Humble

Much has been written lately about the dangers of the celebrity culture in our local churches, which can easily lead to senior leaders feeling entitled to special treatment. The best antidote to that danger is Christlike humility. True humility is seeing ourselves with sober judgment, as described in Romans 12. When we see a leader who has an accurate view of both their strengths as well as their limits, a leader who recognizes the potential for abusing their power and is self aware enough to bring their pride into the light through confession, we see a person worth following. One of the phrases frequently used by humble leaders is simply, “I could be wrong.” How healing for the church to be led by those who don’t claim to have all the easy answers for our complex challenges!

Humble leaders seek to make other people shine, readily share the pulpit, and quite simply avoid making any situation all about them. As C.S. Lewis famously wrote, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.”

Healthy

If we have any hope of leading others into an uncertain future, we must take great care to build sustainable lives. This means we will intentionally manage our rhythms, including the practice of a true Sabbath. Healthy leaders seek out one or two friends or a trained counselor to speak truth into their lives, to hold up a mirror to their blind spots. A great question to ask is whether we are living the kind of life others might want to emulate – a life marked by joy, a lack of hurry, and the commitment to living in the present. When healthy leaders consider new initiatives for the church, they always ask whether the project or program will be life-giving for the community or potentially life-sucking.

The Methodists had a practice when greeting one another, asking the question, “How is it with your soul?” My confidence for thriving local churches is in direct proportion to the ability of its leaders to pay attention to the state of their souls, to have a ready answer to that question, and to make brave choices for self care and restoration.

Curious

I am a brand new grandmother to 5 month old Eloise. Watching her explore her world has stirred up a fresh desire to approach life with the curiosity of a child. Eloise is fascinated by ceiling fans, by her toes that she attempts to put in her mouth, by the fascinating game of Peek-a-boo. Her big eyes grow even bigger when her Daddy helps her fly high in the air, when her big dog Rooney licks her face, when her mama reads her a new book.

We all know that as we adult, the trajectory is to lose this spirit of wonder and curiosity. How sad. We become creatures of habit and routine, and stop asking questions that all begin with “Why.”  For the church to move forward, its leaders must return to a childlike quest to understand, to forge new connections, to learn and push out from what is so comfortable and predictable. I am a part of a church that is mostly filled with young people. This is so good for me! I love watching the leaders figure out how to guide their people toward genuine transformation. If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s been the need to be flexible, to adapt to new realities and change course as needed. Those of us who are older can learn from the enthusiasm and openness of the young – as we bring wisdom from our own learnings. Together we can discover what God has for his church in the future.

Loving

Almost all of my hope for the church of the future rests in the prayer that we will become more loving. Jesus made it clear in his final prayer on the night he was betrayed that the way the world will know we belong to Him will only be through our love for one another. Churches can be not so great at strategy or vision or execution of the big plan. Those things matter. But if we fail at love there will certainly be no thriving. Love needs to be the very air that we breathe, the culture we create, the most obvious aspect of who we are and what we stand for. When outsiders witness the depth of our love for one another, it will be irresistible.