Leadership

It has been several days since I blogged last. I have returned from a Jurisdictional conference of the United Methodist Church where we elect bishops, leaders for the church. I had the opportunity to serve as a reserve delegate and as it turned out was able to vote for about half the ballots taken as one of our clergy had to leave early and I got to take his spot permanently.
The subject of leadership is one I have been challenged to think a lot about lately. My observation of and participation in the Jurisdictional Conference was eye-opening. Several observations -
1- Different generations have dominant leadership tendencies. Post WW II, Boomers, Xers and Millenials each have distinctively different styles of leadership and expectations of leadership. Most of us (including this Xer - me) are a hybrid. However, I observed some interesting generational differences. I'll try to hash these out in a later post as soon as I can articulate them well.
2- Leadership is not assured by an election or a title, it is given by those who would follow. A person may hold the title or have the powers to lead a group or organization but the extent of their influence, impact and effectiveness is solely dependent upon their ability to build trust, relationships and cast a vision. In terms of pastoral leadership, it is again given...but given by God through the church. So as it relates to bishops - we don't yet know if these new ones will truly be episcopal leaders. We'll see signs as they serve in this new role.
3- Leaders lead. The popular quote I have heard lately is "leaders are not managers, they are leaders." Management wreaks of status quo and maintenance. Leaders lead people to new horizons with vision. One caveat - sometimes the day to day work of a leader will feel like management but if a leader can cast those more mundance items in the light of the horizon a team is trying to reach, then the leader is leading not managing. In a church like ours, the challenge is understanding how to be a leader in a role that traditionally expects management.
4- I am most concerned with spiritual leadership. Spiritual leadership is most occupied with the movement of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual leadership frames every conversation and decision in the language of faith. If a spiritual leader continually calls folks to the things of God - wisdom, understanding, discernment - then folks will be more apt to think in those spiritual terms. If leaders revert to secular language, folks are more apt to think in those terms.
The task for bishops, pastors and lay leaders is there.