My friend, Michael Kinnamon, recently quoted John Cobb and Joseph Hough who wrote, "The expectations for leadership in society as a whole have increasingly been adopted as normative for church leadership as well. Following the general pattern of bureaucratization, the churches, too, have focused on routinized problem solving in the organization and maintenance of their institutions as the chief locus of leader effectiveness." There was a definite ring of truth in this assesment for me.
The truth of this assesment was driven home as I recently observed a highly motivated group of people gathered as "The Fellowship of Presbyterians" in Minneapolis. To their credit each plenary included prayer, reading of scripture, and proclamation. Moreover, they sustained an effort to speak in a positive way about what God might be doing in the Church - in particular the Presbyterian tradition.
However, as the introductory address was offered by Jim Singleton of Colorado, the language used to redefine the nature and shape of the church (ecclesiology) drew heavily from the insight of leadership guru Ronald Heifetz. Now, I actually liked the use of Heifetz's "adaptive change" paradigm as a leadership tool for a world filled with change. Yet what was missing to my mind was a healthy appeal to the nature of the Body of Christ and its consequences for our lives together.
This is to say that the answer to our bureaucratic woes in denominations is not a newer and better approach to corporate leadership that has been adapted to the non-profit religious environment. This would be just a newer, shinier tool in the corporate leadership toolchest.
It seems to me that the Christian Church would benefit from leadership that engages in deep and committed prayer and conversation about the best way to embody the living presence of Jesus Christ in the world. Now, I realize that my colleagues who draw upon the latest leadership resources would probably claim to have a similar aim. However, I'd prefer to start a conversation about change with the wisdom of scripture and a testimony of lives changed and the world transformed.
For example, here are passages worth considering. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? ... Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." (1 Cor. 6:9, 12:27) The church has been given a holy calling that is always about fundamental adaptive change - we are not our own, we belong to God - this is a biblical word that calls us to constantly remember and adapt.
In my experience, the church is genuinely a living organism that draws in new vitality and perspective with each new soul joining our witness. This sometimes causes controversy because the scriptures are not always read in a uniform manner on issues of deep significance. We are given a challenge of the kind presented in Jesus' parable in Matthew 13:24-30 where the Master instructs us, to let both good wheat and invasive weeds "grow together until the harvest" (v.30).
I have found this biblically articulated reality of post-modern life in the Church to be a helpful challenge. When confronted by believers who read scripture and its application in a differnt way than I read, I am forced to reflect anew on the core of our faith and our calling in the world.
It is interesting that "differentiation" was a term in frequent use during the Minneapolis gathering. I don't believe that differentiation requires separation. Indeed, I believe Jesus constantly gave his disciples the challenge of hospitality and holiness at the same time. We are to be good wheat growing alongside the weeds working out our own salvation dilligently (Phil. 2:12-13) and trusting in the good judgement of God.
Here is my challenge for leaders of the Church in a world of constant change - seek the spiritual center of our life. Return to the witness of scripture. Hear the voice of other believers. Act with sincerity and humility. And never forget that we belong, body and soul, in life and in death – to our faithful savior Jesus Christ.
