Postmodern Leadership Part Two

by Rob McAlpine

Introduction

A pastor friend of mine once remarked to me, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, "Whatever you do, don't give someone a 'title' or 'position'. The moment you do, they'll stop doing the very thing that made you think they had leadership on them."

His solution was to let people just flourish in the areas that they were gifted in, encouraging them as they went, rather than put them in charge of the area they were expressing giftedness in.

As tongue-in-cheek as his observation was, there is something very true about that statement. There can be a subtle shift that happens in a person's demeanor once they've been given a position, and it does seem to result in them functioning less in their gifting, and instead becoming a passive part of what will eventually harden into a vision-less bureaucracy.

And many leaders can recall their sense of excitement, vitality, vision, and enthusiasm when they first felt the call to ministry (whether vocational or not) - and many can also attest to feeling like they've been dulled somewhat over the years, as much from abuse they've encountered at the hands of other pastors, leaders, and demanding congregational members as from anything else. It's not easy to keep an open and soft heart when people keep blaming leaders for everything.

Between a false view of what a "position" of leadership means, and the woundedness that many leaders have endured, how are we to be healthy examples in our postmodern society, which will attract others to Jesus? If we look again to the epistles that Paul wrote to his young protege, Timothy, we can glean some helpful insights into leadership that will be effective in our postmodern society - leadership that is "productive" in the people-oriented paradigm of community and discipleship, rather than productive in the sense of keeping the machinery of churchianity greased and running.

Keeping It Real

Numerous times in the two epistles to Timothy, Paul uses language that reminds Timothy to both keep at the hard work of ministry, and to also guard his heart - even more strongly, to go beyond simply "guarding" his heart, and to pursue passion for God and endurance in seeking that passion. As noted in the previous article, it is this kind of modeling that attracts and encourages postmoderns.

"Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience." (1st Timothy 1:18-19 NIV)

Leadership is hard on leaders. Not only are there the expectations that people place on you (not always reasonable or even appropriate expectations), and the expectations that you place on yourself (again, not always reasonable or appropriate), there is also the heightened spiritual battle that rages against you, and last but certainly not least, you can oft-times find yourself regarded as the scapegoat for all that people perceive is wrong with the Body of Christ worldwide.

Paul begins this verse with the phrase "my son", a reminder to Timothy of the great love that Paul has for him, and therefore, the concern he has for Timothy as a person, not just as someone fulfilling a function on Paul's behalf. Right away, Paul is giving us an example of what Godly leadership is like: a deep love for the individual, regardless of their function, and certainly no less if they are sharing in the ministry, as Timothy was under Paul.

Paul encourages Timothy by reminding him of "the prophecies once made about you" (we will look at 1st Timothy 4:14 & 2nd Timothy 1:6 in more detail later); most commentators, such as Guthrie, would agree that Timothy is to keep "following them (the prophecies)" because "...the several prophecies confirming his calling would provide inspiration for the conflict that lies ahead."1

The "good fight" that Paul is encouraging Timothy in the face of, makes use of a military metaphor that Paul generally invokes when speaking of standing strong for the truth of the Gospel - literally, he is saying to "wage a good war".2

While Paul often uses a more athletic metaphor in other epistles to refer to the battle of living the Christian life as an individual, in this case, he chooses instead a militaristic metaphor to underscore that this is an area that encompasses more than just the individual - it affects (or is in danger of affecting) the whole community of faith.

Several observations need to be made at this point:

Later in this same passage, Paul refers to handing people "over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme" (1st Timothy 1:20), but it should be recognized firmly that even this seemingly heavy-handed pronouncement is "remedial and not punitive".3 No matter how much we are called to "wage a good war" as leaders, we are never to view people as enemies, but as family members.


The inclusion of the two-faceted phrase "holding on to faith and a good conscience" speaks of the absolute necessity of keeping our lifestyle (orthopraxy) in constant tandem with our belief system (orthodoxy). Fairburn notes: "The two must go together as inseparable companions: the good conscience can no more be dispensed with than the living faith; and much must ever depend on the healthful, harmonious, and concurrent action of the two for the result that is attained in the Christian warfare."4


Sometimes, all that you have to hold you to the task at hand is the memory of prophetic words that you received at the beginning of your ministry!

