I’m a pastor. Is my job to:
a.) lead everyone individually into the Christian life that I am already living? or
b.) to lead everyone into joining in life with God and His Mission wherever that might lead?
If it is a.) I am in trouble. Because I now have the pressure to have a perfect life so that having achieved that I can now give it to someone else. Here I am. Take a look at me. Here’s how to do it.
If it is b.) then I take an altogether different posture. I can reject the posture of “I am ahead of you.” Instead, I lead not as one who is “ahead” but as one who is “among.” We are in this together and, out of my gifts, I am inviting you to join in a journey together into the depths of life with God and His Mission. Let us journey together and along the way, there will be things you learn from me and there will be things I learn from you. It is true, I have been walking along this way for a while. I am embedded in a direction. This however does not mean I will always be perfect. It does mean that I have been put on course in an unswerving direction. I have been walking this direction and God has proven Himself again and again as Lord in and through Jesus Christ. But I cannot be everything to you and I will not be perfect in this endeavor. We must be in this together. God has found me in Christ and God has found you too in the same way. Yes? Then let us join in this journey together.
To continue on with model b.), We each have gifts. I don’t have everything. I cannot do everything. I am very limited actually. I may have been given certain gifts for leading, and teaching (let’s say). To the extent they are recognized in the community and given authority by the Holy Spirit out of my submission to Christ, I offer these gifts to my community (I think ordination recognizes, tests, and facilitates the gifts within the history of Christ). But you have been given gifts as well. I need you as much as you need me. The church body needs you as much as it needs me. We, and I emphasize “we” are the body. And God will use “us” to build up His Kingdom visibly in this place until He returns.
This model of leading (model b.)) requires character and direction. In this way I guess you could say I am leading from “ahead.” But I must grow too in my character. I must receive constructive truth-telling into my life. If I can’t do that, then I should expect no one else to either. Because I am growing too. Because leading “among” requires modeling “growth.” It requires growing into new territory. The minute I stop growing is the minute I am disqualified for ministry. Likewise, if I take a different direction, a direction of rebellion against God, a refusal to repent when in sin, or if I fall having given myself over to sin in a way that reveals I have lost my direction in Christ, then these things as well disqualify me to lead in my respective gifting. This model of leadership requires character and direction. Part of that character is the posture of leading humbling as one “among.”
Applying this to Preaching
In a recent conversation with a pastor/leader of a missional community we were talking about the struggle of preaching regularly. Here the pastor (I use the title “pastor” as applied to those recognized to lead in N American church whatever gifting they might have) discussed how he struggled with his interior life (not to be confused with his thought life). He found himself asking “Am I measuring up?” “Am I in sync with God?” “Am I living the life I am calling other people to?” To me, this pastor was revealing the leading from “ahead” model of leadership (articulated above) so often embodied by American church. This is the temptation to preach from the posture from above the congregation, as one with all the answers. We all fall into this temptation. It forces us to be somebody we are not in the pulpit and elsewhere. The temptation is to put on a front. And you do this every week, and you’re killing yourself to try to come up with some original insight each weekend for the sermon. This, I assure everyone reading this post, is the death of leadership in Mission.
But following the leading “among” model our job is to listen to what is going on each day in the lives of people around us and in our communities and then to reflect theologically, out of Scripture so as to interpret for our gathering what God is calling us to as a people. This is the gift of preaching! We are given a text to preach within the lectionary. Study of this text is important for preaching (it goes without saying). But meeting with one, two or three people every week, listening carefully to what is happening and reflecting with them about what God is doing in their lives and in their neighborhoods, will be the source material for the sermon. It provides the material from which to reflect on via Scripture. Yes, preaching is about understanding the text well. But it is also listening to God and discerning through the text what God is calling us into as a people. This is leading from among, missional preaching, or contextual theology. It is one of the leadership tasks so essential for the birthing of communities in mission.
