the rock he acted as if he were God. . . . Missing was the necessary guardianship of strong trustees and an astute chairman. . . . The abuse of power is curbed if the holder of power is surrounded by equals who are strong, and if there is close oversight by a monitoring group, trustees who are not involved in the daily use of power” (84–85). In addition Greenleaf identifies the flaws in the concept of the single chief: “To be alone at the top is abnormal and corrupting” (63). There are no colleagues at the top, only subordinates. First, the pyramid weakens information links, drying up channels of honest feedback. Second, there is a self-protective image of omniscience, which comes about from the filtered communication. Third, those at the top suffer from real loneliness and are overburdened. Fourth, there is a major interruption when that person leaves. Fifth, the single chief prevents leadership by persuasion because there is too much power and what he or she says will be taken as an order. Sixth, the prevalence of the lone chief places a burden on the entire organization and society because it gives control priority over leadership (see 63–66). 21. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership, 61–69. 22. Peter F. Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 628. 23. Richard T. Ingram, Making Trusteeship Work (Washington, D.C.: Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, 1988), 1–2. 24. For an imaginative and sobering essay on the leaders’ temptation to reward and protect incompetence, see Peter F. Drucker, The Temptation to Do Good (New York: Harper & Row, 1984). 25. Edwin H. Friedman, Reinventing Leadership: Discussion Guide (New York: Guilford Press, 1996), 9. 26. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership, 115–20. 27. Ibid., 115. 28. As quoted in Fraker and Spears, Seeker and Servant, 58. 29. Ibid., 103–4. 30. Olsen, Transforming Church Boards, 33–39. 31. Ibid., 7. 32. Ibid., 44.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 318

318 / Notes to Pages 202–18

Part Three: Leading toward Transformation 1. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1975, 1977, 1991, 1993), 80–81. 2. Jean Vanier, Community and Growth (New York: Paulist Press, 1979, 1989), 89. 3. For a description of the Apostolic Church, Christendom, and the New Apostolic Age, see Loren B. Mead, The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier (Bethesda, Md.: The Alban Institute, 1991); Alan J. Roxburgh, The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, & Liminality (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997); Darrell L. Guder, ed., Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, Mich./Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 1998); and Claude E. Payne and Hamilton Beazley, Reclaiming the Great Commission: A Practical Model for Transforming Denominations and Congregations (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001). 4. See Payne and Beazley, Reclaiming the Great Commission, 25. 5. John M. Buchanan, A New Church for a New World (Louisville: Geneva Press, 2008), 75.

13. The Spirituality of the Congregation 1. Katherine Marie Dyckman and L. Patrick Carroll, Inviting the Mystic, Supporting the Prophet: An Introduction to Spiritual Direction (New York: Paulist Press, 1981), 11. 2. Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer (New York: Image Books Doubleday, 1969, 1996), 116. 3. Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002), 17. 4. Ibid., 19. 5. N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: Harper One, 2008), 267. 6. Richard J. Hauser, In His Spirit: A Guide to Today’s Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1982), 11. 7. Ibid., 12. 8. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (New York: Macmillan, 1955, 1967), 88. 9. Ibid., 80–85. 10. Ibid., 81. 11. Ibid., 82. 12. Carlo Carretto, Letters to Dolcidia (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991), 45–46. 13. Mother Teresa, Words to Love By (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1983), 15. 14. Eugene H. Peterson, Working the Angels: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1987), 2, 10. 15. See Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart (Minneapolis: Seabury Press, 1981). The idea of spirituality as a journey is another concept that differentiates the Western model from the scriptural (neo-Western) model of spirituality. The Western model sees spiritual formation much more as a fixed condition than as a journey toward spiritual maturity. 16. The Great Triduum are the great three days that recall the events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Paschal Vigil of Saturday night, culminating on Easter morning’s celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. The themes and colors of the different seasons vary among denominations. 17. See Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2004; Norman Shawchuck, What It Means to Be a Church Leader: A Biblical Point of View (Leith, N.D.: Spiritual Growth Resources, 1984); and Norman Shawchuck, Robert Doherty, and Rueben Job, How to Conduct a Spiritual Life Retreat (Nashville: The Upper Room, 1986). 18. See Dyckman and Carroll, Inviting the Mystic, Supporting the Prophet (New York: Paulist Press, 1981). The prerequiste for spiritual formation are adapted from Ignatian spirituality. 19. Ibid., 22–23. 20. Parker J. Palmer defines a “circle of trust” when “two or three are gathered—as long as those two or three know how to create and protect a space for the soul.” See A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 29.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 319

Notes to Pages 220–33 / 319 21. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1954), 77–78. 22. Ibid., 23. 23. Henri J. M. Nouwen, Making All Things New (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981), 32. 24. See Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983); Richard S. Ascough and Charles A. Cotton, Passionate Visionary: Leadership Lessons from the Apostle Paul (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006). 25. Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 110–11. 26. Ibid., 88. 27. M. Robert Mulholland, Jr., Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation (Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1993), 103. 28. Ibid., 16. 29. See Richard J. Foster, The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, rev. and exp. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 7. 30. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 157. 31. Ibid., 158. 32. Ibid., 175–76.

