Young Pastors Blog

Rev. Stephen Lewis

President
The Fund for Theological Education

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August 12, 2010

The Church’s Unholy Addiction

Part 2 of 2

A couple of week-ago, my colleague, Matthew Williams wrote a blog entitled Single Leader-Centered vs Group-Centered Leadership, which explored the leadership models that shaped two Civil Rights Movement leaders, Ella Jo Baker and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. He introduced two very distinctive, yet important leadership models that were at play in the movement. Matthew highlighted a kind of leadership model that is particularly instructive and embodied in some, but not nearly enough, pastors and congregations. He named a kind of leadership—group-centered/shared leadership—which appears to be reflected more in Jesus’ rabbinical leadership than the messianic model that was placed upon him. This type of shared leadership—what I am calling pentecostal leadership, which is not to be confused with the Pentecostal church or forms of worship—finds its roots at Pentecost during the birth of the early church movement. I believe it is a corrective to the messianic leadership model. At its core, pentecostal leadership is against the tyranny of a single leader, prophet or spokesperson for God. This kind of leadership does not come easy and is not without structure and accountability. It is grounded in a community of dialogue and discernment. It cultivates, supports and celebrates the many gifts of a community. It honors ministries that come and go, and arises out of the gifts and shared call of its leaders. Pentecostal leadership is deeply intuitive, and builds up congregations for the edification of the whole. It is embodied in a way of being in the world that is open to the Spirit’s leading. Pentecostal leadership reflects the shared leadership activities that take place between clergy and their congregations for the purpose of leading, shaping and caring for the entire community. This kind of leadership fosters the kind of community where pastors and all of God’s people can “spend time together, breaking bread, praising God and attending to the goodwill of all.” (Acts 2:46-47)

At the Fund, we are seeking to cultivate this kind of shared leadership among young pastors and emerging leaders in hopes that some day clergypersons will have gone wild and set the church loose on the world. Some readers of this blog might think this is ideal, but not practical. Others may feel that this kind of leadership is not possible in most churches. Still, many will list all the reasons why this kind of leadership won’t work in their context. However, if the reign of God is near and we are invited by God to create what’s possible now, I want to hear what has not been heard; I want to see what has not been seen. I want to hear what you can do in your context to embody this kind of leadership. I long to witness a vision of how your denomination is creating alternative reward systems to encourage shared leadership and discourage upwardly mobile messianic leadership. The early church was not a practical idea. Apostle Paul admitted that our proclamation was foolish. Even Jesus’ contemporaries thought he was crazy, if not a madman. People have invested in and died for more preposterous causes in the church’s history. But they were willing to face the ridicule of the masses and risk the uncharted waters of the future, even if it meant their livelihood, if not their life, for the church’s sake. What are you willing to do?

The vitality of the church and its future is dependent on the quality of its leaders and their break from an addiction to messianic leadership. The church’s vitality and future requires that you and I risk being changed and transformed. I long to see the day when congregations and their leaders all across this land, if not the entire church, have gone wild and are set loose in the world as the presence of God’s healing and Shalom.

Until that day comes, the church demands nothing less from you than to be the pentecostal leaders you and I long to see in our communities.

CLICK HERE to read Part 1