I recently listened to a retiring radio show host describe his years in the business. He used the opportunity to tell the untold story of internal shenanigans and even chose to name names. He was also resentful of the series of events that once catapulted him to the top of his game. His bitterness was expressed as something that would stick in his crawl for the rest of his days. Yet the move to a station recently acquired by his employer was only mismanaged, whilst his career benefited immensely.
The presenter went on to describe how the new station thrived under his influence and went to great lengths to describe how “his ideas” had boosted their ratings.
To be honest I felt nauseas as I listened to a large ego berate employers for decisions that were good for shareholders and which also gave him such a great break, but I almost gagged when he boasted of his personal achievements.
Sadly, I have seen this same kind of ego-centrism in all walks of life. Indeed, many leadership commentators seem locked into the idea that the leader is the crux of success. I do not agree. I give limited currency to leaders, per se, but hallow the principle of leadership. Biblical leadership was not supposed to be centered around individuals, but around the greatest stakeholder in the kingdom venture, God Himself. It never was about us or any other individual – it is about Him and the head of the church, Christ Jesus.
On occasions I have found exceptional leaders who led without being visible. They denounced public platforms or anything that would elevate themselves, choosing rather to work behind the scenes. When asked why their organisations were successful, they typically deferred to the team and turned the attention away from themselves. Churches so run, have the unmistakable evidence of Christ in their midst.
The idea of invisible, team-centric leadership is not pie-in-the-sky. Jim Collins wrote a globally respected book on Good to Great Leadership that celebrates that very position.
I am wary of being contentious, but I must say that there is no biblical precedence for a pastor-leader church model. The only model articulated by Paul was eldership – not senior or leading elder versus other elders, just simply elders. Personally I hate titles, but I also believe that real leadership is about creating leaders, not followers.
I have submitted to elder-led churches, but once presented a seminar at a large Baptist church, which had three mutually co-dependent leaders. Each had a different but complementary skills set that gave the congregation a sense of security – as such, because no individual was elevated but, because the leadership had a collective stature, internal conflict was also minimized and the three were mutually accountable to each other. The model was very analogous to the way geese fly in formation, where a leader is merely a role amongst roles and such roles are interchangeable and self-balancing.
I will explore these ideas further in subsequent posts, but I have said enough to provoke a debate – what are your views on these issues?
(c) Peter Eleazar @ http://www.4u2live.net/
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