A friend of mine in Winnipeg tells the story of his first-ever candidating weekend in a local church:

During the interview with the board of elders, one of the older saints present asked him, "Why do you want to pastor at this church?"

My friend, wanting to speak boldly but not wanting to appear presumptuous, elected to err on the side of boldness, and replied, "I think God wants me to pastor here."

The elderly saint smiled, and softly instructed him, "Hold on to that sense of calling, young man - there will be tough times ahead, when that is all that will keep you going."

This is what Paul was reminding Timothy of in the midst of a difficult situation: to know God called him to this ministry, and not only Paul, but a number of elders had also laid hands on him, affirming his appointment to ministry.

A few cautionary comments at this point:

Paul means this instruction to Timothy to serve as an encouragement for him to persevere in ministry. It should not be mis-used to suggest that leaders are untouchable and unaccountable - the phrase "touch not the Lord's anointed" (David's justification for not killing Saul when he had the chance 1st Samuel 24:6, later part of David's psalm of thanks in 1st Chronicles 16:22, and re-iterated in Psalm 105:15) still surfaces in some charismatic circles, and conservative evangelicals, while not employing the phrase, often have the same attitude. This was not Paul's intent.


If the goal of leadership is, as Leonard Sweet suggests, "...the art of making every member as good a minister as you are endeavoring to be"5, then holding on to prophetic calling in ministry as a way of excluding others from ministry would also be an inappropriate use of this passage. This passage was not written to give Timothy an iron-clad grip on a powerful position, but rather an encouragement to continue in the oft-difficult business of living out the faith in the context of community.

How does this relate specifically to ministry among postmoderns? It means, first of all, that leaders must make a concentrated effort to keep their hearts soft towards relating with people - and trust me, I've had my share of hassles and attacks as a leader, so I'm not unaware of some of the struggles and pain that leaders are going through.

It also means that leaders have to re-invent the way they look at people's gifts within the Body. If the church's programs are the greatest goal in ministry, you can't help but look at a person's giftedness in terms of "what can they do for me".

No leader would ever be so crass as to say it in those words, but this is all-too-often reality. To see Leonard Sweet's definition play out in local fellowships, leaders will need to see people through the lens of "what can we do for them" in releasing them into the gifts and callings that God has for them. Which means that we'll first need to cultivate the gift of seeing where a person's gifts are, and then helping them learn to use them - even if they will find the best expression of their gifts somewhere other than our church.

Finally, as was mentioned in the previous article, the more that leaders can demonstrate a heart attitude that shows they are lovers of God and lovers of people, the more postmoderns, especially the emerging generations, will be drawn to them, and as the leaders prove their sincerity and commitment to honest community, postmoderns will take the risk of trusting them enough to be a part of that community of faith.

Light The Fire Again

Brian Doerksen's song "Light The Fire Again", written ten years ago, should be the heart-cry of leadership everywhere - not because leaders in general have lost their passion for God (although some may, the intent here is not to use too broad of a brush), but because too often what comes across from leadership circles is that leaders think they've "arrived", or at least they almost have.

To restrict the following comment to postmoderns would be inaccurate, but nonetheless:

Postmoderns are looking for others who recognize their desperate need of God, and who are willing to share their journey of knowing and experiencing more of God in a community. Some doubt that these people really exist within the church as we've known it, but would willing to suspend their disbelief if they could find some "real, live" examples.

