I appreciate the insights about impatience in emerging leaders ("we have some amazingly gifted leaders in the church who have not as of yet taken the time to forge their character") - it is frequently true that when there’s a fire in your belly it is hard to let that fire purify you. So much more efficient to aim it outside of yourself, right? 

That said, so many present structures have a way of rewarding administrators and Type-A do-ers. Leaders have the annoying habit of innovating and casting vision, and Administrators are paid to maintain the status quo.  It looks like Administrators are serving the church by forcing out and marginalizing leaders, when in fact, sometimes, they’re simply polishing their beloved structure.

I remember someone telling me once that a quick way to begin to discern a person’s spiritual gift was to find out what bugged the person most about their church. Though this isn’t always accurate, I can’t help but wonder at the amount of people blogging about church issues (myself included!), starting alternative churches, or dropping out of institutional churches while remaining passionate about Jesus. Something tells me that there are a high percentage of of spiritually gifted leaders in this crowd.

We need to actively encourage emerging leaders by giving them the opportunity to lead, and it will be the best way to transition our church for the next generation, too. It’s win/win for everyone except the guy who is power hungry. Lord, let that guy never be me. Let me be SERVICE hungry!

Thanks Leonard. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when you write your book I want to read it.

I agree with Leonard--a lot of leadership is stifled in churches today--by members who want to control what happens in and to the institution. I recently resigned from my church after more than 20 years of ministry. The last few years were the most difficult because my leadership was resisted by people who thought they knew what the church needed. I’m leaving on a very good note, but I believe the Lord has a more effective place of ministry ahead for me outside the institutional church. I can accomplish much more when I’m free to do what God called me to do. Michelle’s observation is right and I guess I’m now one of those people outside the “structure.”

I also agree with Leonard that the church is lacking Kingdom Statesmen today--men and women of proven character. Yes, we have some, but not enough to produce mature leaders from the stock of incredible men and women or faith and passion that are energing today. I think the best training is done by pastors who mentor their upcoming leaders with encouragement, training, and mentorship. It takes time, but bears good fruit.

Mr. Lee states, “Not much room is being made for new leaders who can navigate the cultural changes happening all around the church and so the church is losing not only a generation of gifts God intended to make it strong, it is dividing, leaving many people wounded and wondering if the church is necessary at all”. 

I believe this premise is flawed.  There are leaders who use what is given and who follow in the paths of others.  And then there are true leaders who blaze their own path, who are rebels against this world, against it’s lifestyle and it’s attitudes (Ro. 12:2).  They do not seek to “navigate the cultural changes happening all around the church"… they seek to define, by their actions and their ideas, “new” cultural norms that will change those all around the church.  How else can we be the salt and the light?

Yes, the church “is dividing”.  But the root of our disunity has yet to be cut out of the body of Christ, in spite of many great leaders over the centuries.  The root of this disunity is our own carnal nature.  Jesus tells us we are to be like sheep.  He tells us he yearns to be like a hen who gathers her chicks but we resist, leading to the desolation of our homes (Mt. 23:37-38).  This is the language of community.  Jesus set the example for individual empowerment through community in his first official act of ministry.  He went out and gathered the apostles… then other disciples.  They broke bread together, worked together, slept together, and ministered together.  This is community.  This was the pattern for primitive Christianity for nearly two centuries and we have records from historians to back this up.

But today, we Christians have adopted the lifestyle dictated by governments since Roman times, who championed the individual and the individualistic lifestyle.  Governments fear believers who gather together, because it is an act of empowerment.  But Jesus told us to be like sheep… not meek and mild but gathered for protection from predators.  No sheep ever wanders off to their own pasture.  If they do, they are attacked and usually eaten.  Yet over the past 33 years, ever since I was converted by the power of God’s holy spirit, I have never heard one preacher or read one book that understood this most basic departure from the truth. 

What we need now is not more leaders or a different style of leadership.  What we need are leaders who understand the church as we know it is a lie.  Without community we can not obey the most basic command given to us by Jesus, to “Love one another AS I HAVE LOVED YOU”.  Those who truly love one another, want to spend as much time as possible with one another.  And how can we obey that scripture which says, “Exhort one another DAILY, while it is called today, lest your hearts be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (He 3:13), when we are separated by time and distance most of the week?  Instead we gather briefly several times a week and pretend we are “the body of Christ”. 

Here is how the body of Christ should function, if only we could let go of our worldly, individualistic lifestyle and embrace the example of Jesus set for us by his imagery (sheep and hen & chicks) and by his actions (gathering the disciples and sharing what little they had): “1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. ... 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. 17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart”.

What I believe will transform the body of Christ is a grass-roots movement of people who spend a minimum of one hour a day with God… listening, longing to “Be still and know God”.  This is the vitally important discipline of meditative prayer.  These men and women will understand they are members of the royal priesthood, NOT lay persons (and that in fact ALL of us have this potential if we will but embrace it).  These Priests of the Lord (as we are told we will be called in last days, see Isaiah) will have the faith to believe that “You have no need of any man to teach you the things of God for the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth” (Paraphrase of I Jn 2:27 and I Cor. 2_12-16).  They will see the power of abiding in Christ, of having the mind of Christ, of partaking in that glory to glory transfer talked about in II Cor. 3.  And then they in turn will teach others.  They will not teach what to believe, so much as how to believe.  Those who truly love God with “all their heart, all their soul and all their mind” (Mt. 22:37) will have no problem disciplining their time so as to spend more of it with God.  And that is what will make true leaders, leading us to truly become the body of Christ and end these centuries of divisions.

Lead well then LEAVE WELL!  I am a young leader. Leadership is my primary gifting.  I am not a senior pastor.  That being said, if you ask 100 people who are senior pastors most of them believe they are great and wonderful teachers and great leaders.  Most of them think they are great communicators.  Of course the nice church people tell them that, so they believe it.

Give me a chance?  Yes, I have felt that often about my senior pastors and those leading me.  One place I was at, I wanted to be in line with structural leadership and I had a heart for young adults and wanted to go and reach them.  Unfortunately, once you stand up and say, “hey, something is wrong”, you could get thrown out.  Understand that most things I touched thrived over the 8 years of ministry I shared at this church.  OK then, what about young adults?  Numbers of them were decreasing and I stood up and said, I have a solution and I will lay it all on the line to reach them.  The response I got, “We aren’t ready for that yet.” (word for word) OK, let me translate that for you, the way I heard it.  I heard, “We don’t want you to be a better leader than our senior pastor,” I did everything correctly in my conscience.  i built up three key leaders, and told them to hire them as staff people part time, When I left, their payroll was less, their leadership was increased and all of them were “lay people turned part-time / ministry”.  This released resources for, well, staff hires in other areas where leaders weren’t doing their jobs.  How sad is that? When I left, the church ministries didn’t miss a beat.  I left the place better than when I came, I blessed them as I left and knew it was time to leave.  I believe at some level our senior pastor was intimidated because my leadership gift more prevalent than his. 

The moral, does God care if I am ever a senior pastor? I doubt it...I will lead where called and I love my former senior pastor.  I keep in touch and we are good friends.  The body is more important than 1 gift.  So for all those young leaders who feel crappy, suck it up, lead well, and follow Jesus.  Sometime that means stay, and sometimes it means go.  But please, please, please, when you leave...LEAVE WELL!