Many pastors would disagree with this approach. Mark Driscoll for one has said (in this video here) he’s an introvert and therefore doesn’t want to know anyone is his congregation, just let the Spirit lead and guide him to say what needs to be said in his sermon. This I contend is leading from ahead versus leading from among. This kind of preaching, I contend, will tend to draw a crowd of people who are like you and already get your language and style. This kind of preaching, I contend, tends to decontextualize. The attempts to contextualize from ‘above” always lead to efforts to be more “relevant.” Thus it’s really more marketing than embedding in a context.
So here is what I suggest. If you’re struggling in your teaching/preaching ministry to “come up with” a sermon for this week, have a cup of coffee with people in your community and listen carefully. Take someone out in your neigborhood to a bar or coffee shop and listen carefully. Read the text from Scripture before and after, do the work of study. But it’s that cup of coffee that the Holy Spirit will use to give context and energy for the sermon. and you’ll have a sermon. Make it a weekly, monthly rhythm!
Agree? Disagree? Am I wrong about leading “from ahead” decontextualizing preaching?
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Amen! Thanks Dave! In Eugene Peterson’s memoir he remembers as a student asking a pastor (George Buttrick) he was interning under, “What is the most important thing you do in preparing to preach each Sunday?” His answer: “For two hours every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, I walk through the neighborhood and make home visits. There is no way that I can preach the gospel to these people if I don’t know how they are living, what they are thinking and talking about. Preaching is proclamation, God’s word revealed in Jesus, but only when it gets embedded in conversation, in a listening ear and responding tongue, does it become gospel.”
I think both are necessary and complement each other somewhat. I like how you did specify that there is a kind of “leading ahead” component, but if we cannot also communicate that we are growing TOGETHER with our community of faith… that’s too elitist.
I never flash around a “pastoral badge”, but what I do find is that many ppl (i.e. in a bible study) look toward the pastor or person “who is ahead” to communicate some sort of sound doctrine.
Myself personally, I try to communicate “what I’ve found, check it out if you want” vs. “this is where you all need to be” attitude.
Interesting thoughts as always!
Dave,
Question – how do we conceive of this “among-ness”? Is it more a posture or a practice? Do we take the ‘posture’ of among-ness so we can embody our Spirit-gifted ‘practice’ of ahead-ness?
Asked another way: If submission is our posture of openness to Christ’s leading through the Spirit (which he’s given to the Church, etc.), Do we (you?) call this submissive posture in community ‘among-ness’? And is this the only posture from which we can ‘biblically’ practice ahead-ness?
Trying to conceive of how to this all relates together, which I sense you are also wrestling with in the above post. Specifically this is a pastoral concern for me as I lead a discipleship huddle with people in my church.
M. Tebbe
Not sure how this fits into the discussion and perhaps I am meeting ya’ll in the tension. The question I continue to wrestle with is this: “how do I live and lead among our people while leading ahead?” We’re called to both, aren’t we?
If submission to God and his people is the proper posture in leadership (and I believe that it is), then what does it look like to lead ahead while amongst the people that God has given us responsibility to shepherd?
I believe that we can locate our answer in a posture of constant surrender to God and his people (amongst). That I would take the “lead-ahead” ideas/strategies/planning/thinking and submit/surrender them to the Christ and his body. This is a posture-practice that I’m trying to figure out for what it’s worth.
for Catholics and Orthodox Christians, the priest is an “other Christ” when he celebrates the sacraments- so he is de facto ‘in front of’ the people even though he is a sinner like everyone else. It is a difficult balance to work with.
Years ago when we had a new pastor come to our (Pentecostal) congregation, and I suggested getting together with him regularly (I had been assistant to the previous pastor) he said he didn’t want to ‘live in people’s pockets.’
