Today, I reorganized my room--at least up until the point where I ran out of shelf space to reorganize onto. I have far too many books, or else far too few places to put them. I gravitate toward the latter explanation, personally.
While I was sorting through things, though, I happened upon a booklet called This Legacy of Leaders by Rick Whitney: "a Great Commission Northwest book" the title page declares. I remember that a dear friend of mine gave me this booklet to read some months ago. It was very important to him. He was the leader of my small group at church and he thought the booklet would help me understand more about leadership. At the time, we were sadly in conflict over the topic of leadership. He saw himself, as a leader, as having the authority to tell me how I ought to handle my personal relationship with another member of our group. I saw him as only having the authority to advise on the matter, with the final say being God's, not his. Sadly, this conflict escalated into a big relational blowout that damaged and severed several friendships before I even opened the cover of this little booklet. Afterwards, I didn't want to open it and be reminded.
But now, the past is sufficiently past. I opened the little booklet and began to read. Rick opens by addressing the reader as a "future leader" and reminds them of the great debt they owe to previous leaders, teachers, and mentors. His opening sentence: "Every man who has ever done anything for God has had teachers and leaders." Of the Great Commission movement, he states, "We strongly hold to the truth that leaders are shaped by leaders [emphasis original]." From his description, a great Christian leader owes his existence to a great chain of previous leaders who devoted their time to training up successors in the faith. Indeed, he claims, "Leaders don't just 'spring out of the weeds.' Someone has invested their heard and shared their life with every pastor who is now 'on the wall.'"
What immediately occurred to me was that this was true, but insufficient. Indeed, the claims could and have easily be made by non-Christian leaders. Sir Isaac Newton is often quoted as saying, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" about his findings in the field of science and the influence his forebears had upon it. In 1st Century Israel, the Pharisees traced their knowledge and their doctrines back to an oral tradition reportedly handed down from teacher to teacher, leader to leader, from Moses himself. And yet Jesus didn't have much of anything good to say about the Pharisees. The passing down of knowledge from one generation to the next is certainly important, but it is not sufficient to make a Christian leader great. Garbage and baggage is as easily passed from generation to generation as wisdom and truth. Without the influence of the Spirit of Truth, a simple chain of nobly-minded men passing on guidance from generation to generation would (and has, in many cases) fall victim to this fact and eventually wind up with as much garbage and baggage as wisdom and truth. In fact, if the chain does not start with the Holy Spirit, then all you have is garbage all the way down. That the Holy Spirit is capable of starting such a chain independently of any existing leaders is demonstrated by the life of the Apostle Paul, who says of himself:
While I was sorting through things, though, I happened upon a booklet called This Legacy of Leaders by Rick Whitney: "a Great Commission Northwest book" the title page declares. I remember that a dear friend of mine gave me this booklet to read some months ago. It was very important to him. He was the leader of my small group at church and he thought the booklet would help me understand more about leadership. At the time, we were sadly in conflict over the topic of leadership. He saw himself, as a leader, as having the authority to tell me how I ought to handle my personal relationship with another member of our group. I saw him as only having the authority to advise on the matter, with the final say being God's, not his. Sadly, this conflict escalated into a big relational blowout that damaged and severed several friendships before I even opened the cover of this little booklet. Afterwards, I didn't want to open it and be reminded.
But now, the past is sufficiently past. I opened the little booklet and began to read. Rick opens by addressing the reader as a "future leader" and reminds them of the great debt they owe to previous leaders, teachers, and mentors. His opening sentence: "Every man who has ever done anything for God has had teachers and leaders." Of the Great Commission movement, he states, "We strongly hold to the truth that leaders are shaped by leaders [emphasis original]." From his description, a great Christian leader owes his existence to a great chain of previous leaders who devoted their time to training up successors in the faith. Indeed, he claims, "Leaders don't just 'spring out of the weeds.' Someone has invested their heard and shared their life with every pastor who is now 'on the wall.'"