14. A Clear and Compelling Mission 1. N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: Harper One, 2008), 208. 2. Brian Kolodiejchuk, ed., Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (New York: Doubleday, 2007), 43. 3. Jean Vanier, Community and Growth (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1989), 84. 4. Ibid. 5. David Bosch, “The Structure of Mission: An Exposition of Matthew 28:16-20,” in Wilbert Shenk, ed., Exploring Church Growth (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1983), 239. 6. Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission (Grand Rapids, Mich./Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 1978, 1995), 56. 7. Ibid. 8. Walter C. Hobbs, “Faith Twisted by Culture: Syncretism in North American Christianity,” in Craig Van Gelder, ed., Confident Witness—Changing World: Rediscovering the Gospel in North America (Grand Rapids, Mich./Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 1999), 96. 9. A recent Google search on “missional church” created over 192,000 hits. See for example the Missional Church Series: Craig Van Gelder, ed., The Missional Church in Context: Helping Congregations Develop Contextual Ministry (Grand Rapids, Mich./Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 2007); The Missional Church and Denominations: Helping Congregations Develop a Missional Identity (Grand Rapids, Mich./Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 2008); and The Missional Church and Leadership Formation: Helping Congregations Develop Leadership Capacity (Grand Rapids, Mich./Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 2009). 10. Reggie McNeal, Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church (San Francisco: JosseyBass, 2009). 11. Ibid., 1–2. 12. Loren B. Mead, Transforming Congregations for the Future (Bethesda, Md.: The Alban Institute, 1994), 24–25, 30–31. 13. Robert Linthicum, Transforming Power: Biblical Strategies for Making a Difference in Your Community (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 148–49. 14. For example, see the non-profit lending organization Kiva online at www.kiva.org. 15. See more about the Saddleback Church’s PEACE Plan at their website: http://saddleback.com/ aboutsaddleback/signatureministries/thepeaceplan/index.html 16. Bob Slosser, Miracles in Darien (Plainfield, N.J.: Logos International, 1979), 7. 17. A paraphrase—written by Richard Wheatcroft and appearing in “Letter to Laymen” (May-June, 1962): 1—of Theodore O. Wedel, “Evangelism—The Mission of the Church to Those outside Her Life,” in Ecumenical Review (October, 1953): 24. See Howard Clinebell, Basic Types of Pastoral Care and Counseling: Resources for the Ministry of Healing and Growth (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1966, 1984), 13–14.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 320

320 / Notes to Pages 233–43 18. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison: New Greatly Enlarged Edition, edited by Eberhard Bethge (New York: Macmillan Company, 1953, 1967, 1971), 380–81. 19. Ibid., 382. Bonhoeffer continues, “our own [Confessing] church will have to take the field against the vices of hubris, power-worship, envy, and humbug, as the roots of all evil. It will have to speak of moderation, purity, trust, loyalty, constancy, patience, discipline, humility, contentment, and modesty. . . . It is not abstract argument, but example, that gives its word emphasis and power” (383). 20. Langdon Gilkey, How the Church Can Minister to the World without Losing Itself (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), 2. Jesus prayed that his disciples would not belong to the world, just as he does not belong to the world. And yet, even as God sent him into the world, so he sent them into the world (see John 17:16, 18). 21. Ibid., 3. 22. Wright, Surprised by Hope, 269. 23. Loren B. Mead, The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier (Bethesda, Md.: The Alban Institute, 1991), 10, 12. 24. Church history has witnessed a number of groups that like the apostolic church, also believed that the world is lost. However, their view of the environment is not only that it is hostile but also that it is powerful and evil. This view of the environment causes them to withdraw, insulate themselves from the world. Contrary to the apostolic church, their view of the environment causes them to close their boundaries as tightly as possible—to keep the world from entering in. They move their “faithful remnant” into walled and guarded compounds to keep the environment out. 25. Mead, The Once and Future Church, 10, 14. 26. Ibid., 17. 27. Darrell L. Guder, ed., Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, Mich./Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 1998), 77. 28. Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith (San Francisco: Harper One, 2006), 222. 29. Alan J. Roxburgh, The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, and Liminality (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997), 1. 30. Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens: A Provocative Christian Assessment of Culture and Ministry for People Who Know That Something Is Wrong (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, 1993), 48. 31. Lloyd Perry and Norman Shawchuck, Revitalizing the Twentieth Century Church (Leith, N.D.: Spiritual Growth Resources, 1982), 22. 32. Peter F. Drucker, Managing the Nonprofit Organization: Practices and Principles (New York: HarperCollins, 1990), 3. 33. See Peter F. Drucker, The Practice of Management (New York: Harper and Bros., 1954); Managing for Results (New York: Harper & Row, 1964); Managing the Nonprofit Organization; Managing for the Future: The 1990s and Beyond (New York: Truman Talley Books/Dutton, 1992). 34. Diana Butler Bass, Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), 243. 35. Ibid., 239–54. 36. Ray Bakke, The Urban Christian: Effective Ministry in Today’s Urban World (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 19–20. Other religious leaders, including Bill Hybels and Rick Warren, have taken this approach of interviewing people in the marketplace to help articulate the mission of their congregation. See Norman Shawchuck, Philip Kotler, Bruce Wrenn, and Gustave Rath, Marketing for Congregations: Choosing to Serve People More Effectively (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992), 34–37; 79–83. 37. Drucker, Managing the Nonprofit Organization, 7; also see Managing for Results, 114ff. 38. Drucker, Managing for the Future, 206. Grappling seriously with the question “What is our business?” soon reveals that the answer is not always obvious. Peter Drucker worked with hospital leaders to think through the mission of an emergency room. Most hospital statements of mission have something to do with health care, but more accurately the hospital cares for those with an illness. And the emergency room, in this instance, was telling approximately eight of ten people there was nothing seriously wrong with them; therefore, they concluded that their mission was to “give assurance to the afflicted.” They set a target of having everyone who comes to the emergency room be seen in less than a minute by a qualified person, and the rest is implementation of that mission. See Drucker, Managing the Nonprofit Organization, 4–5. 39. To explore the historical use of missio Dei, see David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1991), 389–93.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 321

Notes to Pages 245–64 / 321 40. See Carl S. Dudley, Basic Steps Toward Community Ministry (Washington, D.C.: Alban Institute, 1991), 1–3. 41. Peter F. Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (New York: Harper & Row, 1973, 1974), 93–94. 42. H. Emil Bruner, The Word and the World (London: SCM Press, 1931), 108. 43. Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, 89.