Seems like he and Mark D are from a similar mould: suffice to say, over the next year, half this man’s congregation went to other churches…
I totally get what you’re driving at…the need to listen and lead from among instead of above. But I don’t know if I like the options a) or b). It seems to be that as soon as you use the word “lead” you automatically are put in a position of leading from your own life, your own experiences and character. You can’t lead from someone else’s. Whether we like it or not, we are constantly leading others into the Christian life that we live…so we might as well own and it put it in it’s rightful place in community on mission.
So I don’t know if a and b are exclusive.
I wonder if there is a different “essence” that would better differentiate Jesus-style leadership from what we often see in the world and in the church?
Amen to this as well – thanks for the reminder Dave! This reminds me of what I heard from Dr. Kennon Callahan at a conference:
Some people recommend spending one hour of studying and writing preparation for each minute you preach on Sunday. Instead, try spending one hour in visiting someone in your congregation for every minute you preach.
Dave,
Excellent comments! That is exactly what I teach my students.
We are all called to serve in Christ’s Church. Ordained ministry isn’t about rank or status, but about gifting, serving, and accountability. The work of Christ is the work of all members of Christ’s body.
Your thoughts on preaching are right on target.
Ricky
Thank you Fitch,
It is too bad our biggest “celebrities” in the missional church won’t even walk in the front door of their church on Sunday. They are ushered in the back like Brittany Spears going for a private shopping spree at Fred Segal. How do you “shepard” or pastor when you’re not among the people?
Sadly what is missing the most in these pop-culture times is pastoring from pastors. Pastors who talk and share and counsel and love on the people of their church and are engaged in their struggles and victories. Pastors who use teaching talents not just to cast a lofty vision or insight from the pulpit once a week or push witty content out to twitter and facebook from deep within their pastoral bunker, but to deal directly within someones struggles.
Sadly our pop-culture society rewards disengagement from leaders. Disengagement stokes a cult of personality and packs the seats with people hoping to catch a glimpse of their pastor, their leader (and you don’t even have to buy a ticket for this rock show!)
But this doesn’t mean the church is healthier or the leaders are healthier for it. It just creates inside the church, the same celebrity driven fanaticism that exist outside the church.
Pastors who are engaged, are loving on, pastoring, caring for and helping their flock may not be selling millions of books or getting high dollar speaking engagements…. because they are so accessible they aren’t a high dollar commodity. But they are building healthy congregations and from what I’ve seen are joining their church in an increasingly richer, deeper better understanding and relationship with God. It has been almost as fun watching my pastor grow into the man God has made him over the last few years as it has been growing into the man God has made me into.
I am grateful for your voice.
Beautiful Dave! It invites us all to lead from where we are and from who we are, while also recognizing that “the Spirit of God is among the people of God.”
Dave, I follow the “leader as host” metaphor. The role of the host of a dinner party is to think ahead of what is required and to plan and prepare carefully for the event. When the people arrive all the preparation results is a wonderful evening where the guests are the centre of the event and the host mingles in the background. With such a metaphor we can see the leader as leading ahead, in the sense that he or she sees the potential, and creates the space for God to work and for people to experience God. But the host is also working among the people because he or she must be present, constantly making sure that people are being supported, that conversations are going well, that people are getting fed. In the long run, the host has no control over what happens at the dinner party, but the success of the event depends on how well the preparation has been carried out. Thanks for your post.
Rob Douglas, Nice, very nice
Very nice, David. I’m reminded of what Hans Kung once said – that leaders should lead from ‘within’ the congregation, not from ‘above.’ As you stated, they should see themselves as one gift among many, interdependent with and connected to others. This greatly reduces any idea of hierarchicalism, and reaches into the ministry of Jesus as one who demonstrated such a model.
Rob, me too see
http://tinyurl.com/2blu9kb
But I stole the metaphor from Margaret Wheatley
Further thoughts on the above contrast. Adaptive leadership is partly a recognition of the uniqueness of the cultural space we are in. We don’t have clear solutions. As a result our posture is less rallying the troops or presenting new strategic plans than it is listening. That is a particular leadership skill that evokes more a poetic response than a classically “pastoral” (read – managerial) one. This is not a time for us to be problem-solving, but to recognize that God’s purpose (as with Israel in the exile) is to re-form us as a people dependent on Him.
