Starting to Write- Trinitarian Leadership

As I start writing on Trinitarian Leadership, I want to share some of the preliminary, very rough drafts to get feedback. Let me know what you think.

Trinitarian Leadership
Introduction

The Trinity as a model for Leadership in the Church: An Ancient Model for a postmodern world”

This project grew out of 23 years of ministry from 1986 to 2009 as the church was moving from understanding itself in mechanical, linear, causal language to a more organic, systemic, integrated understanding of the church. Peter Steinke (Healthy Congregations) and William Easum (Sacred Cows make Gourmet Burgers) have described this evolved understanding of the church and have suggested that old ways of understanding the church and leading the church no longer work. They have rediscovered the writings of the Apostle Paul describing the church using body language, with a diversity of parts and a singular purpose. A number of writers such as Leonard Sweet (Soul Tsunamai), Brian McClaren (A New Kind of Christian) have described the modern church as post modern. Other writers such as Darrel Guder (Missional Church) and Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk (The Missional Leader) have called this the Missional Church. Either way, the old ways of leading the church of the 50’s and 60’s are no longer effective. And yet a quick look at popular literature on church leadership reveals that the old models are still alive and well and being marketed with Biblical grounding. Lead Like Jesus (Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges), Jesus as CEO, The Book on Leadership (John MacArthur) each present models of leadership as a charismatic individual in the image of Jesus or the Apostle Paul. Even Leonard Sweet’s book, Summoned to Lead presents the polar cap explorer, Shackelford, as a model for leadership.

For the past four years I have taught a master’s level class at Friends University on leadership and discipleship and have been disappointed with the models of church leadership are available in the literature. The Purpose Driven Church (Rick Warren) and The Willow Creek Model (Bill Hybels) are the most popular models that are available. However at the same time as the mainstream church has been looking for new leadership models, an alternative expression of church has emerged under the broad and reluctantly acknowledged umbrella of the “emerging church”. Dan Kimball (The Emerging Church) and Shane Claiborne (Irresistible Revolution) are just two spokespeople of a movement that claims not to be a movement and not to speak with one voice. And yet others have called this movement within the Christian faith, the next Reformation. Tim Keel (Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor & Chaos), Pastor of Jacob’s Well, cautions us from taking the “emerging church” as a new model for being and leading the church. Rather he challenges us:

“God is alive and at work in you, your community, and your context. Our world is filled with possibility because of who God is and what he is doing in creation. God longs for our participation with him, and at the same time God is on the move. Jesus said ‘Follow me’ and he meant it. He is going somewhere, and if we are to keep pace, we must follow. This means we must move. I can’t give you any answers. All I can do is propose some postures- ways of positioning ourselves that allow us a greater chance of catching God at work among us” (Keel, Intuitive Leadership, 2007. Pg. 223)

This movement that claims no single denomination anchor has an overtly Trinitarian and Incarnational theological focus. In the compilation of articles, An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (edited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones) an intentionally diverse group of leaders within the emergent umbrella have explored the theological landscape, mining for ways in which to explain, explore and excite this movement of God that is already underway. Tim Keel’s article, Leading from the Margins, expresses the challenge of leadership in such an emerging church environment:

“Leaders today must be masters of creativity and intuition. Increasingly, and perhaps more important they must be able to create, nurture and sustain environments where those capacities can be birthed, fed and empowered among the people of God.” (Pagitt and Jones, 2007, pg. 231)

This language for the challenge of Christian leaders today is Trinitarian language that is most completely expressed in the way the triune God deals with humanity: creates, nurtures, sustains, births, feeds and empowers.
When we look to models of leadership to describe how we would lead this living, breathing, changing church of the 21st century we need only look to the triune God who has led us throughout all of time with the assurance of God the Father, the compassion of God the Son and the vitality of God the Holy Spirit. The ancient expression of God as Trinity provides leaders of the church today with a model of leadership that celebrates the distinctiveness we each bring to ministry while challenging us to speak with one voice and act with a unity that builds up each person of the leadership team even as we walk with and build up the church. This is Trinitarian leadership.