Leadership Through Tumult Toward Peace

I've known for a long time that our culture idealizes presenting a united and agreeable front to others.  I've heard it emphasized when controversial decisions were being made in the church.  I've heard it promoted as the only way for parents to provide security for the children in a home.  I've heard it in relation to how we deal with things when they go horribly wrong in individuals' lives.  What I perceive is that we are extremely uncomfortable with conflict--so much so that we'd like to pretend that it doesn't exist.  I believe that we may have become blinded to the level of toxicity that can be introduced when we make "keeping the peace" into what amounts to a caricature of that.  Deeply-buried or studiously-obscured turmoil does not promote peace--inside or outside the brotherhood, or inside or outside of any group--boards and committees included.

In this regard, my father was a non-conformist.  I remember him saying publicly that he thinks it's alright for ministers to state their individual "take" on things, even if it differs from that of other ministers.  When I reflect on how things stand now, I can hardly believe that he "got by" with that. Maybe the fallout was more dramatic than I know.  What I believe actually happened is that this is one of the areas in which too many of us later drank the Bill Gothard Kool-aid, and we made far more of chain-of-command authority/submissive-follower values than the expectations which came to us through our culture.  More than that which comes to us through Scripture, in fact.  

I can see great beauty and blessing in unity and peace.  Certainly, I don't advocate making a point of amplifying disagreements at every opportunity. I just believe that too often a desire for efficiency and good appearances interferes with informing ourselves adequately, engaging all the stakeholders respectfully, listening carefully, and then acting courageously, by this means creating an atmosphere where everyone involved can belong and thrive.  Thriving-for-everyone is not only the goal of any leadership approach worth its salt, it is profoundly Biblical, and everyone in a decision-making role should aim for that.  

Several things that I believe complicate the work of any leadership group are these:

1.  Dealing with big groups of people, especially when they are attempting to accomplish a big project.  

2.  Having too much distance between members of the stakeholder community.  This can be as simple as geographic distance between residences, but it can also include many other kinds of distance.  In general, the more diverse the group of stakeholders, the more complicated the decision-making becomes.

3.  Willing ignorance.  Learning often takes a lot of time, but its necessity simply comes with the leadership territory.  People who don't want to invest the necessary time should not be making decisions that affect others.  Learning at the feet of Jesus is the primary learning obligation, but other opportunities should not be discounted.  

4.  Insularity, especially of the "we're-in-charge-and-you're-not" variety, or the "this-is-our-business-and-not-yours" variety.  Insular elitism is the antithesis of humble servant leadership.  People have little motivation to be transparent if they see themselves as occupying a higher position than others.  

One of my friends shared recently that she feels a new burden of responsibility to pray for our church leaders, after reading an article on the topic. Perhaps this is the most important takeaway from exploring the idea of leadership.  Not aspiring to leadership, not abdicating our position where we already have responsibility, but praying wherever we are--that leaders may give account with joy and not with grief.  Hebrews 13:17.