15. The Vision We Share 1. Joan Chittister, Seeing with Our Souls: Monastic Wisdom for Every Day (Lanham, Md.: Sheed & Ward, 2002), 68–69. 2. See John W. Gardner, On Leadership (New York: The Free Press, 1990), 131. 3. See Hermann Hesse, The Journey to the East (New York: Picador, 1956) and Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (New York/Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1977, 1991, 2002), 21. 4. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership, 22. 5. See Ezra Earl Jones, Quest for Quality in the Church: A New Paradigm (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1993). 6. Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985), 28. 7. Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1989), 194. 8. Patrick Lencioni, Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), 176. 9. Patrick Lencioni’s solution to silos, politics, and turf wars is the creation of one thematic, qualitative goal that is somewhere between a vision and a tactical objective; but the important thing is that the thematic goal becomes a rallying cry among all members of the leadership team regardless of their role and responsibility, that the thematic goal is defined by specific objectives from each department alongside their regular operating objectives, and that it has a specific time frame (see 178ff). 10. For more information on Cardijn’s visioning process see Boniface Hanley, Ten Christians (South Bend, Ind.: Ave Marie Press, 1979) 217ff; and Eugene Langdale, ed., Challenge to Action: Addresses of Monsignor Joseph Cardijn (Chicago: Fides, 1955). 11. Inviting people to talk about hopes and dreams—when there has not been freedom to do so in the past— can open the door to pent-up frustrations and criticisms when the conversations are not well facilitated. 12. See David Bohm and Mark Edwards, Thought: The Hidden Challenge to Humanity (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990), quoted in Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (New York: Doubleday Currency, 1990), 240. 13. Senge, The Fifth Discipline, 243. 14. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership, 40. 15. See “The View from Above: An Interview with Terry Fullam,” Leadership (Winter 1984): 12–24. 16. Ibid. 17. Senge, The Fifth Discipline, 212. 18. “The View from Above: An Interview with Terry Fullam,” 17, 19. 19. Richard R. Broholm, The Power and Purpose of Vision: A Study of the Role of Vision in Exemplary Organizations (Robert K. Greenleaf Center, 1990), 4. 20. “The View from Above: An Interview with Terry Fullam,” 21. 21. Gordon Cosby, Handbook for Mission Groups (Washington, D.C.: The Potter’s House), 58–59. 22. This principle holds true in all great movements of social change. Historically, at least four ingredients have been required for any social movement or change: (1) a small group; (2) thoroughly committed to a single cause [or vision]; (3) with a leader who can articulate the cause with clarity and passion; and (4) a catchphrase that emotively captures the essence of the cause. 23. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership, 88. 24. Adapted from James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge (San Francisco: JosseyBass, 1987), 125–29.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:50 PM

Page 322

322 / Notes to Pages 264–80 25. Frances Westley and Henry Mintzberg, “Visionary Leadership and Strategic Management,” Strategic Management Journal 10 (1989): 20. 26. See Senge, The Fifth Discipline, 225. 27. Ibid., 219–20. 28. Bennis, On Becoming a Leader, 186. 29. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership, 88. 30. Kouzes and Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 151. 31. Senge, The Fifth Discipline, 227. 32. Ibid. 33. Ibid., 228. 34. Ibid., 229. 35. Ibid., 230. 36. Warren Bennis, “The Crucibles of Authentic Leadership,” in John Antonakis, Anna T. Cianciolo, and Robert J. Sternberg, eds., The Nature of Leadership (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2004), 341–42.

16. Transformational Change 1. Robert E. Quinn, Building the Bridge as You Walk on It: A Guide for Leading Change (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 6. 2. Margaret J. Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers, A Simpler Way (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1996), 100. 3. Rowan Williams, Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), 16. 4. Dee Hock, Birth of the Chaordic Age (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1999), 238. 5. Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), 19. 6. Ibid., 22–23. 7. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Boston: Little, Brown, 2000). 8. Ibid., 184. 9. See Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007). 10. See Charles Handy, The Age of Paradox (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1994); “Elephants and Fleas: Is Your Organization Prepared for Change?” Leader to Leader 24 (Spring 2002): 29–33; The Empty Raincoat (London: Random House, 1994); and The Age of Unreason (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1990). 11. A key discernment issue for leaders is to decide when to pull away resources in ministries that are heading toward the end of their life cycle in order to put the much needed resources behind those ministries that need an impetus for growth or behind promising ministries waiting to be launched (see Peter Drucker’s idea of “planned abandonment” discussed in chapter 14, “A Clear and Compelling Mission”). 12. Ralph D. Stacey, Managing the Unknowable: Strategic Boundaries between Order and Chaos in Organizations (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992), 150–53. 13. Ibid., 154. 14. Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002); Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2009). 15. Ibid., 12–14. 16. James A. Belasco, Teaching the Elephant to Dance (New York: Penguin, 1991), 2. 17. Rick Maurer, Beyond the Wall of Resistance: Unconventional Strategies That Build Support for Change (Austin, Tex.: Bard Books, 1996), 26–28. 18. Ibid., 38, 44–46.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:51 PM

