Leaders must be Learners

On the way to Atlanta today I read a little bit from Missional Leadership by Roxburgh and Romanuk. A quote from p. 117 says,

"In our experience, many congregations are in trouble because their leaders don't know the most basic principles of leading people, forming effective staff, developing teams, or communicating processes. Crucial to forming missional communities, these skills are aspects of leadership that can be learned in other settings."

My experience tells me this is a very true statement. I must say that I've leaned a little toward entrepreneurial leadership models in my leadership and I am swinging back toward a missional leadership model. The thing about this quote that captured my attention is that simple, basic, universal people leadership skills and just plain old "smarts" are required in leading a church and leading people no matter how missional our focus is.

In my prayer time yesterday one of the Bible passages I read was Proverbs 3:19-20

"By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew."

I know that God knows everything but I never thought much about Him doing the work of creation through His wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. I just always saw this picture of massive power shooting forth and...BOOM... everything was in place. This scripture says that it was an exercise, not only of power, but of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.

One of my core values is the pursuit of the manifest Presence of God. I want God's Presence to propel my life, my decisions, and my direction. I want my encounters with God's Presence to be the origination of all of my actions. I also want to learn and increase in my abilities, in my knowledge, my understanding, and to grow in wisdom. I want the origination of my growth to be my relationship with God but I want to grow in wisdom and understanding so that I can be effective in the creative work that God has sown into my passion.

I have a passion to see church leaders relying upon the Presence and power of God but I am also passionate that they learn and grow in their pursuit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Gotta have both!

When you stop learning you stop growing, when you stop growing the people around you stop growing through your influence, and when that happens the revelations that we recieve from God ring hollow because they don't find their fulfillment in transformed lives.

Things Keep Changing

Change is an important part of our lives and an important thing to consider in spiritual leadership.

I recently read somewhere that the knowledge bank of humanity doubles every 2 years and that by the year 2020 it will be doubling every 73 days. I've heard a few variations of the rate of change but the statement is accurate enough to challenge us with the impact of change on our culture. This is not simply a technological explosion but it is an information explosion that leads to constant flux and change in our lives and in the organizations that we lead.

Remember the Oldsmobile television commercial from a few years ago... images of vintage tank-like Oldsmobiles were replaced with racy and sleek new Oldsmobiles. The voice over said, "This is not your father's Oldsmobile." I think that was a couple of years before they stopped making Oldsmobiles so the advertising strategy could hardly be considered a success. You can't change an image that has been impressed upon generations just by saying something has changed.

Perhaps if we are trying to catch the attention of a generation that thrives on change we should embrace true change instead of just trying to point out that we are somehow new and improved. I suppose that if you have to call attention to the fact that you have changed then the change is probably not all that remarkable and it definitely isn't organic.

After the Oldsmobile commercials gained popularity I heard people cutely modify the phrase and saying it with that deep announcer-like voice... "This is not your father's church." The inference being, "Hey, look at us, see how much we've changed." You've seen it and it's kinda pitiful. A church that does everything just like they always have but they tweak a couple of insignificant things and start touting their relevance. Oh my.

Constant change is a part of our culture like never before in the history of mankind. We shouldn't force change just because we want to be trendy but change comes when we realize our effectiveness is waning. We open ourselves up to change when the things that we value most are starting to slip away. Change is, or should be, an organic response of our passion to reach people that Jesus loves.

I'm glad that some things never change. That is a comfort to me. There are constants that keep us anchored. The core of the message itself does not change but the methods are constantly morphing.

So, how does an organization or church face the inevitable need for change? Well, a lot of complex discussion could be had on this topic but I'd prefer to just make a simple statement about it.

If the organization that I lead needs to change to be effective, relevant, loving, concerned, or reflective of Jesus...then I must change first. When I embrace deep change in the ways that I respond, the ways that I lead myself, the fervency with which I pursue God, the reflection that I am of Christ, then and only then will I be able to lead the kind of organic change necessary to effectively minister to this generation and the ones behind it.

When I become, as a leader and as a person, unwilling to embrace organic changes that are clearly and obviously necessary for the fulfillment of the mission then it's time for me to step aside.

May I (we) be continually transformed by the renewing of our minds.