Spiritual Leadership

I wrote this column two weeks ago and it was published in our weekly newsletter on the back page of the Alabama Baptist. I received a very affirming email from one church lay leader, so I thought I would post it here. I have added a couple of sentences since I am not as restricted by length of article requirements. I hope it is a challenge for you.

Who are the lay (non-staff) leaders in your church? What are they leading? Are they “running the show,” keeping the organization and activities going, or are they offering real spiritual leadership to the congregation as she seeks to move forward in Kingdom work? Not too long ago our staff honed in on four barriers that keep our churches from being effective Great Commission (Acts 1:8) churches. The four barriers we identified were (1) lack of spiritual vitality (need for revival/spiritual awakening), (2) lack of Holy Spirit-led leadership, (3) lack of effective disciple-making, and (4) lack of strategic framework and direction. In addressing the second of these, the lack of Spirit-led leadership, I want to first note that this is not intended to be a slam on any current church leader. All too often we have placed people in leadership positions because others are unwilling to get involved. In fact, one pastor a few years back lamented the fact that a woman in his church would always volunteer to take a position "if no one else will do it." He knew that sometimes it was better to leave a position empty than to fill it with someone lacking the gifts, calling, and passion to make it work.
Many of our elected church leaders do exactly what is expected of them. Most of the time a failure of leadership is both a failure of leadership and a failure of “followship.” We don’t hold high spiritual expectations of our leaders. We don’t foster an environment where they are encouraged to deepen their spiritual walk but rather engage in incessant complaining and criticism. If we expect Spirit-led leaders, then we have to strive to become Spirit-led followers.
Perhaps the time has come to redefine the roles of our lay leaders. We need to hold them accountable for their personal spiritual development and maturity, not just running our church organization. We cannot do that unless we are striving to be all we can be in Christ ourselves. I think concerted effort on the part of both followers and leaders to grow in our understanding of our calling in Christ would move us a lot further along the road toward spiritual renewal and revival. When was the last time you reminded one of your lay leaders that you were praying for them? When have you been on your knees asking God to encourage and strengthen them? When have you encouraged them to listen to the Lord? Only when our lay leaders are focused on being Kingdom citizens and Kingdom leaders will me begin to turn around the declines we have experienced in recent years. Only when we have become more transparent in our spiritual walk will we be able to offer the kind of spiritual leadership to lead our churches forward. Your prayers for them will help instill in them a humility necessary for effective leadership. Your prayers will serve to remind them they are called to serve God first and the congregation second. I invite you to join me in praying for our churches leaders in the coming months.