Page 323

Notes to Pages 281–98 / 323 19. See W. Warner Burke, Organization Change: Theory and Practice (Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008), 21. 20. Adapted from Dean Anderson and Linda Ackerman Anderson, Beyond Change Management: Advanced Strategies for Today’s Transformational Leaders (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2001), 31–43. 21. Ibid., 48. 22. Ibid. 23. Ibid., 49. 24. Ibid., 32. 25. Ibid., 58. 26. Margaret J. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1992, 1994), 21. 27. Ibid., 20. 28. Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality (New York: Doubleday, 1999), 146. 29. Dean Anderson and Linda Ackerman Anderson, Beyond Change Management: Advanced Strategies for Today’s Transformational Leaders (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2001). 52-57. A similar category of two contrasting leadership “states” is developed by leadership theorist, Robert E. Quinn: the normal state of leaders is externally driven, internally closed, self-focused, and comfort centered; the fundamental leadership state necessary to lead through transformational change is purpose-centered, internally driven, other-focused, and externally open. See Robert E. Quinn, Building the Bridge as You Walk on It, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), 21–25. 30. Robert E. Quinn, Change the World: How Ordinary People Can Accomplish Extraordinary Results (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000), 28. 31. See Quinn, Change the World, 9–13, 226. Quinn contrasts normal change theory (telling, forcing, and participating strategies) and emergent (transforming strategy) change theory. Quinn adapted telling, forcing, and participating strategies for change from Robert Chin and Kenneth D. Benne, “General Strategies for Effecting Changes in Human Systems,” in Warren G. Bennis, Kenneth D. Benne, and Robert Chin, eds., The Planning of Change: Readings in Applied Behavioral Sciences (New York: Holt, 1969). 32. Quinn, Change the World, 11–13, 226. 33. Robert E. Quinn, Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996), 18–20. 34. Ibid., 28–34. 35. Robert E. Quinn, Building the Bridge As You WalkOn It, 9. 36. Joel Arthur Barker, Future Edge: Discovering the New Paradigms of Success (New York: William Morrow and Co., 1992), 11. 37. An excellent resource is Gordon Cosby, Handbook for Mission Groups (Washington, D.C.: The Potter’s House, 1975). 38. Peter F. Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles (New York: Harper & Row), 152. 39. Danny E. Morris and Charles M. Olson, Discerning God’s Will Together: A Spiritual Practice for the Church (Bethesda, Md.: Alban Publications, 1997), 18. 40. Ibid., 21. 41. The practice of discernment has a rich heritage in the Christian heritage; for example, lessons learned from the early church fathers and mothers, St. Ignatius of Loyola, John Cassian, John Climacus, the Philokalia, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Protestant reformers, the Quakers (Clearness Committee), Methodists, and contemporary examples as well. 42. For additional resources to use discernment as a decision-making method, see Studies in the Spirituality of the Jesuits, “A Method for Communal Discernment of God’s Will,” vol. III, no. 4, September 1971; “Toward a Theological Evaluation of Communal Discernment,” vol. V, no. 5, October 1973; “Communal Discernment: Reflections on Experience,” vol. IV, no. 5, November 1972; and “Trust Your Feelings, but Use Your Head: Discernment and the Psychology of Decision Making,” The American Assistancy Seminar, 3700 W. Pine Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108. Also see Mary Benet McKinney, Sharing Wisdom: A Process for Group Decision Making (Allen, Tex.: Tabor Publishing, 1987); and Danny E. Morris and Charles M. Olson, Discerning God’s Will Together: A Spiritual Practice for the Church (Bethesda, Md.: Alban Publications, 1997). 43. Williams, Tokens of Trust, 26.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:51 PM

Page 324

324 / Notes to Pages 300–303

Epilogue 1. Alan J. Roxburgh, The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, and Liminality (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997), 58. 2. David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Unchristian: What A New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity . . . and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2007), 15. 3. John M. Buchanan, A New Church for a New World (Louisville: Geneva Press, 2008), 64. 4. Loren B. Mead, Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church (Bethesda, Md.: The Alban Institute, 1996), 73–74. 5. Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming (New York: An Image Book, 1992), 76. 6. Robert Farrar Capon, The Parables of Judgment (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1989), 167. 7. Ibid., 168–69.

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

2:26 PM

Page 325

Author Index

Acton, (Lord), 194 Anderson, Dean, 284, 323 Anderson, Linda Ackerman, 281, 284 Argyris, Chris, 161, 315 Ascough, Richard S., 126 Augsburger, David W., 147, 158

Dudley, Carl S., 244 Dyckman, Katherine Marie, 206 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 52

Bass, Diana Butler, 239 Becker, Carol E., 12 Belasco, James, 279, 322 Bennis, Warren, 48, 251, 266, 268 Bethge, Eberhard, 233 Bloom, Anthony, 32 Bolger, Ryan K., 127 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 17, 24, 50, 64, 67, 129, 220, 233 Bowen, Murray, 172 Bruce, A. B., 23 Brueggemann, Walter, 50, 272, 209 Buchanan, John M., 204 Buechner, Frederich, 12, 14

Foster, Richard J., 25, 88, 223 Friedman, Edwin H., 105, 168, 171–77, 179–80 Frost, Michael, 2 Fullam, Terry, 231, 260, 262 Gadon, Herman, 138–40 Goethe, 116 Gibbs, Eddie, 127 Gilkey, Langdon, 233 Gladwell, Malcolm, 273 Granberg-Michaelson, Wesley, 123 Greenleaf, Robert K., 11, 27, 83, 110–11, 113, 116, 182, 184–85, 188–89, 193–94, 248–49, 259, 264, 266 Guder, Darrell L., 1 Handy, Charles, 273, 275 Hauerwas, Stanley, 3 Hauser, Richard J., 209, 225 Haugk, Kenneth C., 159 Hays, Edward, 75 Heifetz, Ronald A., 3 Hesse, Herman, 248 Hirsch, Alan, 2 Hobbs, Walter C., 228 Hock, Dee, 108 Holmes, Urban T., 7, 130 Hoppin, James M., 17 Horney, Karen, 87

