We got it all wrong, Edmund Chan said at the end of the IDMC Conference. We think the world is in trouble and the Church is in need. Global warming, flu pandemic, terrorism, economic meltdown and such leads us to believe that the world is in big trouble. And the Church, we say, struggles to engage the troubles of the world because we are so in need - we lack resources, leaders, equipping, etc etc.But the truth? It is the Church that is in trouble and the world that is in need. This is the Corinthianized Church - full of outward glamour and pomp but empty of real substance and depth and rooting.
It made me think. Really think. My mind raced to the way we raise potential leaders because we are so in need leaders in the church. Many times I have yielded to the the temptation to soften the call of leadership. I wanted to emphasize how little time it would take, how low the expectations were and how easy the ministry would be. The temptation to soften the call of leadership is huge.
I was reading Luke 9 this morning where Jesus came across three potential new leaders. Listen how he handled the call to leadership. “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” 62Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
I can’t think of one instance where Jesus softened the call to leadership when he was recruiting new leaders. In fact it’s just the opposite. Jesus was forthright and bold when he was asking for commitment. When we soften the call to leadership we run the risk of dampening the new leader’s passion, diminishing their sense of significance and decreasing their level of commitment.That' s when the Church gets into more trouble!
The greater the need we have for leaders, the greater the temptation to soften the call of leadership. When our goal is simply to “Fill a Position” then we tend to soften the call to leadership. But when our goal is to find a passionate person who will serve God’s purpose then we will be bold and honest about the commitment and the level of expectations.
The Church is in trouble for as long as leaders are small-minded and not Kingdom-minded; man-centred and not God-centred (anthropocentric vs theocentric).