Leadership #3

1 Peter 5.2-4 contains a key thought for any discussion of Christian leadership:

2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as
overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

Note that there is a two-fold order of leadership here; there are shepherds and then there’s the Chief Shepherd. Peter alerts us to the fact that Christ is the true leader. Any leading which we do is done under the authority and leadership of another: the divine Son of God. Given this revelation, we can formulate a Christ-centred understanding of what we are doing when we lead:

Christian leadership is the act of helping others find their place under Christ’s leadership.

I take it that Paul had something similar in mind when he exhorted the Corinthians to follow his example, as he followed the example of Christ (1 Cor 11.1)

Of course, this view of leadership influences our understanding of those activities more commonly associated with leading, such as vision-casting and the provision of a Godly example…



10 points if you can tell me the name of the leader who wore this Harlequin cricket cap. 10 more points if you can tell me the reason why he wore it. Points are still on offer from the previous post.

Leadership #2

Aside from the practical approach, it seems that others form their concepts of leadership with a particular emphasis on the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus). Echoing Paul’s emphasis on the Christian maturity expected from leaders, such discussion will have lots to say about the model of Christian maturity expected from leaders, but precious little about what leaders actually do (apart from providing a model of Christian holiness).

Those who dig a little deeper in the Pastorals will discern that Christian leadership finds an expression in the act of teaching the Word (2 Tim 2.2). This is a point well made within my own church culture (Sydney Anglicanism), so much so that from time to time you will hear the old phrase pop up that “leadership is preaching”. This is understandable given the focus we see in the Pastorals, but I have always been a little hesitant to reduce the act of leading to such a simple formula. Have we provided adequate leadership if we only ensure that a vibrant preaching programme has been put into place?

So while we don’t want to be purely pragmatic, a “purely preaching” model of leadership also seems to fall short of what is required. What we need is another approach which can unify and make sense of all these threads…

No points for picking Churchill pictured above. But 10 points are on offer if you can tell me which activity Churchill banned from his office during WWII.

The answer...

Watching a big ship (well done Ants and Jodi):



Who would have thought that a boat would make such a splash!

Russ and Al and I caught the Bus to see the big boat...



Al had his photo taken with the stern of the QE2...



Then we went off to find the QM2 (hard to miss really)...



And waited with everyone else to see the fireworks...



The whole thing was kinda surreal. My friend Seumas suggests that it's all about how we Aussies love a spectacle, just like the ancient Romans loved their gladiator games. The harbour is our Colosseum, and the pyrotechnician is our gladiatorial warrior. Give him the thumbs up and let him live Morris, he put on a good show!!!

A question...

What are these people doing?

Leadership # 1

Everybody wants to be a leader. Well, sometimes it certainly seems that way. Part of the problem is that once you work out that you want to be a leader (or more appropriately, when you discern the need for leadership around you … or when you’re thrust into an office) you’re then faced with the question of how to go about the business.



One thing I’ve noticed is that we Christians speak about leadership in different ways. Some understand it in a practical sense; the moving of people from one position to another. Methods such as “vision-casting” and “360-degree peer appraisal” are adopted from the corporate world and employed to further the Church’s goals which, of course, have been formulated to give shape to an appropriate vision statement which is just small enough to fit on professionally designed t-shirt. These goals are often about improvement and growth, and the Church’s leaders are the ones who are charged with the responsibility to achieve these goals, thereby helping the Church to execute her “ministry”.

Despite what might sound like a sarcastic tone, I actually agree with such activities. When Paul speaks of “gifts of administration” (1 Cor 12.28) he uses a word which was used in the ancient world to describe the activity of steering a boat; giving direction to a vessel and moving it from one place to another. This suggests that there is a place for developing those skills which “lead” God’s people from one place (physical or spiritual) to the next. However, others will be quick to point out that there is more to Biblical leadership than the practical ability to create change and facilitate growth…

5 points for the famous leader in the above photo.

H*p H*p Hooray

Last Sunday night I was listening to John Safran and Father Bob on Triple J when they mentioned that the words "hip hip hooray" are a modern form of the medieval war-cry "HEP HEP hooray", where HEP is a Latin acronym for Hierosolyma est perdita, meaning "Jerusalem is lost". As such its actually an anti-Jewish rallying cry which, according to this site, was used during Jewish persecution in the early Nineteenth Century. Is this true? Maybe we'll all have to think twice after we next sing Happy Birthday...

In other news I went to this shop in Broadway today and tried on a shirt. Next thing I know the shop assistant is asking whether its OK and I'm turning around to say "yeah" only to find she's stuck her head over my change room door while I'm half naked. How very rude. That's got to be illegal or something. Afterwards she very helpfully informs me that my "colours" are chocolate, lilac and green, and that I'm to stay away from light shades of pink because there are too many pink pigments in my skin. Thanks.

Old dart #6 - Home again

5-0:
After the joys of the North I returned back to London Town for a last weekend before the flight home. The Lord's tour was fun, and also gave me a chance to gloat a little. Generally my policy in the UK was to "not mention the war", but it was a little hard not to when touring through the Lord's Museum and seeing the urn recently returned from its Australian tour. Given last night's result in the 2nd one-day final I'm now regretting my restraint; I should have made more of the opportunity.



This prayer is carved into the wall outside Westminster Abbey. I guess there are worse prayers which could be said. I especially like the last line. Inside the building is chock-a-block full of memorials, a vast contrast to the ornate but uncluttered interior of St Paul's. I also noticed that there's all this graffiti carved into the back of the royal coronation chair which is housed in the Abbey. A very human aspect to highly symbolic artefact.

Flight home:
The worst part of the whole thing. Two overnight flights in a row with five hours wandering about Tokyo airport in the middle. I was awake for almost 40 hours straight. The jet-lag took a week to get over (with the worst migraine ever) but all is better now!

Thanks for sharing in my holiday everyone (especially those who let me stay/eat in their digs: Erin, Emma and Christian in London, the Jensens in Oxford, the Waldocks in Cambridge, The Reeses in Sheffield, Izzy in Sheffield, Terry and Ruth in Edinburgh and Doug and Hannah in Dundee), Look forward to seeing you all soon.