What immediately occurred to me was that this was true, but insufficient. Indeed, the claims could and have easily be made by non-Christian leaders. Sir Isaac Newton is often quoted as saying, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" about his findings in the field of science and the influence his forebears had upon it. In 1st Century Israel, the Pharisees traced their knowledge and their doctrines back to an oral tradition reportedly handed down from teacher to teacher, leader to leader, from Moses himself. And yet Jesus didn't have much of anything good to say about the Pharisees. The passing down of knowledge from one generation to the next is certainly important, but it is not sufficient to make a Christian leader great. Garbage and baggage is as easily passed from generation to generation as wisdom and truth. Without the influence of the Spirit of Truth, a simple chain of nobly-minded men passing on guidance from generation to generation would (and has, in many cases) fall victim to this fact and eventually wind up with as much garbage and baggage as wisdom and truth. In fact, if the chain does not start with the Holy Spirit, then all you have is garbage all the way down. That the Holy Spirit is capable of starting such a chain independently of any existing leaders is demonstrated by the life of the Apostle Paul, who says of himself:
"I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. ...when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ...Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem...because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. ....those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised."
--Galatians 1:11-12, 15-22; 2:1-2, 6-9
Thus Paul had no heritage of Christian leaders he could look back on: he had only the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Paul did not learn the gospel from the apostles and influential men in the church at Jerusalem, but only met them later, after his own ministry and leadership were already in full swing, and they affirmed his leadership and his gospel, recognizing them as given by God. Though Paul had no legacy of leaders to follow, He had something even better: he had God to follow. The apostles clearly thought this alone was sufficient for His ministry...and I think it remains the most important thing any Christian leader can have today.
But I wonder if the author of this pamphlet would agree. He alludes to "side-boards" and "guidelines" that leaders will need to understand what is expected of them as they are used of God and serve as a leader in His church. Where can we find these guidelines, or side-boards, as he has it? "One way you can gain these side-boards, [sic] is to understand just what your leaders are looking for when it comes to future leaders. [emphasis original]" He then explains how he sent a message to a number of current church leaders asking them for a few words on what they were looking for in future leaders.
When I saw this, I confess to being overly optimistic. I thought to myself, "That's nice. We'll have one or two brief quotes from leaders and then the writer will come back and expound the guidelines of leadership from scripture (the quotes of the Bible, which is authored by the Holy Spirit, being of greater weight than the quotes of men, which are authored by mere mortals)." Then, I turned a page, then another, then another. The booklet is 55 pages long, and all but the first 4 and the last page consist entirely of quotations from other leaders. Here is the source Rick Whitney suggests future leaders draw their guidelines from: previous leaders.
But is this where we are supposed to get our guidelines from, whether in leadership or any other aspect of our spiritual lives? I'll admit it is a fair source, but is it the best one? For pages and pages and pages leaders spout their personal opinions on what a good leader should do and should be. No doubt their advice has merit, but is their no firmer foundation, no greater truth we can look to? Can we find any better source of guidelines in the area of spiritual leadership than the God who made all our spirits and seeks to lead us all? Has He not spoken on the topic of leadership in the Bible? Surely He has, but it is not the Bible that Rick Whitney asks us to turn for guidelines but to each other.
This troubles me greatly, even as it clears certain things up. In the church my friend attended, leaders were greatly revered. Their advice was taken very seriously. There positions were highly honored. I would see this as a good thing, if it were not for how it contrasted with the attitude toward the influence of the Spirit. The Spirit, in this church, was generally thought to work through leaders in some sort of top-down approach. Some even scoffed at the idea that the Spirit might choose to direct a person individually in his or her everyday life. Others said that such guidance simply could not be trusted if it failed to line up with the advice of one's leaders. When it came down to a real choice between following the miraculous voice of the Spirit speaking directly to your heart or following the advice of your leaders regurgitated from the advice of their leaders and ultimately sourced from who-knows-where, the choice was a matter of remaining in the church (if you placed the leader's advice higher) or being ejected from it (if you did not).
How can this be good Christian practice? How can this be virtuous Christian leadership? Paul became an apostle not because of his leaders, but because God called him and revealed the gospel and his mission to him without the influence of leaders. Even when Paul called for Christians to follow and imitate him, he did so with a keen eye that they should first and foremost follow God. "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ," he says in 1 Corinthians 11:1 [emphasis added]. Verses later he states that the head of every man is not his leader but, "the head of every man is Christ."
It is good to have leaders, teachers, mentors, and people we can learn from, but if our ultimate source of guidance is not God Himself, we are lost. We then had better hope that our leaders are led by God, for if not then this parable applies:
"if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
--Jesus Christ, Matthew 15:14
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