Along your line of thinking D.Fitch, I’ve been reflecting more these days on pastor as “gatherer.” Whether that’s one or two people over coffee, a handful over dinner, or a few dozen for a casual party, but someone who gathers so there is a “together to be among.” Here is where we connect, listen, and be surprised by the One who lives among the conversation. When I observe what happens at Epic, it is often the gathers who are truly pastoring our flock.
Dave,
Truth and insight rolled into one! Last week I taught a preaching seminar to young pastors. They asked me, “What’s the most important thing you do in preparation for the sermon?” After telling them “I consult Rick Warren and Joel Osteen’s websites” I told them the truth….I still visit in homes, do funerals and go to hospitals! We may be larger than the average church, but the pastor has to make the time! One provocative question however….how does this model relate to the “preacher’s” desire to preach through a series? Can one really plan ahead (i.e. one year in advance) by using this approach? Does the planning model have a role in the missional community? Or should planning ahead still occur but by using the community by sharing in the construction and formulation of topics, passages, etc? Or do we simply use the readings associated with the church calendar and take it to the community and thus the assigned texts become the “series”? Just wondering…….some day I will buy you that cup of java juice when I’m your way.
Chuck
Dave,
My take is that discipleship consists in imparting the life of Christ to others. That we lead, as Paul did, by calling “follow me as I follow Christ.” I like the idea that we might also rightly call, “follow me as *we* follow Christ.”
But, to my mind the role of discipler is the role of spiritual parent. We have many guides in Christ, but few fathers, as it were. A father (whether male or female in this case) is, in a very real sense, ahead. They are of reproductive age and able to instruct, as Paul says in Thess. Spiritual mothers (also in Thess, and gal) both birth and nurture. Parents lead their children (especially the very young) in a very ahead, but also with, sort of way.
Some are deeper in Christ than others. Not all can reproduce, because not all are of reproductive age, and this is about way more than gifting obviously.
Certainly we don’t want to encourage pretense. But pretense in encouraged in large part because ministry is so “gift” oriented. Don’t you think? Imparting the life of Christ doesn’t come mostly through gift. You reproduce who you are, not what you know or can do. The incarnation takes that sort of life and puts it “among.”
I wonder how we engage the community not only in the prep work but in the proclamation- it seems to me that another ‘issue’ with ‘traditional’ preaching is the pedagogy– educators tell us it’s the least effective teaching approach… so how, like Jesus, do we become more interactive; ask questions, hear and tell stories and together reflect theologically on them in/through/with the text…. or is it ok for one person just to tell all? Another question– how does the Spirit speak through (and to) the whole Body not only via the written Word, but via the living Word living in us, His image bearers and all creation …
Karen W.
I agree there is this side of discernment, listening for God in the “other” … I also think this seeking of God in the other can be confusing/obfuscating/subjective .. apart from the clarifying revelation of God in Christ (I would say through the Eucharist, others would say the Scriptures by the Spirit) .. so they work together. I agree the pedagogical methods of the west *especially late west* are highly ineffective (I easily reflect off of Derrida on this) … nonetheless, proclamation is still essential for the furtherance of mission, funding the imagination of the community together for seeing what God is doing around us … I love that you and I and others have this ongoing back forth dialogue on this matter !
DF
I think Paul’s own ministry is instructive in this question of proclamation. In Acts 20, as he’s leaving the Ephesian Elders, he says he never shrunk back in proclaiming the word in public or from house to house.
It’s easy (for me anyway) to get an image of Jesus in the streets and Paul in the pulpit. But obviously no such division existed for either. An integrated life for Paul meant that he was always proclaiming the word, the same for Jesus. This to me is the biggest scandal of western preaching’s exclusive focus on the gathered crowd: That it inadvertently creates leaders that have a prepared 45 minute weekly bank of proclamation, from which they can make a couple withdraws, rather than a river of living water.