Calvin, John, 30, 35, 89 Capon, Robert Farrar, 303 Carretto, Carlo, 19, 23–24, 27, 37, 49, 69, 212 Carroll, Jackson W., 105, 116 Carroll, L. Patrick, 206 Carver, John, 199 Cavanagh, Michael E., 17 Chaffee, Paul, 187 Chittister, Joan, 78, 248 Cosby, Gordon, 263 Cotton, Sandy, 126 Covey, Stephen R., 112 Day, Dorothy, 6, 27 Dillard, Annie, 1–3, 13, 51 Dogterom, W. H., 143 Douglas, Lloyd C., 108 Drucker, Peter F., 109, 182, 190, 242–43, 245, 295

Ignatius of Loyola, 53, 62, 72, 74, 82 Ingram, Richard T., 190 Jerome, 182 John of the Cross, 7 Johnson, Luke T., 182

325

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:51 PM

Page 326

326 / Author Index

Jones, L. Gregory, 50

Peterson, Eugene H., 214

Kazantzakis, Nikos, 68 Keating, Thomas, 41, 109 Kellerman, Barbara, 85 Kellner-Rogers, Myron, 270 Kets de Vries, Manfred F. R., 92 King, Martin Luther, Jr., 5, 104, 250, 263

Quinn, Robert E., 100, 270, 289, 292 Quoist, Michael, 22

LaFasto, Frank, 134 Larson, Carl, 134 Lencioni, Patrick, 147, 254 Lewis, C. S., 87 Linsky, Marty, 3 Linthicum, Robert C., 230 Luther, Martin, 30, 35, 39, 72, 89, McKinney, Mary Benet, 128–29 McNeal, Reggie, 229 Mead, Loren B., 229, 234, 301, Merton, Thomas, 24, 32, 34, 206 Miller, Danny, 92 Mintzberg, Henry, 264 Moltmann, Jürgen, 202 Mother Teresa, 6, 89, 214, 226, 271 Muholland, M. Robert, 130, 222

Ritscher, James A., 88 Robbs, Paul V., 102 Rolheiser, Ronald, 61, 288, 299 Romero, Cesar, 5–6 Roxburgh, Alan J., 235, 300 Senge, Peter M., 261, 265, 267 Shawchuck, Norman, 238 Socrates, 28 Taylor, Barbara Brown, 104, 235 Teresa of Avila, 19, 41–42, 60 Teresa of Calcutta, 6, 89, 214, 226, 271 Tetlow, Joseph A., 59 Thompson, Majorie J., 101 Thurman, Howard, 89 Tiball, Derek J., 9 Tuckman, Bruce W., 138–40 Underhill, Evelyn, 104 Vanier, Jean, 107, 154, 162, 203, 246, 271

Nanus, Burt, 251 Nelson, William R., 234 Newbigin, Leslie, 228, 246 Nouwen, Henri J. M., 20–21, 26, 32–34, 36, 43, 52, 85, 104, 106–7, 114, 132, 144, 220, 302 Odiorne, George, 8 Olsen, Charles M., 196–97, 199 Palmer, Parker J., 20, 47–48, 60, 85, 88–89 Peck, M. Scott, 41, 138–40, 142

Warren, Rick, 231 Webber, Robert E., 46 Wesley, John, 30, 35, 53, 58, 250 Westly, Frances, 264 Wheatley, Margaret J., 270, 287 Wiederkehr, Marcrina, 67 Willard, Dallas, 36, 59, 77, 207, 223 Williams, Rowan, 270, 298 Willimon, William, 3 Wright, N. T., 4, 208, 226, 234

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

2:27 PM

Page 327

Subject Index

Acedia (spiritual boredom), 10, 13, 17, 47, 211, 220, 239 Activity trap, 8–10, 108, 111 Ambition, 9, 17, 20, 26, 41, 145, 259 Anticipation. See Proactive disciplines of change Apostolic, 2, 82, 183, 204, 234, 247, 300 Atrophy, 295 Augustine, 23, 72 Authority board of directors, 187, 192–95, 198–99 change, 290 conflict, 151, 160 Jesus and disciples, 21, 41 leadership definition, 12 neurotic organizations, 93, 97–98 of leader questioned 11 teams, 124, 127 Board of directors (church board) ambiguity and governance: trust (power and authority), 193–95; specialization versus generalization, 195–96; belief versus criticism, 196 chairperson (chair), 188–89 primus inter pares, 189–90 problems confronting church board: members underutilized, 190–91; members incompetent or immature, 191; trust replaced by compliance or control, 192– 93 roles and responsibilities: guardian of institutional mission,184–85; creating a continual climate of trust, 185–86; empowering leadership and ministry teams, 186–87; formulating guiding principles, 187–88 rule of thirds, 190–91 spirituality, 196–98 Call (calling)

acceptance and resistance, 71–72 Ignatius’ three types of persons, 62–64 madness, 72–74 testing, 68–70 Calvin, John, 30, 35, 89 Cardijn, Joseph, 256 Carter, Jimmy, 115 Change dangers of leading other through change, 10–12, 14 deep change, 17, 90–91, 100–103, 118, 179 denial and resistance, 279–80 developmental, transitional, transformational, 280–84 gold and silver threads, 109 impetus, 90 nature of change: growth and decline, 273– 75; sigmoid curve, 273–75; coexisting curves, 275–76; environment (threats or opportunities), 276–77; types of change, 277–79; denial and resistance, 279–80 neurotic organizations, 94, 98, 100 orientation, disorientation, new orientation, 272–73 practice foresight, 259 proactive disciplines: excellence, 292–93; innovation, 294–96; anticipation, 296– 98 proactive leaders: conscious and unconscious awareness, 289–90 strategies, 290–92 transformational: wake-up calls, 285–86; chaos, 286–88; death (mindset forced to shift), 288; reemergence through visioning and learning, 288–89 types: closed change, 277; contained change, 277–78; open-ended change, 278–79 Character, 13, 18, 29–31, 41, 53, 70, 156, 207, 210 Childlikeness, 20, 22–23, 30–31

