Transforming Church

There are pastors who are chaplains and nothing more. Some have management skills in addition to their chaplaincy training but have no leadership skills. Some have leadership skills in addition to their chaplaincy skills. There are generally only a few pastors who have all the three skills.

Leaders inspire people towards a goal. They cast a vision, raise up other leaders, and make useful change. People with this gift make up 5-10% of the population. They tend to work through others and have a long-term time frame. In surveys, George Barna finds only 10% of pastors describe themselves as leaders capable of articulating God's vision for the church.

Managers excel in maintaining existing systems and making them more efficient. Once they are clear where an organization is going, they will build the structures to take you there. People with this gift make up 30-35% of the population. They tend to work with others to accomplish goals, and have a mid-term time frame of six months to two years. Leaders need managers they can trust.

In the business world there are two beliefs. Some believe that leaders are born and cannot be made, and the others, that leadership is a skill that can be learned. Academic research shows that while some have more natural leadership ability, anyone can learn and enhance leadership skills. In the church we believe that all things are possible through the help of the Spirit. We also know that God calls the most unlikely people to leadership positions. Moses had many excuses; but God called and guided him to be a leader of the Israelites. Moses prayed, listened to God and discerned his will. Leadership can be learned with a willing heart and the help of the Spirit.

We all know that chaplains do pastoral care well. Pastors receive good training towards being chaplains. In a workshop with ten first call pastors; we asked them to list all the tasks they perform in taking care of their congregations. Surprisingly they listed lots of things that chaplains do and a few managerial tasks. There was not much mentioned about leading the congregation towards a vision. They explained that seminaries train them well in pastoral care but they did not receive training in managing and leading.

Then they looked at the ELCA job description for pastors and found that the job description also does not talk about managerial duties or leadership responsibilities in a congregation. Seminaries are still turning out chaplain managers when today we critically need courageous leaders. It is understandable that it is hard to cram all of this on top of sound theological training into four years of study. However, some seminaries in the United States are including a course on leadership and one on team building in their curricula.

Managers accomplish goals through other people. They do not necessarily set goals. They plan work around goals, they organize around goals, and they motivate people in the accomplishment of goals. They hire people or recruit volunteers and oversee or monitor goal accomplishment.

Leaders, on the other hand, have a vision. In the business world leaders rely on their knowledge, wisdom and experience to come up with a vision. In the church, leaders discern God's vision for His church. They include people (congregational leaders) in the discernment process, which involves studying the scriptures, praying, and opening hearts to listen to God. In order to do this effectively, a leader should have a personal vision, as all Vision is rooted in oneÂ’s personal vision. This personal vision also should be discerned and should not be the result of one's own knowledge, wisdom and experience. When one discerns his/her personal vision, it is easy to lead others to discern God's vision for His church.

After the vision for a church is discerned, the leader articulates the vision, obtains consensus, and through the help of people, guided by the Spirit, makes it a reality. John Kotter, in his book Leading Change, describes the steps in a change process. First, one must build a sense of urgency. This is about providing a clear picture of reality that helps people understand the need for change. In a church, this might include the gift of prophecy, holding up a mirror and letting people see how we have strayed from God and our Biblical roots. The second step is to build a guiding coalition. In other words, one must influence a core group of leaders to take on a vision of change as their own.

All this involves great people skills. Leadership is influence and influence is gained through meeting needs and building relationships. Therefore a leader has to spend lot of time gaining the respect and trust of people and thereby gaining influence with them. Leaders have influence and leaders get things started. Leaders also set an example to others.

Paul Sorensen, President of Joy Leadership Center, says it this way, "Leadership is relational. While most leadership development has focused on the leader as an individual, real-world leadership always functions in the context of relationships. Relational leadership recognizes that power is mostly earned and given by the followers rather than grasped by the leader. Effective leaders understand this relational context and seek to maximize meaningful communication that can empower others to perform effectively and efficiently. Networking, team building, coaching and collaboration all recognize this relational leadership approach. Jesus earned the right to be followed by engaging others and influencing them through love, compassion and connection."

Our prime concern in the church is transformational leadership. Transformational leaders have the gift of understanding current reality and the need for change. They discern what the change ought to be and influence people to move towards the new reality they have discerned. Thus, they accomplish the necessary transformation. However, we need to recognize that any change is threatening to people as it moves them beyond their comfort zones. So a good transformational leader through his or her influence generates support for the vision and implements changes gradually.

The Lutheran Church needs transformation and a return to the Great Commission. We used to be the fourth largest denomination in the United States, and this year we have dropped to the fifth place. Our membership is declining. We need transformational leaders who will reclaim the Great Commission.

One of the most useful forms of leadership for us in the church is servant leadership. Servant leaders are distinctly different from self-serving leaders and egotistic leaders. They follow the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus illustrates this by humbling himself to wash the feet of his disciples at the last supper. He certainly is greater than his disciples, however, he showed them how a leader assumes humility and serves his people.

A servant leader understands the needs of his/her people, equips them and empowers them as they go about their work towards the vision. Servant leaders do not just assign responsibilities to people and send them away to work. They have the gift of knowing where their people are in terms of abilities, and will equip them with all the skills and spiritual growth necessary to carry out the work of Jesus.

We do need transformational servant leaders in our church. The role of our Academy is to support equipping our pastors with the skills necessary to lead us in a post-modern world.

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