Habits and Attitudes of Highly Effective Churches (Part 4)
Develops Visionary Leadership

I wish I knew the source of this quote: "There are three types of leaders
— risk-takers, caretakers, and undertakers." I ran across it a while back
but can’t establish the source. I’m not smart enough to have come up with
something that insightful so neatly pack-aged, so I know it isn’t
original with me!

The history of God’s dealings with humanity certainly illustrates the
truth of that statement. The two great leaders in biblical history are
Moses and Jesus. In response to a call from Yahweh, Moses led two million
people out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to their Promised Land.

In response to a heavenly strategy to redeem all humankind, Jesus left
heaven, lived a self-emptying existence in a hostile environment, and
went into the darkness of a tomb. Were these two men risk-takers?
It should come as no surprise, then, to discover that people who lead
effective churches are people who can take risks:
· Four fishermen were challenged by Jesus to drop their nets, leave their
boats, and join him in fishing for men.
· A young rabbi was confronted on the Damascus Road and challenged to
count everything in his life to that moment a loss for the sake of
knowing Christ.
· A rich young ruler was invited to sell everything he had, give it to
the poor, and join Jesus in his work.
· The fishermen and young rabbi you know, but the rich young ruler’s name
doesn’t even survive in the record.
· Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Paul were leaders; the other young man
was at best a caretaker to his fortune and at worst an undertaker to his
own soul.

How does a leader sound? Leaders say things like "We have to listen to
the voice of God," "It’s simply the right thing to do," or "The Spirit of
God is calling us to this." They ask questions like "What would Jesus do
here?" and "Can this make a kingdom difference in someone’s life?"

One writer said: "If we are to survive, we must have ideas, vision, and
courage. These things are rarely produced by committees. Everything that
matters in our intellectual and moral life begins with an individual
confronting his own mind and conscience in a room by himself."

If I may paraphrase: "If the church is to be effective for its God-given
mission, we must have spiritual leaders with ideas, vision, and courage.
These things are rarely produced by committees or business meetings.
Everything that matters in our spiritual life begins with an individual
confronting the written word and the Living Word on his knees in a room
by himself."

The fundamental difference in a risk-taker, caretaker, and undertaker is
the quality called vision. And just what is "vision"? An oft-used
quotation says: "Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream of
things that never were and say why not?"

The difference between those two attitudes is vision:
· Visionary leaders believe the call of God is always forward, always
upward.
· They see a heavenly goal that reminds them to forget what is behind in
order to strain toward things ahead of them on God’s agenda for his
church (Phil. 3:12-14).

Vision has two elements: disaffection with what is and a dream of what
could be. People mired in the status quo are caretakers and undertakers;
people willing to take risks for the sake of repentance and constructive
engagement of the future are true visionaries.

In this lesson, I want to point to four principles of spiritual
leadership that can help us focus on the selection, nurturing, and
continuing development of visionary leadership in local churches. I am
going to try to make these principles clear by means of contrasting them
with their negative counterparts.

Some Biblical Principles of Leadership
1. Engagement vs. Detachment
First, a godly leader builds a sense of teamwork by modeling in his
personal lifestyle the ideals he wants others to embrace. Oh, he talks
about and teaches lessons on compassion, generosity, or risk-taking for
the gospel. But the strength of his words is in the modeling of those
virtues in the routine events of his life.
Jesus conducted a short leadership seminar among his disciples one day.
He called them together and told them: "You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority
over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among
you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your
slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matt.20:25b-28).

Jesus never modeled this better for his followers than on the day shortly
after that seminar when he entered Jerusalem to the praises of people
wanting to crown him their king (cf. Matt.21:1ff). Have you ever thought
about the contrast he offered to the kind of leadership they knew best?

· A Roman leader would have ridden in a chariot pulled by white horses,
and a Jewish official would have put on the vestments of his position.
Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey — a borrowed one at that
— and in the clothes of a peasant.
· A "mover and shaker" would have come in with an entourage whose job it
was to keep the crowds from physical contact with him. Jesus came with
his diverse little band of disciples, moved humbly through the crowds,
and shrank from the question or touch of no one.
· A military leader would have galloped along the road, giving only an
occasional nod or wave of his hand to the troops and onlookers. Jesus
moved along slowly on his donkey. He was one of many going up to
Jerusalem for the festival, and the only difference between him and them
was that he had the call of God on his heart in such a unique way that it
made him a natural leader within the group.

Church leaders must not bottleneck a church’s gifts by limiting it to
their own abilities, passions, and callings. Their goal must not be to
develop a following but to develop others’ gifts and interests.

John Wooden, the hugely successful college basketball coach who led UCLA
to ten national titles in twelve years used to say this about teamwork:
"The guy who puts the ball through the hoop has ten hands."
Leaders in effective churches believe and implement this philosophy.

One writer said: "Shepherds smell like their sheep." They move among,
know, and live the experiences of the people they are leading. They are
anything but distant and detached. They are involved in the lives of
people in meaningful ways. Thus they are able to build teamwork
throughout the body.

