Yesterday I shared in the funeral service for Jim Wood, one of the finest Christian leaders I've ever known, and one of Scotland's most committed Baptists. I'll finish this post with an extract from what I shared about Jim in the funeral service. Reflecting through the week on the life and character of this remarkably able and unselfconsciously modest man, led me to some interesting thoughts about the way we think about leadership.
Leadership has many styles, and God's gift of leadership needn't always demonstrate the same virtues and qualities. Jesus was a leader – though I'm not sure I'm entirely comforable with a word so compromised by power baggage – but the style of leadership, the way Jesus exercised authority, the goal and end of his 'leadership initiatives', were responsive to context and situation, and to the people in those situations and contexts.
There is in the life and ministry of Jesus that kind of leadership
- which takes initiative with loaves and fishes and makes things happen
- which invites trust and risk in leaving the safety of the boat for the turbulence of the waves
- which silences argument and heals wounded relationships by taking a basin and towel
- which stops and asks the name of Legion, touches the scars of the leper, and throws parties for the unwanted and too easily ignored
- which teaches prayer by doing it and so encourages discipleship by embodying obedience to the Father
- which 'wastes time' that could be used 'more productively', talking at the well with a woman to help her move beyond what we now call 'a chaotic lifestyle'
And so on. The whole Christian leadership thing has become a major area of study, contention, training, and concern, in churches looking for ways to survive, to grow, to be seen to be alive and relevant. And it's right to constantly explore and review how the dynamics of the Christian community work. But also in doing so to repeatedly, regularly, persistently, compare what we are saying and practising with the life and example of the One in whose name that leadership is expressed and all sharing of the Good News authorised.
As I reflected on the character, life commitments, behaviour and influence of Jim Wood, I came to realise that he embodied a form of leadership which could never develop from intentional task-focused training, or from programmatic initiatives and approaches aiming to 'grow' leaders. There are times when our definitions of leadership, as strategically focused and missionally practical as they are (and perhaps need to be), are nevertheless far too pragamtic. There are other, perhaps as important styles of leadership which embody something less tangible and more crucial – a spirit of loving awareness and other-centred service in which we see authentic glimpses of Jesus, through which we recall loaves and fishes, gale lashed waves, welcomed strangers, a basin and a towel. Out of such a spirit comes the capacity to be the medium of a gospel of reconciliation, a conduit of that honest to goodness sincerity that touches lives with the gentle push in the right direction, which we call grace. Such is a style of leadership crucial to the health of our Baptist fellowships as discerning communities, which few are able to exercise. But Jim Wood did.
was a Christian, a Baptist Christian. His attendance at the church’s meetings,
at Denominational Assembly and organisational gatherings was because he
believed in the gathered church meeting for worship, prayer, and discerning
together the mind of Christ. Natural courtesy, his measured thought, his
moderated words, genuine belief in the importance of listening to the voice of
Christ through the voices of individuals in the community of the Spirit, meant
that his was an important presence. Not least because it would never have
occurred to him that his voice carried more weight than anyone else’s.
The qualities
of curiosity and open-mindedness,
of inner conviction and community involvement,
of courtesy and conversation, meant that Jim was ideal in the always important
role of Conciliator. Leadership
takes many styles in contemporary church life; Jim Wood would never have
claimed to be a leader. But he was.
Inevitable tensions arise in the life of a
healthy church, relationships become strained, misunderstanding or disagreement
can develop. At such times every church needs those rare people who can see
both sides of the argument and understand the different feelings and responses.
They can interpret, bridge-build, calm hurt feelings and enable good
communication. There is a form of leadership which looks to guide and encourage
good decision-making by the pastoral care of those in danger of becoming too
involved in their own agendas.
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