Reflections on Christian Leadership
Do you know Cooper Morgan? If you do not, you should. He is hands down one of the best students I have ever had. He comes from a long lineage of simply good people. I can say this because I have met pretty much all of them. Label me unsure if it is genetic predisposition towards goodness, or if it is simply his destiny based on localized phenomena, but the young man bears keeping your eye on as he is going to hear “Good and faithful servant” in his most important moment.
I digress.
Cooper gave me the book In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri J.M. Nouwen and this post is where I am going to put my thoughts, questions, and comments. Please feel free to comment in the box at the bottom of this page.
Here we go.
Stream of Consciousness:
Relevant self. This is an interesting and confusing term/concept. Tough to get my head wrapped around what he exactly means or is trying to convey with this word.
He (from now on this refers to Nouwen) speaks of being very busy but not accomplishing much. I can understand this as a teacher. I often walk out of the building emotionally drained - but I wonder what it was or who I impacted that day.
Jesus asking Peter, “Do you love me?”
First love is pure as it comes from Jesus. “As He first loved us”. Second loves are the ones that cause problems as they as susceptible to all of the human frailties possess.
“The radical good news is that the second love is only a broken reflection of the first love and that the first love is offered to us by a God in whom there are no shadows.” (Nouwen 40)
This desire to be relevant issue. Is this bascially saying that we are insignificant as humans and that we need to always be looking to God for all things? That is what I am getting out of this by page 42.
Mystics? A curious term. I always associated that word with someone who knew if Mercury is in retrograde and carried around crystals, not someone’s identity that is deeply rooted in God’s first love. (Nouwen 42)
“Contemplative prayer deepens us in the knowledge that we are already free, that we have found a place to dwell, that we already belong to God, even though everything and everyone around us keeps suggesting the opposite.” (Nouwen 43)
“For Christian leadership to be truly fruitful in the future, a movement from the moral to the mystical is required.” (Nouwen 47)
Okay, starting to under the relevancy thing. When we think it is all us, we are trying to 'be relevant’ and this is silly. We are nothing without God’s first love, so stop trying to be all the things.
2 by 2 - not 1
Leaders are every bit as broken, sinful, vulnearble, and mean-spirited as anyone else. Because someone is in a leadership position, it does not mean that they don’t need shepherding as much as the next person.
“The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God.” (Nouwen 62)
“…it is clear that a whole new type of leadership is asked for in the church of tomorrow, a leadership that is not modeled on the power games of the world, but on the servant-leader Jesus, who came to give his life for the salvation of many.” (Nouwen 63)
I think it is strange that Nouwen talks about ‘avoiding heroic behavior’. Maybe strange is the wrong word. Or maybe it is the perfect phrase, as all we ever talk to students about is becoming leader and making their mark and legacy, etc. The World v. Irrelevancy.
‘Living the Truth of the Incarnate’ = bringing your faith into tangible, physical, and relational everyday actions
“Confession and forgiveness are the concrete forms in which sinful people love one another.” (Nouwen 64-65)
Being a leader is a dichotomy - we are supposed to be able to rebuke and correct and love people, but feel like we are on an island when it comes to our own sinful existence. We cannot let anyone know or in otherwise we cannot feel like we are qualified to lead. Man this is tough. It goes against everything the world has taught us.
“…leadership was still a desire to control complex situations, confused emotions, and anxious minds.” (Nouwen 74)
“…power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.” (Nouwen 77)
“The loud boisterous noises of the world make us deaf to the soft, gentle, and loving voice of God.” (Nouwen 87-88)
Whattttt? '“…where people are trained in the discernment of the signs of the time.” (Nouwen 90)
My conclusions:
He is talking about changing everything. The way we look at leadership, interpersonal relationships, being vulnerable - All. Of. It.
I agree with all of it. There are parts that I do not understand, but it stirs an interest in taking a new look at the way I think about speaking about Christ and living with other Christians. It would be a fundamental shift in a lot of ways. Becoming irrelevant is a tough ask in today’s world of clicks and likes, but if one wants to be a servant leader, this is the way.