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.