Brian's song includes the following lyric:

"Don't let my love grow cold; I'm calling out - Light the fire again
Don't let my vision die; I'm calling out - Light the fire again
I am here to buy gold, refined in the fire
Naked and poor, wretched and blind I come
Clothe me in white, so I won't be ashamed
Lord, light the fire again!"6

Paul urges Timothy to this very thing in both of the epistles that bear Timothy's name:

"Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you." (1st Timothy 4:14 NIV)

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you by the laying on of my hands." (2nd Timothy 1:6 NIV)

These verses should not be taken to imply that Timothy had been falling away from the faith, or that his love of God had grown completely cold. Guthrie sees these verses as a call to Timothy to take a gift that was already burning, and fan it into a bonfire. "God's gifts, like the talents, must never be left unused."7

While there is reason to believe that Timothy was not pursuing the use of his spiritual gifts with much fervor as he had previously, "it does not necessarily imply an actual wavering or dying faith on Timothy's part, but it does urge with very strong language that he fan into flame the gift that God gave him long ago at the time of his call, through the laying on of Paul's hands."8

Commentators have noted that the two passages have listed different people laying hands on Timothy at the time of the impartation of the spiritual gift(s) - charisma - and the prophetic words that he was to recall: 1st Timothy refers to the "body of elders", while 2nd Timothy refers only to Paul. The commentators agree that there is likely no discrepancy here - Paul was probably one of the body of elders at the time of Timothy's recognition of his call, and so can honestly refer to the "laying on of my (Paul's) hands" in 2nd Timothy without negating that the body of elders were all involved in 1st Timothy.

In our present-day context, it is still important for leaders everywhere to take stock of themselves, and recall their early days in leadership, to see if they are continuing to walk in the things that God called them to initially. Revelation 2:5 includes the rebuke "go back and do the things you did at first" (NIV). While Paul is not rebuking Timothy here, the concept of recalling the "things (leaders) did at first" is not without merit.

In Pentecostal and charismatic circles, there are any number of people (including leaders) who have approached spiritual gifts as though they were on a checklist of experiences, that - once experienced - are not given a second thought as to how they might help build up the Body.

The classic example, particularly in Pentecostal groups, is the gifts of tongues. Some people chase after this gift as though their lives depended on it, but after receiving it, they move on with a "been there, done that, what's next" disdain for a gift from God. If, according to 1st Corinthians 12:7, spiritual gifts are given for the common good, and not for individual gratification, this approach doesn't fit.

Space precludes a more in-depth examination of the use of spiritual gifts in the gathered Body, but suffice it to say that leaders need to continually ask themselves whether they are still using, let alone fanning into a bonfire, the gifts that God has given them for ministry.

Commentators also recognize, although those of cessationist leanings would confine this to the first century, that the "laying on of hands" was somehow connected to the impartation of spiritual gifts - at least part of the time.

Gordon Fee (a Pentecostal scholar) notes: "In any case, the evidence there and elsewhere (2nd Timothy 1:6-7) indicates that the Spirit is the crucial matter; the laying on of hands, though not insignificant, is the human side (response) to the Spirit's prior activity."9

Likewise, Donald Guthrie (a conservative evangelical) states: "The idea of the impartation of the gift of the Spirit through the laying on of hands is frequently found in the Acts, and provides a significant object lesson in the divine-human co-operation in the early Church."10

For our postmodern leadership context, the implications include (but are not limited to):

Valuing the members of the postmodern, emerging generations means developing a keen eye to spot the gifts, talents, and passions that are to be found in each individual, and helping them recognize and begin to function in the gifts that God has given them. Note: this will necessitate a pre-existing relationship that allows leaders to really know the postmoderns on a personal level - "...no gifts inventory tells you what's in your heart, or what's in God's heart for you, or what you can do supernaturally."11


A community-based approach to discovering and releasing people in their gifts will take more time and effort, since it won't be a smooth-running program, but the results will be much more life-giving for all involved.


The "laying on of hands" needs to be recaptured as a regular part of our ministry among the Body - nothing communicates value, acceptance, and community like human touch, even on a purely human level. The impartation of spiritual gifts is of the Spirit's initiative (1st Corinthians 12:7), but as Fee and Guthrie pointed out earlier, there is something to the human-divine co-operation that cannot be ignored. Perhaps part of what leaders could be "fanning into flame" could include the deliberate, intentional practice of stepping back into the risk-taking venture of regular, hands-on public prayer ministry.


