Saturday, March 22, 2008

Leadership

I am working on a paper for school looking at leadership in a postmodern church environment. I have been thinking about this alot and am having a hard time articulating what it is I am trying to say.

Here is the issue. I believe that leadership in the Church has left its roots and has become more about corporate leadership and less about holistic leadership. Leadership has become about career and goals, standards, rules, compartmentalized church rather than community and incarnational, holistic leadership.

I believe that the church needs to go back to a holistic approach if it is ever going to be effective in the world today. SO many people today are weary of corporate models and are looking for places where they are wanted and can actually be a part of something more than numbers.

So I would like to post a question to you. What do you think of church leadership? Do you like the way it is now? Does it need to change? What would it look like if it were to change? Thoughts, ideas, and questions are always welcome.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jessica,
I too believe that the church has been driven by the corporate model of programs and numbers to be successful in the eyes of others. Jesus was with his disciples (12 that he chose, 1 who betrayed him and 3 who were really tight with him) for about 3 years. The impact that they made was revolutionary in the beginnings of the church and for almost all of them they gave up their lives as martyrs. If you look at the example Jesus left as one who discipled others and touched the marginalized people of this world, you can see that we as the church have drifted from this form of what I call "servant leadership". All of us are called as a believer to utilize the gifts God has given us, not just those "in the ministry". So hopefully these comments can be helpful somewhat with your paper and research. What does servant leadership look like today? One book that I would recommend reading is called "In the Name of Jesus" by Henri Nouwen. This book had affected me in being a servant leader in the context of a Christian community.
Bronco Huge