So you want to be a leader?

Speaking at this year's Word Alive (Spring Harvest), at Weymouth, Roy Clements challenged the church to rethink its policy on choosing leaders.

In his address Roy said: 'God is looking for people who have learnt the crucial lesson of humility.' And he went on to warn those who seek leadership: 'Beware of selfish ambition.'
Focusing on Mark 10.35-45, Roy Clements pointed out that, all too often, Christians adopt the same models of leadership that operate in the world. 'Our insatiable appetite for self-esteem is the engine that drives countless workaholics . . . and some of us, even when we become Christians, do not learn any better. We bring that same egoistic ambitiousness into our spiritual lives too.'
Yet, he added, Jesus' response was to suggest: 'Be content with the roles the Father assigns to each of you. If you must have an ambition, let it be simply to fulfil the job God has assigned to you. He tells us that the role of slave is not just something his disciples must be prepared to endure . . . if we are going to exercise any kind of leadership within the kingdom of God, then the mindset of a slave is something to which his disciples must positively aspire!'

Empire-builders?

Commenting on today's church, Roy added: 'Wherever you look today, you can see the ecclesiastical empire-builders, campaigning for personal kudos under the pretext of serving the kingdom. They use the same methods as ambitious people in the secular world. Some pursue the 'promotion' stakes, leap-frogging from one church or one organisation to another, always seeking a bigger congregation or a more prestigious office. Some use the 'flatter the boss' technique, attending the right dinners, supporting the right causes, expressing the right opinions - right, that is, in the eyes of their bishop, or whatever the equivalent king-maker in their denomination may be called. Some use the 'get a reputation' method, building their mission, or church, or organisation into a personality cult that focuses around their name and their photograph. Anyone who is in the least familiar with church politics will know what a sordid jungle of rivalry and selfish ambition it so often is. But before we judge too harshly, maybe we should take note of the firm but good-natured way in which Jesus responded when he observed such ambition lurking among his own disciples. It is pity he seems to feel, more than anger, at James and John. It is their ignorance he rebukes, more than their presumption. Some of us are altogether too ambitious for our own good.'

Unknown evangelists

Roy Clements warned his audience: 'For every famous evangelist who holds rallies in Wembley stadium, there are thousands of unknown evangelists who patiently walk the streets of great cities . . . and most famous evangelists, you will find, began that way. For every celebrated Bible expositor who speaks to the adulating crowds, there are thousands of pastors faithfully preaching God's word to a handful of elderly saints in draughty and ill-lit chapels. And most of those celebrated Bible expositors began that way. For every missionary hero who writes books about the revivals they have witnessed, there are thousands of unsung missionaries who give their lives in alien discomfort without seeing more than a handful of converts. and never earn so much as an obituary for all their labour. Most stories of revival are born out of an experience of such early fruitlessness. These are the realities of Christian leadership.

Careful prayer
'Be careful, then, when you pray that God will make you into someone great in his kingdom. Do you realise what you may be asking for? Leadership in the kingdom of God is costly. There is psychological pressure, there is emotional strain, there may be physical suffering, there will certainly be personal sacrifice. When we ask Christ to make us into somebody great in his kingdom, we are volunteering for crucifixion. Trying to establish our self-esteem on the basis of the kind of aggressive grasping for status in which the world engages is a mug's game. Our dignity in Christ does not depend upon aspirations to missionary heroism. Vaunting ambition is not the way to impress Jesus.'
Turning to the greatest contribution that Jesus brought to the world of ethics, Roy Clements suggested that it was Jesus' teaching on humility that 'was really revolutionary. First-century people were just as concerned about their self-esteem as we are. The role of a slave was considered just as demeaning . . . a slave was a cringing snivelling nobody. To suggest that greatness consisted in adopting the mindset of a slave was about as crazy as trying to dig a tunnel to the moon. Yet Jesus insists the humble mindset of the servant is key to the new style of leadership which he was introducing. You want to be first? You feel a hunger for self-esteem driving you in this ambition to have the most honoured seats in his kingdom? Sublimate that emotional energy . . . turn it from a desire to dominate into a desire to serve. In the topsy-turvy topography of the kingdom of God, the way up is always down.'

The lesson of humility

Roy went on to point out that if the church really grasped this principle of humility, it would transform the way leadership is exercised. 'God is looking for people who have learnt this crucial lesson of humility. If we are wise, we will be suspicious of the pushy types who volunteer too readily for office. Aren't the best leaders in the church likely to be those who are a little reluctant to accept leadership roles and who feel inclined to refuse promotion if they can? Those who feel instinctively the spiritual danger implicit in the prominence into which leadership will thrust them?

Promotion?

'Aren't the best leaders in the church likely to be those inclined to refuse promotion if they can, on the grounds that while it may increase their prestige, it may diminish their ministry? It will change the way we accept leadership: we won't feel piqued that someone else has been appointed in our place. We won't be forever whining about our rights, or fomenting revolution among the malcontents on the back pew, will we? The servant leader has no ego to be threatened. Like John the Baptist, the servant leader will be glad to acknowledge that a colleague must increase while they decrease and feel no shame in the confession.
It will also change the way we exert leadership. Won't Jesus' words transform our notion of power? Jesus never won an election, never sat on a throne, never commanded an army. The only palace he entered was as a prisoner, the only crown he wore was made of thorns. But can you tell me of any president, any king, any general who had influenced the world more than he has done? And he has done it not with the whip of political or military might, but by the example of his self-sacrificial service. He has exerted the incomparable influence he has over the history of the world . . . from a cross.
We follow a crucified king. And a crucified king threatens nobody, oppresses nobody, coerces nobody. His is a leadership which is offered to free men and women . . . whose self-determination is never compromised. Political power doesn't do that. Political influence, even of the most democratic, benevolent and enlightened kind, is always implicitly coercive. But that isn't Jesus' style.

Beware

'You want to be a Christian leader? Beware of selfish ambition. The route to greatness in the kingdom of God is via catastrophic self-sacrifice. Beware of over-confidence. Beware of biting off more than you can chew. Be content with the role God has given you right now. Discharge that role faithfully, and you will hear his 'well done, good and faithful servant'. There is no higher accolade that heaven can bestow than that. Neglect that calling out of peevish resentment that you have not been given some greater, more high-profile task, and you may forfeit the honour you could have had. Learn humility. Do not take the leadership styles you see in the world as your model. Too many of us Christians have been seduced by the desire for rank. We have cluttered the church with ecclesiastical hierarchy, turning the congregation of God's people into a political arena where people vie for power and prestige.
'Jesus invites us to learn from him the virtue of humility. It is not a case of running ourselves down . . . Jesus is not advocating that we should aspire to an inferiority complex. True humility is only possible for a person who has an appropriate sense of their own worth. It is not a case of thinking little of yourself, but of not thinking of yourself at all. But only a very secure person can take the risk of such self-forgetfulness. Perhaps that is why it is so rare. The important thing is not how much other people value or respect you, but how much God values and respects you. Do you want to know how much that is . . . do you want to know the price tag God puts on you? 'I gave my life as a ransom for many.'

So you want to be a leader?

An edited speech by Roy Clements at Word Alive 1999 challenging the church to rethink its policy on choosing leaders

Empire-builders?

Unknown evangelists

The lesson of humility

Promotion?

Beware

Edited by Alison Hull of Spring Harvest

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