Can Christian Leadership Be Saved?
By: M.J. Bishop
Tags: Evangelicals, Religion, Christian Leadership, Christianity, Church Leadership

There is nothing new about failures in Christian leadership. Even while the disciples were still with Jesus, they were arguing about who would be the greatest (Luke 22:24). The book of Acts records a “bitter disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas about taking John Mark on a missionary journey. This is right after the most brilliant early leadership decision the apostles made, to fully invite Gentiles into the family of Christian believers! (Acts 15:1–20)

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In recent history, the failures are getting more public, more frequent, and more damaging. Perhaps the most public example has been the resignation of Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church after confirmed reports of inappropriate sexual behavior against several women in the congregation. Also, the equally troubling downfall of James McDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel which included bizarre stories about a murder-for-hire plot and using church funds for a big-game hunting expedition in Africa. Both men remain to date publicly unrepentant.

Of course, it should be clearly stated that no Christian leader is faultless. Regardless of perceived level of influence, anointing, or character, Christian leaders are human and they tend to act like humans. Again, this is not unique to 21st century Christendom. The difference is that the news and social media cycle has been inundated with celebrity pastors behaving badly. The public face of evangelicalism has two black eyes and a bleeder. One more punch and the church will be down for a ten-count.

As bad as it seems, there is no reason to give up hope or abandon the idea of Christian leadership altogether. For those who have been down that road, it is not long before their faith is shipwrecked and they are absorbed into the culture at large. The answer to bad leadership is not “no” leadership, but good leadership. So what is good Christian leadership and how can we recover it?

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This is by no means an exhaustive list and in a short article I can barely scratch the surface. But I believe it is important to emphasize the kind of good leadership modeled by Jesus, the apostles, and others through the centuries. It starts with a favorite word of Christian leaders of the past generation…vision.

Abandon the Visionary Leader.

The majority of church planting and church sustaining pastoral training for the past 40 years has centered around ensuring that there is a visionary leader with a strong vision. There are a myriad of scriptural examples that get rolled out to support this idea (mostly from how God dealt with the people of Israel in the Old Testament). But the scripture you will hear again and again is this:

“ Where there is no vision, the people perish…” Proverbs 29:18, KJV

It should not be a surprise to find out that this “vision” has nothing to do with the vision of business acumen. This proverb is not saying “Where there is no over-arching plan to grow a successful church, the church plant will fail.” The root word in Hebrew, “chazown,” is better translated “divine revelation” or the prophetic voice. It is saying, if the prophets aren’t speaking the revelation of God’s wisdom, the people “cast off restraint.” [NIV]

Instead of training visionary leaders to build better church mousetraps, we should be encouraging prophetic voices to reveal God’s direction for the future, his heart for justice and mercy, and his unfailing love. We should heed Bonhoeffer’s warning from Life Together, “God hates visionary dreaming.” Sounds harsh, but it reveals how easy it is for us to slip into a style of leadership that believes in the end, everything is up to us.

2. Recapture the Equipping Mandate of Ephesians 4.

Along with the prophets, churches need to begin elevating the leadership gifts found in Ephesians 4:

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.” Ephesians 4:11, NLT

Honestly, the current modes of church leadership don’t relate to any of these gifts. Most evangelical leadership takes its cues from the strategies of successful CEO’s and management gurus. Discerning the “who, why, and how” of these five Spirit-enabled leadership giftings is a central task for the restoration of authentic church leadership. I’ll talk more about the “who” and the “how” in a second. The Apostle Paul is pretty clear about the “why” in the following verse:

“Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12, NLT

Church leadership is about creating spaces for people to thrive. It is not about inspiration, motivation, or participation as a measurement of commitment. The goal of leadership is not to create an active volunteer base. It is to equip regular people to embody the kingdom of God in their real lives. As Dallas Willard said, it is to learn from Jesus “how to lead my life as he would lead my life if he were I.”

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3. Abandon the Solitary Male Leader.

As I grow older and invest more time on deep reflection on the scripture, the overabundance of examples and clear teaching regarding the inclusiveness of Christianity is puzzling. How did we end up with a large majority of Christians believing that a solitary male leader — whether he be a pastor, priest, or “apostle” — is the nexus of leadership for Christian community? The engagement of leaders of all stripes in the New Testament is central to the story. Man, woman, Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, and everything in between play a part in the development and vibrancy of the early church.

The solitary male leader (SML) is a convenient substitute for the messy, beautiful, Spirit-inspired mosaic of Servant-Equippers that have to submit to one another, work in harmony, and acknowledge that all are subject to our ever-present King, Jesus himself. SML’s have gotten a free pass because of history and a few poorly-interpreted scriptures. The time for free passes is over. It is time for a new generation of multi-cultural, multi-gender, and multi-gifted Christian leader to rise up to take his place.

4. Embrace the Mustard Seed Way in the Post-Christian West.

“Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.” Mark 4:30–32, NLT

Christian leadership in the next 40 years will look very different than the previous 40 years. The church does not have a position of influence in culture and is on life support in terms of its voice and its immediate future. The public failures mentioned at the beginning of this article have been coupled by some recent public renunciations of faith by influential Christian leaders and artists. In some corners of the west, large churches still enjoy growth and influence. But this will continue to erode with time.

Can Christian leadership be saved? Yes, but only by returning to the ethos of the mustard seed. The challenge for any Christian leader in 2019 is to ask, do I believe in the efficacy of my leadership abilities, or do I believe in the Kingdom of God? Leaders will have to adopt the posture of Servant-Equippers and work to establish beachheads of rest and human flourishing in the midst of a chaotic culture. The solitary male leader will have to step down and invite women and minorities to take center-stage. As we heal from the brokenness and failures of the past, these new, brave Christian leaders will have to work together, forming their communities into Christlikeness for the sake of the world.