327

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

3:00 PM

Page 328

328 / Subject Index

Christendom paradigm, 204, 234–35, 300 Church metaphors body of Christ, 3, 76, 108, 114, 125–26, 203, 207–8, 239, 250–51, 286 colony of heaven, 3 family of God, 3, 119, 239 salt and light, 3, 239 vine and branches, 3, 119, 239 Communion. See Lord’s Supper Compulsions, 16–17, 87, 101–2, 130 Conflict antagonists, 159, 191 constructive/productive, 147, 162, 162 cycle: tension development, 153–55; role dilemma, 155; injustice collecting, 155– 56; confrontation, 156–57; adjustments, 157 definition, 149 destructive/nonproductive, 158–59 dimensions: values, 149–50; purpose and goals, 150; methods, 150. intervention, 161–66 levels and goals, 152–53 peace, 166–67 power, rights, interests,160–61 social construction of reality, 148–49 threats: psychological, 150, physical, 151; position, 151; spiritual well being, 151; defensive reactions, 151; non-defensive reactions, 151–52; Constantine, 204 Contemplation, 7, 36, 46–48, 53, 206 Culture institution/organization, 8, 31, 107, 118, 148, 183, 186, 196–97, 199, 271, 283– 84, 286, 291 mission 2–3, 44, 121, 202, 204, 207, 227, 229, 233, 235, 238, 270, 277, 300 neurotic organizations, 92–93, 95–99 teams, 121–22, 126, 130, 133, 134, 136–38, 176 Dark night, 7, 28, 49, 100 Day, Dorothy, 6, 271 Desert Fathers and Mothers, 10, 166 Discerning priorities (making choices) bedrock priorities, 110–11 connect charisms with mission, 108–9 example, 114–16

gold and silver threads, 109–10 matrix (time management), 112–14 logic of task pursuit, 107–8 role demands, 105–7 Discernment call, 61 conflict, 161–62 discerning heart, 53, 210, 219, 296 examen, 55–56 group, 114, 128, 131, 197, 208, 215, 218, 297–98 light and shadow, 18, 87 mission and priorities, 105, 246, 261, 277, 289 Desire to serve, 20, 26–27, 31, 46–47, 63, 73, 78 Discipleship, 185, 226, 236, 293 Dream/dreaming, 78, 80, 250–53, 261, 269, 297 Dysfunction, 92, 170, 222 Effectiveness boards, 187, 191, 198 personal, 69, 91, 112–14 team, 136, 140–41, 142, 172 Elijah, 48, 66, 68, 80, 121, 255 Excellence. See Proactive disciplines of change Emotional processes blame displacement, 147, 153, 156, 172–73, 175–78, 180 chronically anxious, 172–77 gridlock, 170–72 herding instinct, 172, 174–75, 177–78, 180 quick-fix mentality, 161, 172, 176–78, 180, 191, 286 reactivity, 158, 172–75, 177–80 self-differentiated leaders, 174, 177–78, 180 Empowerment, 121, 157, 203 Entropy, 245 Environment: 5, 10, 14, 21, 71, 94, 96–99, 129, 164, 169, 187, 230, 232–37, 243–44, 246–47, 271, 276–77, 281–86, 289–92 Espirit de corps, 88 Esther, 63–64 Eucharist. See Lord’s Supper. Examen of consciousness. See Spirituality Examination of conscience. See Spirituality Failures, 29, 49, 55, 63, 67, 73, 87, 98, 102, 294, 303–4

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

2:30 PM

Page 329

Subject Index / 329

False self (and true self), 18, 41, 51, 101–2 Family systems, 168–70, 172–74, 177, 180 Fasting, 35–36, 43–44, 56, 130, 162, 222–24 Fears, 63, 75, 94, 164, 218, 279 Finishing well, 300, 303 Fruit/fruitfulness, 16–17, 36, 39, 51, 58, 65, 86, 100, 103, 106–8, 119, 145, 151, 198, 211, 216, 238–39, 249, 259, 288 Fullam, Terry, 231–32, 260, 262

Joseph, 63–64, 69 Joseph, husband of Mary, 241 Journaling, 197, 298

Gideon, 64, 71–72, 76, 80–82, 121, 260 Golden/silver thread, 109–10, 116, 296 Governance, 188, 193, 199 Grace (means of), 35, 37, 40, 56–57, 59, 162, 198, 209, 222–25, 296 Guiding principle, 111, 123–24, 184, 187, 297

l’Arche, 107, 154, 162 Leader caretaker/settler, 9–10 childlikeness, 20–24 desire to serve, 26–28 knower of seasons, 213, 215, 296 humility, 24–26 self-differentiated, 177–78, 180 self-examination, 28–31 servant, 4–5, 21, 27, 68, 73, 75, 231, 248– 49, 271, 303–4 shepherd, 9 shopkeeper, 35 single chief, 189 spiritual companion, 213–15, 217, 224, 296 Leadership definition, 12–13 failure of nerve, 177–78 leader-first vs. servant-first, 27, 248 neurotic: compulsive organization, 92, 94, 99, 100–111; depressive organization, 92, 94, 98, 100; detached organization, 92, 94, 97–98, 100; dramatic organization, 92–94, 97, 100; suspicious organization, 92, 94, 96, 99–100 by rote (persona), 16 shadows: insecurity, 22, 89, 91, 95–96, 102; hostility, 90–91, 96; functional atheism, 89–91; fear of chaos, 89–91, 99, 141, 287; denial of death, 89, 91