2. Mission vs. Maintenance
Second, highly effective churches have leaders who know the difference
between mission and maintenance. The church has been given a mission — a
mission that matters, a divine mission.
The notion of having a "mission" stirs the soul and engages our passions.
But it is possible to lose the dream of pursuing a mission for the sake
of simply maintaining an institution.

The kingdom of God is the reign of heaven in human hearts and lives (cf.
Luke 17:20-21). Christians — even church leaders — who embrace the
world’s way of thinking and behaving have no share in the kingdom of God.

Yet we understand that the church is meant to be that entity through
which the kingdom breaks into human experience. By our rescue from the
"dominion of darkness," God has "brought us into the kingdom of the Son
he loves" (Col. 1:13-14).

The church’s calling is twofold. First, we are to pursue the kingdom of
heaven.
· "The church is charged with being an outpost of heaven’s reign in a
world that lives in rebellion against God."
· It is to be an atmosphere where women and men can internalize and live
true values.

Second, we are to model the kingdom before the world. By this means we
become light to a world still shrouded in darkness. The church offers
hope to those who want an al-ternative to the things of this world that
are hostile to God.

Jesus called the church to be radically different from worldly
institutions. But there is too much of the world’s way of thinking among
us. (I’m going to work on some lessons this year dealing with the
Cultural Church).

The world is heavily populated with non-kingdom people. They lie, steal,
murder, abuse, and assault. And the church is overpopulated with them
too. They impugn, bully, dare, and disrupt.

We must acknowledge and have elders who deal with people who could be
described in the following way: "One who does not live by the fruits of
the Spirit and does not know the kingdom of heaven and must have the last
word and push others around. He struts in victory and pouts in defeat. He
is seldom honest with others and never with himself. He cries for himself
but not for others. He wants to be heard but cannot listen. He is angry
and finds fault with all things and all people. He forgives nothing and
remembers every slight (real or imagined) that ever came his way."

The Bible condemns division, disunity, gossiping, backbiting, slander, a
lack of love toward any member...the list could go for a long time! I
said it in class last week: the relationship we have with God in regards
to forgiveness and kindness is dependent upon the relationship we have
with our least-liked member of this congregation!

Anybody can be kind and patient and forgiving toward another person when
they’ve done nothing wrong...it’s when something has occurred in our life
that requires it that we’re to live it!
Love and peace, kindness and gentleness, patience and joy, humility and
goodness, self-control and righteousness — these are the features of a
reality that comes from God. They are the ultimate realities of the
kingdom of God.

These are people who put flesh on the two eternal marks of the church:
love for God and love for others.

3. Empowerment vs. Control
Third, a godly leader had abandoned the desire to control people for the
sake of empowering them. A leader’s willingness to develop, equip, and
entrust authority to others is the ultimate test of his leadership. The
goal of a leader is not to develop a cadre of followers but to develop
other leaders. A true leader isn’t threatened by people around him who
have ability and potential.

Warren Bennis quotes the legendary president of MGM, Louis B. Mayer, as
saying that at MGM "the inventory goes home at night." His meaning was
that his company’s primary asset was its talented people.
In more recent times, MGM — along with many other once-powerful companies
— has fallen victim to "streamlining." Leaders gave way to managers in
those companies, and the managers stripped off merger profits at the
expense of the future. In some cases, the buildings were left standing
with the people gone. In cases like MGM’s, people, props, studios, and
the film library of over 3,500 films all went on the block. Only the name
remained.

I bring up this point because of the insightful distinction people like
Bennis make between leaders and managers.

"There is a profound difference between management and leadership, and
both are important. "To manage" means "to bring about, to accomplish, to
have charge of or re-sponsibility for, to conduct." "Leading" is
"influencing, guiding in direction, course, action, opinion." The
distinction is crucial. Managers are people who do things right and
leaders are people who do the right things."

It certainly shouldn’t be difficult to make the application of this
insight to the lived experiences of effective and ineffective churches:
· In the biblical landscape of things, shepherds and teachers should be
the vision-casters for a local church
· their role is to dream, teach, and model the doing of right things.
· The role of deacons or ministry leaders, depending on the term you
prefer for this biblical function, is to supervise and carry through with
the doing of those things well.

4. Thermostats vs. Thermometers
Fourth, leaders in highly effective churches create a spiritually healthy
atmosphere. Do you know the difference between a thermometer and a
thermostat? A thermometer lets its surroundings regulate it; a thermostat
changes its atmosphere.

Christians are called to be the latter, not the former. Leaders in
particular must cast the vision, proclaim the mission, and create a
healthy atmosphere. Leaders in highly effective churches know how to
make a connection between their faith and daily life, and their example
encourages others to do the same.

A word that some have thought respectable is being revealed in the public
press for what it really is. It is a disreputable, vile, and loathsome
term. The word is neutrality. "He who is not with me is against me," said
Jesus, "and he who does not gather with me scatters" (Matt.12:30).

It is the role of the church, in fact, to embolden people to live for
Christ in a way that is distinctive and rejuvenating to their world. We
are to be salt against the world’s corruption and decay.

There are ultimately two great kingdoms. There is light or darkness,
right or wrong, the Kingdom of God or the Empire of Satan. Every person
belongs to one or the other. To attempt to be neutral is to choose
darkness, wrong, and Satan.

Last modified: April 18, 2006