This is cynical I know. I actually believe in preaching. I just believe it ought to be the outflow of the disciple in all contexts and not only the use of a gift in one. This is why I have a difficultly with the “ahead” and “among” division. It forces me into a false choice.
Hmmm?
a.) leading from “Ahead?”
b.) leading from “Among?”
How about a third option – How about option… c.) …
C – for Christ – the “ONE” leader…
And the rest of us Mere Fallibe Humans
are called to be “Servants of Christ.”
c.) “Serving” from “Below.” …By love “Serve” one another. Gal 5:13.
*Do nothing* from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility
count others *more significant* than yourselves. Phil 2:3.ESV
Seems Jesus taught “His Disciples” NOT to be called “Leaders.”
For you have “ONE” leader – Christ. *And NONE did.*
New American Standard Bible – Mat 23:10-12.
Do not be called leaders; for “ONE” is your Leader, that is, Christ.
But the greatest among you shall be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled;
and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
The Message – Mat 23:10-12.
And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them.
There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.
**Do you want to stand out? – Then step down. – Be a servant.**
If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But
if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.
Haven’t you ever wondered – Why – In the Bible…
NOT one “Disciple of Christ” called them self – “Leader?”
NOT one “Disciple of Christ” called another “Disciple”“Leader?”
And – ALL “Disciples of Christ” called themselves “Servants?”
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold:
them also I must bring, and they shall **hear MY voice;**
and there shall be “ONE” fold, and “ONE” shepherd.
John 10:16
One Fold – One Shepherd – One Voice – One leader.
{{{{{{ Jesus }}}}}}
Great post, Dave. The word “among” is so powerful, but so easily missed. The church is “among” the elders – not under them (says Peter in 1 Peter 5:2, NASB); the overseers are “among” the flock – not over it (says Luke in Acts 20:28, NASB). “Among” . . . not over or under.
p.s. Luke is actually quoting Paul in Acts 20 . . .
[...] On Sunday morning, in sharp defiance to the notion the Piperian notion that, “God has designed christianity to have a masculine feel to it,” Amy and I preached the sermon, “Leadership as Partnership: Embodying a New World Order,” as partners who together, as male and female, reflect the imago Dei! We spoke out of Acts 2 and Ephesians 4, calling attention to the primary role of the Holy Spirit in constituting a body of people who, against all worldly convention, seek to lead one another out of their unique giftedness in partnership for mission. [...]
I think I am with some of the other commenters here in thinking that there is some other way (middle ground?) to think about this. A post I wrote several years ago recently resurfaced (http://t.co/ORtx4pPV) and got me thinking about this again.
From a personal perspective, as I think about my own spiritual formation as a younger leader, I’m quite inclined to seek out men and women whose experience, character, and perspective really does exceed my own. I would absolutely expect them to lead humbly and with reference to the Spirit’s work in a body of people rather than putting all the focus on themselves, but I don’t see how these dispositions/postures have to detract from the reality that this leader truly is “ahead of me” in terms of their maturity.
Seems to me that your option A moves too quickly away from a positive model of leadership that we see at work in the New Testament.
I would have to agree with JR Rozko and the other commenters who advocate a third option. One that recognizes the distinctions of a pastor while retaining the notion that all believers, pastors and non-pastors alike, are all on a journey with Jesus. It would be a leadership model based upon leading not from ahead or among, but from WITHIN fellowship/church.
This may be a slight nuance, but I feel that it is one that makes a huge difference in how one pastors, leads, and functions as a member of the Body of Jesus. If you follow the below link, you will find a post in which I elaborate a bit more on what I’m talking about.
http://requisite_danger.bluecastle.us/2012/02/16/leading-from-within-the-herd/
Blessings.