"Ministry Time" (a time of prayer for individuals, usually held at the end of a typical Vineyard church gathering or home group) needs to widen it's boundaries beyond the "need of the day", often defined as a "response to the message". Back in the day, ministry time was also known as "clinic time", where more than just a few people were involved in receiving prayer and praying for others, and even the on-lookers were in on what was happening through observation and explanation by the leaders.

Perhaps going back to that more inclusive, instructional and participatory model of ministry time will whet the appetite of postmoderns for participating in what God is doing - once they actually see that God is really doing something that they could participate in! A lot of what older Vineyardites take for granted (almost with the same ho-hum attitude of some Pentecostals once they've had their experience of tongues) may need re-modelling for the emerging generations.

Conclusion

Deeper than all of these, the more that leaders remain in (or recover) their sense of complete, desperate reliance on Jesus, and are willing to walk vulnerably and transparently with the community of believers around them, the more the postmoderns will see "real" Christianity that is attractive to them.

Bob Girard writes:

"What the Christian leader is to avoid is 'exercising authority' (Matthew 20:25). The original Greek word is a nearly unpronounceable verb meaning to get in one's power, to bring under, to master or control, to overcome, to dominate... Jesus says that such leadership has no place in the church. The authority of the true servant-leaders is strictly limited to building people up."12

Again, the most effective way to minister among postmoderns is less about what leaders do, and more about who leaders are. Fanning into flame the characteristics of vulnerability, honest relationships, and a co-journeyer attitude will go much further to ministering among postmoderns.

And ultimately, it is the leader with the shepherd's heart that will be more effective in enabling postmoderns to catch a vision of what God is doing in the world, and in what role they can co-operate with the Spirit. To combat the syndrome of people becoming leaders and then "coasting" (and pomo's are no less prone to this than anyone else), and to prevent young leaders from experiencing "hardening of the spiritual arteries", present leaders will need to go the extra mile in living the "real" Christian life out in the open, in community.

Back in 1989, I wrote an article that at one point included a story of Kevin, a teenager that I was discipling at the time - he and I met every week for breakfast for over three years, and I had been sharing some of my own struggles with him, as he shared his with me:

"Did that make me less in Kevin's eyes? Not for a second. Rather, it strengthened our relationship. We were able to co-labor together, and pray with each other. Even just the fact that Kevin was able to encourage and support his youth leader was a ministry in itself.

"If there is anything I have passed on to Kevin, I hope and pray that the memory of a youth leader who was willing to let him share in his life will influence Kevin to do the same for someone else. Because that is the example that Jesus set for us. He allowed His disciples to see Him in the best and worst of situations. He hid behind no spiritual image.

"The disciples saw Him every day for three years. They saw Him preach to the masses, exorcize demons, perform healings, work miracles, raise people from the dead, oppose the proud religious leaders of His day, and minister to society's outcasts. They also saw Him mocked, cursed, hungry, exhausted, persecuted, struggling with temptation, in tears, in anger, in agony, and in death. He lived His life, every aspect of it, out in the open for those closest to Him to see."13

As "imitators of Christ", no matter if society is modern or postmodern, leaders still need to take the risk of being as vulnerable and "out in the open" as Jesus was during His earthly ministry. The proof will be in the fruit, but if leaders don't set the example and the pace, who will?

Rob McAlpine

Footnotes

Guthrie, Donald; "Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: The Pastoral Epistles", pg. 67
Fee, Gordon; "New International Bible Commentary: 1st & 2nd Timothy, Titus", pg. 58
Guthrie, pg. 69
Fairburn, Patrick; "Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles", pg. 105
Sweet, Leonard; "Aqua Church", pg. 188
Doerksen, Brian; "Light The Fire Again", from the Vineyard/Mercy album "Light The Fire Again"
Guthrie, pg. 98
Fee, pg. 226
Ibid., pg. 108
Guthrie, pg. 98
Sweet, pg. 197
Girard, Robert C., "When The Vision Has Vanished", pg. 147
McAlpine, Rob, "Under The Influence", pg. 3

©2003 Rob McAlpine