The Kind of Leaders we Need Now

 

              If my suspicions about the 4Ds are true, then they may be calling the Church to new behaviors, new models of leadership and organization even. Imagine a Congregation, or Synod, or Churchwide Office, ordered and staffed to focus on the 4Ds. Imagine Lay and Ordained congregants focused on ministering in a dispersed world; imagine Bishops and Bishop’s Associates focused on finding new models of partnership amongst the wreckage of the old order of the informal establishment of religion. Imagine Churchwide Organizations ordered around doing the things that allow us to believe in God at all and listening to those most on the edges of our society and our church.

              In our Disenchanted world, we need Soul Shepherds. We need leaders who practice what they preach, have encountered the living God, and want to introduce others to Jesus! Leaders who are centered in prayer, are able to listen people into the faith, and can cure congregations of their Lutheran Laryngitis.

              In our Diverse world, we need Wave Riders. We need leaders who come from and advocate for the edges of both church and society. We need leaders who are conversant in multiple vernaculars, who can cross and gather together intergenerational and multicultural cohorts. If we seek to be a young diverse denomination, we need young and diverse leaders, and those who care for them.

              In our Decentralized world, we need Sacred Scientists. We need leaders who encourage small groups of people to embrace holy experiments that magnify their ministries. We need leaders who will act like spy handers, equipping leaders, setting goals, and letting people go and do, because they trust them to get the work done. We need leaders adept at the holy grail of decentralization, the internet—but not because it is cool or fashionable, but because it can make meaningful ministry happen. We need leaders who can gather dispersed people for fun and fellowship, and food—a host adept at dinner church could be just what we need to be church today and into many tomorrows.

              In our Disestablished world, we need Partnership Crafters. We need leaders who can be matchmakers between secular organizations and congregations, who can midwife a new web of connections into existence. We need leaders who can articulate the church’s mission in a way that inspires those who are neither religious nor spiritual to join in common cause with the Church, be it in acts of service or sharing of space.