Thursday, March 24, 2005
Hey, my man
Jason has a good little forum on leadership going. Some good comments, some less so.
It got me thinking about leadership some more. As we in the "emerging" church are rethinking/reforming/reimagining the role of leaders in our communities of faith, we specifically think of pastors/elders. It's easy to take aim at the topic of pay vs. no pay, and easy to find fault with the positional awe that we've created around the people we call pastors.
On a functional level, I think a simple approach to being a leader is to view oneself as a catalyst. It takes in the elements of spiritual direction, feeding, discipling, exhortation, friendship, etc. If I am a catalyst in the lives of others, I don't care about their rank, gifting, class, race, or life history - I simply view them as image bearers who need to have the parts of them that look like God stirred up, and the parts of them that don't look like God taken away. It's not my job to produce positive change, it's theirs - but my encouragement and affirmation of their value can help move them forward.