Henry VIII, 126 Hierarchy, 21, 94, 125–26, 152 Holy Trinity Church, 242 Hypocrisy, 1, 8, 32, 78, 145, 210, 221, 301 Humility, 13, 20, 23–26, 102, 121, 297 Identity congregation, 122, 170, 184, 231, 233, 235– 36, 239–41, 243 leader, 17, 20, 36, 53, 89, 101–2, 106, 122, 150, 174, 207 Ignatius of Loyola, 53, 62 Inertia, 279 Influence of example, 114 Innovation. See Proactive disciplines of change Integrity, 30, 51, 87, 135, 175, 178, 227 Isaiah, 71, 81 Jerome, 182 Jesus (spirituality) instituted means of grace, 56–57 lonely places, 36, 41, 133 prudential means of grace, 56–57 six graces, 43–46 temptations, 7, 41 three elements, 40–43 John of the Cross, 7 John the Baptist, 44, 72 John the Disciple, 4, 16, 42–44, 66, 68, 132–33, 238, 288 Jonah, 48, 68–69, 71

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 5–6, 250, 263 Kingdom of God, 20–24, 35, 40, 43–44, 67, 77, 102, 118, 179, 202–3, 206, 208, 212, 216, 223, 226, 236, 245–46, 249, 250, 255, 271, 276–77, 292, 296–97, 302

Lived spirituality (espoused spirituality), 211– 12 Logic of task pursuit, 107, 116 Lord’s Supper (Eucharist, Communion), 21, 43– 45, 133, 146, 222, 224 Luther, Martin, 30, 35, 39, 72, 89 Martha, 33, 42, 168

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

2:31 PM

Page 330

330 / Subject Index

Mary of Bethany, 33, 42, 45, 168 Mary Magdalene, 43, 63 Mary, Mother of Jesus, 77, 82, 241, 291 Means of grace. See Grace Meditation, 7, 105, 197, 212 Mission alignment with vision and core values, 253– 54, 276, 292 contextual environment, 2, 122, 130, 204, 228–31, 233–35, 244–47, 282 congregation/organization, 91, 97, 107–8, 110, 112, 118, 131, 184–87, 189, 193– 95, 198, 205–6, 228 definition (personal), 82 definition (common), 228, 237–38 difference with vision, 249–50, 269 discerning, 236, 263 divine, 81, 227 Jesus, 3–4, 13, 42, 81, 118, 226–27, 245, 301 life saving station parable, 232–33 leader, 18, 31, 81–84, 90–91, 203, statement, 237–47 paradigm shift, 229 Paul, 61, 121, 121, questions for clarity, 239–45 team, 138, 150, 171, 183, timeless and timely aspects, 237–38, 276– 77 turning vision into a reality, 81 Mobility (downward vs. upward), 25–26 Moses, 63–64, 68, 71, 78–83, 121, 168, 249, 260, 267 Motivation, 52, 87, 95, 127, 209–10, 217, 227, 252, 254, 268, 281, 292 Networks, 121–22, 125–26, 131, 170, 193, 264 Noah, 64 Obedience, 26, 63, 73, 208, 227, 262, 291 Paul, 4–6, 16, 25–26, 51, 61, 70, 72, 76–77, 86– 87, 102–3, 120–22, 125–126, 145–46, 180, 184, 187, 207–8, 211, 221, 227, 231–32, 250, 255, 292, 303–4 Peter, 6, 37, 42–43, 63–64, 66, 80, 122–23, 132–33, 143, 255 Planned abandonment, 245, 247 Polity, 183, 188

Power (empower) board of directors, 184–86, 188, 193–94, 198–99, 230 conflict, 148, 156–58, 163 congregation (organization), 94, 96, 108, 125 divine, 37–38, 41, 66, 75, 79, 86, 108 leadership, 7, 11–13, 16, 21–22, 25–27, 85, 89, 95, 100, 105, 132 plays, 134–35 mission and ministry, 40, 118, 121, 230, 265 teams, 128, 135–36, 142–43 Prayer. See Spiritual disciplines contemplative, 20, 47, 53, 106 examine of consciousness, 29, 31, 47, 52– 56, 59, 87 Proactive disciplines of change anticipation, 292, 296–99 excellence, 292–94, 298–99 innovation, 292, 294–96, 298–99 Procrastination, 98, 111–12 Romero, Oscar, 5–6 Reformers, 30, 35, 50, 56, 89, 223 Renewal, 53, 126, 239, 278, 293 Risk, 4–6, 8, 10, 12, 36, 50, 81, 91, 93, 96, 99, 109, 136, 175, 188, 195, 227, 234, 246, 279, 292, 298 Seasons of experience, 213, 215–17, 224–25, 272, 296 Self-examination, 28–30, 53–54, 87, 100, 102, 262, 271, 291 Shackleton, Earnest, 128 Simeon, Charles, 242, Sins (warm vs. cold), 7 Spiritual companions (companionship), 42, 213, 215, 217, 224, 296 Spiritual formation, 16, 88, 100, 211, 214, 218– 19, 222, 224, 241 definition, 207, 210 prerequisites, 218–19, 222, 225 Spiritual direction, 92, 105, 183, 197, 213–14, 217–18, 282 Spiritual disciplines confession, 20, 29, 50, 55, 100, 130, 212, 223 definition, 223 fasting, 35–36, 44, 56, 130, 162, 222–24

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/17/10

3:01 PM

Page 331

Subject Index / 331

Confession (continued) instituted (prayer, searching the scriptures, fasting, Lord’s supper, spiritual conversation), 56–59 meditation, 7, 105, 197, 212 prudential (acts of mercy, avoid all harm, attend ordinances of the church), 56–59 Sabbath, 81, 90, 104, 112–14, 130 searching scriptures (meditating, studying), 40, 43, 45, 162, 184, 208, 213, 218–19, 222, 236, 257, 272, 297 solitude, 35, 38, 41, 48–50, 56, 130, 213, 218, 220, 223–24, 255, 296 spiritual conversations, 17, 43, 45, 48, 52, 219 Spirituality action and contemplation, 47–48, 53 covenant community, 42, 47, 49–51, 56, 114, 159, 163, 217, 220–22, 224, 227 holistic life-style, 47, 51–52, 56, 124, 211, 222, 229 definition, 33, 206 espoused vs. lived, 211–12 examine of consciousness, 29, 31, 47, 52– 53, 55–56, 59, 87 examen of conscience, 29 Jesus. See Jesus (spirituality) rhythm of public ministry and private spaces, 40–41 scriptural model vs. neo-Western, 209–10, 217, 220, 224–25 six graces (prayer, fasting, Lord’s Supper, searching the scriptures, spiritual conversations, worship), 43–46 secret of easy yoke, 36 waiting, 40, 47–49, 56, 223, 300 Teams characteristics of high performance teams, 134–36, 165 conflict. See Conflict definition, 134 emotional processes: emotional gridlock,

170–72; emotional reactivity, 173–74; herding instinct, 174–75; blame displacement, 175–76; quick-fix mentality, 176; failure of nerve, 177; self-differentiated leaders, 177–80 family systems, 168–70 ethos, 120–25, 127, 130–31 formation, 136–39, 141, 143–44 guiding principles, 123–24 hierarchies vs. collaborative networks, 121, 125, 131 leadership team: pastors and boards. See Board of directors maturity/stages of formation, 136–44 Temptations, 7–8, 25, 28, 41, 44, 49–50, 73, 132, 144, 171, 191, 241, 243, 286 Trustees. See Board of Directors Vision alignment (with mission and core values), 253–54 climate of trust and communication, 266–67 common ground in shared vision, 261–63 communicating vision, 263–65 difference with mission, 249–51 dimensions: upward view toward God, 78– 79; inward view of oneself, 79–80; outward view of circumstances, 80–81 empowering people to enact vision, 265–66 how visions come to a congregation: divine encounter, 255; divine impulse (blessed hunch), 255–57; seeing through a need, 257; bringing together hopes and dreams, 257–59; practice foresight, 259 imagining the future: wishing, 251–52; dreaming, 251–54; visionary, 252–53 spirituality as a prerequisite, 260–61 why visions do not succeed, 267–69 Wesley, John, 30, 35, 50, 53, 58, 250 Xavier, 72 Zechariah, 70, 80

BBMU004201QK017.qxp:Layout 1

12/10/10

2:51 PM

Page 332

BBMU004201QC001.qxp:Layout 1

12/9/10

12:38 PM

Page 1

“Heuser and Shawchuck have done an outstanding revision of their classic volume, Leading the Congregation. The pursuits of excellence and spirituality are woven into a beautiful and practical guide for faithful ministry. This volume belongs on the desk of every pastor and in the curriculum of every school of theology. The authors are as courageous in naming the cost, demands, and dangers of ministry as they are faithful in making plain the abundant resources available to enable and enhance effective ministry in our time. Leading the Congregation is a book for everyone seeking a practical guide to excellence and faithfulness in ministry.” — B i s h o p R u e b e n P. J o b , author of Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living “Leading the Congregation is an excellent resource for those looking for authenticity and wholeness in leadership. Congregations desperately need the type of leader this book defines, that is, a Christ-centered leader whose sacrificial service provides the welcoming of the soul and the weaving of community in a wounded world.” — D r. J e s s e M i r a n d a , President of the Miranda Center and CEO of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) “Leading the Congregation is a captivating analysis of the life issues of a spiritual Christian leader and the congregation she or he serves. I relish the insights of the authors from spiritual formation, psychology, organization, and leadership analysis. It is a real help to the busily involved Christian leader so that one can understand the reality one is immersed in. It is an extremely welcome book.” —Elder Oscar Owens Jr., Christian Education Director of West Angeles Church of God in Christ “Young leaders, you will not just love this book; you will get it! Heuser and Shawchuck thoughtfully address perhaps the most challenging aspect of leading in the church today: the ‘with others’ part.” — C h i p E s p i n o z a , coauthor of Managing the Millennials

R O G E R H E U S E R (PhD, New York University) is Professor of Leadership Studies at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California. He has served as pastor, consultant, retreat guide, and adjunct professor in multiple settings overseas and in the United States, including Fuller Theological Seminary.

NO R M A N S H AW C H UC K (PhD, Northwestern University) has authored over twenty books on the subjects of spirituality, leadership, and conflict. He has led a distinguished career as pastor, consultant, trainer of US Navy and Marine military chaplains, and professor at Garrett Evangelical Seminary, McCormick Theological Seminary, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

LEADING THE CONGREGATION E HEUSER & SHAWCHUCK

C l a s s i c g u i d a n c e a n d a d v i c e o n h o w t o l e a d G o d ’s p e o p l e , revised and updated for a new generation of leaders.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4267-1139-8 90000

www.abingdonpress.com 01 02 03 FnL1 BFVNUEgEVU1QSABM/naTBTExLjk2Ajky ATQMSVNCTiBCYXJjb2RlDTEtNDI2Ny0x MTM5LTUA 03 0072

R

9 COVER DESIGN BY RICK SCHROEPPEL

781426 711398