Note: I wrote the following post as part of a requirement for a seminary scholarship. The essay prompt was: "In 750 words or less, please describe what the word “leader” means to you. How does this definition shape your ability to collaborate with others and engage the gospel? How will your leadership skills and experiences be of distinct use in addressing the most significant challenges and opportunities for the ELCA in the next 10 years?" This is a version that was a bit more than 750 words, and I feel like I barely scratched the surface of the issues. But since I was satisfied with the way it turned out, I saw no reason not to publish it here.
The concept of good leadership is one that was very nebulous in my mind until recently. Like love, it was something that I could point to when I saw it and be aware of when it was absent from a situation. But it took seeing an advertisement on the side of a public bus a few weeks ago to begin to articulate and organize many of the ideas I had about it. The slogan for a new campaign by a local New Jersey college, the ad read: “Our greatest strength is helping you find yours.” Of course, the slogan isn't a perfect fit for a definition of leadership. But it was a great help to have that simple, eight-word sentence in the forefront of my mind as I tried to articulate a conception of good leadership characterized not by egotism, aggression, or a sense of superiority, but by a commitment to serve others.
At its foundation, that commitment is about bringing out the very best in the people we serve: their gifts, their love, and their hope. It's about encouraging people to know that they're an integral part of the group, building their confidence, helping them to see the gifts and strengths that God has blessed them with and areas where they can contribute. Leaders and members of a congregation are not alone in their efforts and in the work that they do. Ideally, if they are led by the Holy Spirit, it is God working through them, using their abilities and passions to do His will.
For this to truly be the case, they must strengthen their faith and grow in their relationships with God and with others. Spiritual leaders can and should attempt to play a role in these journeys of faith. Through administering the sacraments, through pastoral counseling, and through joyful and effective preaching of the Word, parishioners can be reminded of the hope that they have within them, of God's restorative and healing love, and of the certainty that the work they do out of love for God and for neighbor is not in vain. They can then bring these truths out into a world in sore need of them.
It's no secret that Lutheranism, as well as organized Christianity in the US as a whole, are facing great obstacles in helping to bring about God's will for the world. Unlike the tribulations of the early Church, however, which faced persecution, violence, and exclusion and seemed to come out the stronger in spite of them, we face much more elusive enemies: disillusionment and apathy. Many Americans have seen the human weaknesses and flaws of individual Christians or of communities and have concluded that they want nothing to do with organized religion. “What has religion given mankind other than war, intolerance, and division?” they often ask. Even if they don't have a strong negative opinion of the Church, many people that I've engaged in conversation with, when faced with what they admit may be reasonable arguments for the existence of God or the resurrection of Christ, have replied that they simply don't care one way or another what the truth is. Either it has no bearing on their lives whether a supreme being exists, or they believe that we can't possibly know what God is like and what kind of relationship he wants to have with us. If he wants anything, who's to say he doesn't want us to be Muslim, or Buddhist?
And in many ways, I don't blame people for holding these positions. In my life, I've held every single one of them. I've experienced crises of faith, have asked the difficult questions about God and reality, have been overly skeptical, have had bouts of apathy and agnosticism. And I've come out on the other side of all these things secure in my faith and in my love for the Lord. My own spiritual journey, as well as countless positive interactions I've had with those who were wary of the Church or doubtful of God, have helped me to see the proliferation of the “Nones” and the increasing secularization of America not as the beginning of the end of Christianity, but as a challenge and opportunity to help God's light shine into the world until His Son's return.
This will only be possible with hard work, outreach, and constant evaluations of how we can best serve and love our neighbors. Christian leaders must therefore struggle against aloofness and isolation from non-Christians. They must be empathetic and willing to understand that people have difficult questions, and to realize that those who are unsure about God or organized religion are not evil or necessarily rebellious. As leaders, we can't shut ourselves off from doubts and concerns, whether they be from parishioners or people in the wider community. Nor can we resort to giving answers that only serve to appease our own assumptions or world views. We must love in deed and in truth and be active not only amongst our congregations, but in the wider community and in domestic and international missions. Acknowledging differences between denominations and strains within Christianity, we must nonetheless avoid schism and suspicion. In summary, we must turn what many people (including myself at one time) see as the Church's weakness, ie that it is made up of imperfect human beings, into its strength.
Ultimately, the future of the Church is in the hands of God. But as Christians we stand in the shadow of Jesus' Great Commission. He placed the responsibility to go out into the world and make disciples of the nations not only on religious leaders, but on all of us. The task of helping to build God's Kingdom, of spreading His Gospel and His love, needs as many hands as it can get. As a potential future leader of Christ's Church, my hope is that I will be able to bring some of those hands together, for the glory of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment