In our last issue I introduced you to the book The Missional Leader; Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk. This was in the context of a discussion of one of the latest evangelical buzzwords, “missional.” I indicated that the missional trend, I believe, is one of those healthy trends that helps to clear up the clutter that so often accumulates in our ministries and gets us back to the basics of who we are and what we are all about.
According to Roxburgh and Romanuk, “A missional church is a community of God’s people who live in the imagination that they are, by their very nature, God’s missionary people living as a demonstration of what God plans to do in and for all creation in Jesus Christ.” (Pg. xv)
What really made me sit up and take notice in this book was what they had to say about Christian leadership. I’m going to try to provide a snapshot by simply quoting some excerpts:
In response to demand, numerous books are being published with missional language in the title. What is disappointing about most of these books is that they use missional language to repackage the familiar language of church effectiveness, church growth, and church health. In other words, the writers have not engaged the nature of the change a missional paradigm requires and are simply offering a few more good tactics for doing the same thing more effectively. Leadership models are borrowed from psychology (counselor, therapist), medicine (health and healer), the business world (strategist, coach, manager), and the educational world (teacher). A lot of congregations have been socialized to view these models as the only viable ones. (pgs. 4-5)
In their own context and setting – medicine, the business world, counseling – these images of leadership are appropriate, but when the church borrows and applies such models to the community of God’s people it misses an opportunity to shape leadership around the biblical sense, in which leadership is about cultivating an environment that innovates and releases the missional imagination present among a community of God’s people. (pg. 5, italics mine)
The pastoral model in its contemporary practice is not actually derived from New Testament models of a pastor. In its current usage the word has been directly shaped (and redefined) by the fields of psychology and therapy as well as by modernity’s focus on the self and the expressive individual. The pastor is thus primarily a caregiver, a spiritual counselor who looks after the private, personal, inner spiritual needs of individuals who choose to contract in and out of relationships as they do or don’t meet their needs. (pgs. 26-27)
It [the caregiving pastoral model of leadership] is being rapidly displaced by an entrepreneurial model. Whole systems of church life are being formed on the basis of the CEO leader who takes charge, sets growth goals, and targets “turnaround” congregations much like a business CEO who comes in to lead a failing corporation. This narrative is deeply rooted in the North American myth of the heroic, charismatic personality who, like some form of spiritual superman or superwoman, guarantees success through the power of personality or strategic skill. (pg. 27)
In this book we offer an alternative model of the missional leader who is a cultivator of an environment that discerns God’s activities among the congregation and in its context. It is leadership that cultivates the practice of indwelling Scripture and discovering places for experiment and risk as people discover that the Spirit of God’s life-giving future in Jesus is among them. (pg. 27)
The word “cultivator” made me sit up and take notice. I realized that much of the leadership material I have read in recent years does focus on the secular models as noted above and very little on leadership as cultivation.
My thoughts also immediately turned to the classic passage on the function of the church in Ephesians 4:11-16 and specifically to the description of the role of leadership in verses 11 & 12.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, . . . (ESV)
A biblical leader is an equipper, a cultivator; someone who invests in people to help them understand and fulfill their calling. That to me distinguishes biblical leadership within the various styles of leadership that are so often talked about today. Whatever our style, whatever our skill set, the goal is equipped people finding their place in God’s kingdom program and the ultimate skill is cultivation.
The authors of the Missional Leader take us beyond simply a training model as we think of the leader as cultivator. They talk about “discerning God’s activities among the congregation and its context” (the community) and creating a cultivation environment in the congregation. They speak of stimulating the imagination of God’s people to see what they can do to represent Christ in their community. In other words, the cultivating leader must be sensitive to God’s voice and work and to the possibilities for God’s people where they live.
As I reflect upon my own ministry as a Christian leader I have to say that being in a leadership role has always come pretty naturally to me. I have always loved studying and teaching God’s Word. I have learned to be strategic in my approach to leadership and have not shied away from difficulties in decision making. I’ve never had real difficulty in finding followers. In many ways I’ve enjoyed success as a leader. But, I wonder how much real cultivation has been done? How many imaginations have been stirred? How much vision for God’s Kingdom has been stimulated? How many of God’s people under my care have identified and pursued their calling in God’s Kingdom program? How much of my community has been impacted by our presence? I believe that it is the answers to these questions that will be the ultimate measure of my leadership. How about you?
