What I Would Do (5)

Section One of this series dealt with what I miss now that I am doing "secular" ministry after thirty years as a parish pastor. Section Two was about what I don't miss. Section Three was talking about "secular ministry." Section Four looked at what I've learned in these three years in "secular ministry."
Links to earlier sections:
Introduction
1. What I Miss: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
2. What I Don't Miss: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Interlude (1)
3. Secular Ministry: Part 1, Part 2
4. What I've Learned: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Interlude (2)
5. What I Would Do: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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It is interesting that I find myself having difficulty getting into the topic of leadership as I see what I would do if I went back into parish ministry. My difficulty is based simply on the fact that it is hard to conceive of going into an established church and trying to be anything but what they want- unless of course you feel called to be a change agent- or a martyr. So in order to back into the topic I want to approach it from a more non-specific angle. This week I will come at the general topic for the type of leadership I would want to give and foster. The change part will come later.

It seems obvious from looking at what Jesus said and did that the most faithful style of leadership is the one that has come to be known as "servant leadership." This is a person-centered approach to leading. It has been around for a long time but has only recently been seen as a specific leadership style. Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Servant leadership is an approach to leadership development, coined and defined by Robert Greenleaf and advanced by several authors such as Stephen Covey, Peter Block, Peter Senge, Max De Pree, Margaret Wheatley, Ken Blanchard, John Sullivan, and others. Servant-leadership emphasizes the leader's role as steward of the resources (human, financial and otherwise) provided by the organization. It encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organization's values and integrity.
--Link

As I see it, servant leadership in the church is to follow the ethics, style, and direction of Jesus. That sounds so straightforward and intuitive that it is hard to think of any way to disagree with it. But in practice that is not the style of the church and probably hasn't been for quite a few centuries. For lots of good and bad reasons the idea of leadership in the church has been more hierarchical or tyrannical with a hierarchy or tyranny of both clergy and/or lay people possible depending on the particular theology or history of the church.

To live that out in a church is not an easy task. Clergy have been misused and abused by churches through low-pay, incredibly impossible demands on them, or lack of free or family time for generations. They justify is through saying the clergy is to be a "servant." Vice versa there are clergy who abuse and misuse their leadership by insisting that the lay people are their servants by being the "earthly ambassador" for Christ or any of a number of different theological constructs. In short to be a servant is usually to be misused and abused.

In contrast Jesus-led servant leadership is far more proactive. A servant is not a slave. A servant is not to be mistreated. A servant is to do the work of the master- and in the church the master is neither the pastor nor the congregation. The Master is God. So first and foremost a servant leader knows the mission and helps live it. In that moment the servant leader knows that it is not about them and their power. It is about the growth of the mission of God and their commitment to it.

All well and good. But there has to be more. In searching the Web this past week I found a series of questions that according to its authors are a way of checking whether you are or have been a servant leader. Note as you read it that this is from a state university in a secular setting. It is not from within the history or theology of the church. But it sure could be....

• Do people believe that you are willing to sacrifice your own self-interest for the good of the group?
• Do people believe that you want to hear their ideas and will value them?
• Do people believe that you will understand what is happening in their lives and how it affects them?
• Do people come to you when the chips are down or when something traumatic has happened in their lives?
• Do others believe that you have a strong awareness for what is going on?
• Do others follow your requests because they want to as opposed to because they “have to”?
• Do others communicate their ideas and vision for the organization when you are around?
• Do others have confidence in your ability to anticipate the future and its consequences?
• Do others believe you are preparing the organization to make a positive difference in the world?
• Do people believe that you are committed to helping them develop and grow?
• Do people feel a strong sense of community in the organization that you lead?

--Link-University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The authors, John E. Barbuto, Jr. and Daniel W. Wheeler, Extension Leadership Development Specialists for the University, could have been describing what we have traditionally called "ministry." Yet we can see where that has fallen apart with the questions on community, the openness of others to share their visions, preparing to make a positive difference in the world and not just in the church, and people following because they want to not because they feel coerced or forced. This kind of give-and-take openness isn't any more common in the church than it is in the business world. Yet it is essential.

In this postModern world it has become a non-negotiable. One of the things about the world around us is that people are less and less willing to accept leadership based on simple position, authority, or degrees. Leadership is followed when it is earned. Loyalty is to those who exhibit true and open leadership and is withheld from those who don't. "Because I'm the boss" is no longer as good a reason to do it as it is to look for a new job. The leader has to be willing to risk and share their vision and bring the people on board.

On one of my recent travels I listened to a CD of a servant leadership training session by James Hunter. The CD was subtitled "achieving success through character, bravery & influence." In one section he commented on this change in leadership acceptance by saying that today most people don't quit their job- "they quit their supervisor." Many will not remain in a job where they are treated poorly or misused and abused even for better pay. It may work for a while but it won't stick.

Perhaps that is one of the lessons we in the church haven't learned. Perhaps it isn't that people have left "the church" but rather the human institutional leadership style. When old traditions are more important than the mission, when the feelings of long-dead members still control the decisions, when lay and clergy seek to have their will done at the expense of other people's visions, people will leave.

Now no one is perfect. Even the best servant leaders make mistakes all the time. They step on toes, they ignore a vision, they get bogged down in institutionalism. In spite of the long history of servant leadership in the teachings of Jesus people like St. Francis are few and far between. The rest of us have to work on it daily, prayerfully, and very intentionally. A place to start is with that series of questions that delineate the characteristics of servant leadership. To ask those questions on a regular basis, to hold them up as a guidepost toward greater fulfillment of the life of Jesus in our common life will bring us all a little closer to living a little more often like Jesus.

That's the theory and theology. That's the easy part. As one of my youth group once responded in a Jesus-based values discussion- everyone knows what Jesus would do. I just might not be able to do it. But that's for next week.