Mar/Apr 2007 Leader’s Digest Article by Dr. Paul Null
In Applebee's America (Simon & Schuster, 2006) - Douglas B. Sosnik, a strategist in the Clinton White House; Matthew J. Dowd, a strategist for President Bush's two campaigns; and award-winning political journalist Ron Fournier - explore how these political, corporate and religious entities have been able to connect with the American public.
This is a must read book for anyone wanting to understand the changes that are taking place in our culture and how they affect our lives and ministry. It does not matter what your political affiliation, culinary preferences or ministry penchant - this book will be helpful to gaining understanding and perspective. As one reviewer put it, "They discovered that successful leaders, even those from disparate fields, have more in common than not."
Applebee's America is divided into two parts. The first section covers the Great Connectors, observing how in the areas of politics, business and religion there are individuals who have been able to make connections of influence into the American culture.
The authors show that in the areas of politics, business and religion great connectors have been able to: 1) Make and Maintain Gut Value Connections; 2) Adapt to the changing culture; 3) LifeTarget by analyzing their targeted segment; 4) Talk Smart by talking in ways that the targeted segments hear; and 5) Find the Navigators, people who have credibility and influence to carry the message.
In the second section the authors give analysis of the changes in the American culture that have made these Great Connectors effective. Prior to 9/11 there were many factors that contributed to a change in the way Americans looked and felt about themselves and their world. Economic woes, globalization and other factors were impacting our self identity. 9/11 was a catalyst to the acceleration of cultural confusion producing Anxious Americans.
The 3 C's: Connections, Community and Civic Engagement are the values of our current culture, although these common terms need to be defined and understood in light of the technological/information revolution and the internet more specifically. This has extreme implications to the church and ministry.
In the chapter on Navigators we are reminded in an initial quote of Albert Einstein that, "Information is not Knowledge." In this age of technology people are looking for individuals to help them sort through the avalanche of information, hence the rise of blogs, pundits and personal websites.
Americans are on the Move and in the process of moving we are segregating, although not as much racially, as ideologically. The authors declare that we are becoming a self-polarizing Tribal Nation. This tribalization is not over political or religious ideologies, but lifestyle values.
The last chapter of the book discusses the implications of 9/11 and other social factors on the generation of individuals ages 3 to 24, Generation 9/11.
I found this book fascinating beyond its implications to the church and ministry. Understanding the potential power of technology to influence the electorate sheds insightful light on events in recent history and will make for keen observation on the upcoming elections.
I was also challenged to evaluate the Boomer Generation values, so deeply ingrained in my thinking, actions and reactions - to once again remember that every generation has differing values through which they filter information (including the Gospel) and life.
I think that one of the books most notable applications to ministry, and I believe that there are many, is the concept of the 3 C's: Connections, Community and Civic Engagement. As I mentioned earlier, the Technological and Information Ages have redefined these terms. People are longing for connections and community, and we, the church, long to help people connect to the Gospel and find in the church a place to belong - community. The internet has loosed the definition of community form its physical constraints oflocation and has opened the doors to community by affinity of ideology. For far too many of us, our understanding of community is encumbered in the nostalgia of "Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and here are the people"; we long for those good old days.
Somehow, we must understand that the missional gospel is not tied to, nor bound by, any cultural nuances. The Great Commission dictates that the gospel speaks truth to the heart and soul of all people, everywhere, and at all times. Like every missionary we must learn the language and culture of the people to whom God has called us to share this Good News. In the last 25 years we have transitioned from the end of the Industrial Age, through Technological Age, and into the Informational Age. To close our eyes and shake our heads in hopes that things have not changed , or will not change, in our sphere of ministry is to deny the power and purpose of God's working through church and the importance of the Gospel to future generations.
— Review by Stan Rieb