Church Leadership Crisis Part 2
ChurchContinuing from yesterday, part 2 of my recent article.
Are our leaders spiritually energised?
To return to the 2 questions above, we have to recognise there is a very close connection between the ability of our existing leaders to bring on a fresh generation and how spiritually energised the existing leaders are. When the lights have gone out in leaders' eyes they will not bring on new leaders. In fact they will feel threatened by them.
I believe that the percentage of people leaving Christian leadership (humanly-speaking) prematurely is at an epidemic rate, especially in the 45-55 age group. Stress-related illnesses are sky high, family stresses leading to increased marriage breakdown rates among leaders are consistently high. Numbers falling to sexual temptation seems to be increasing. A friend recently told me that this merely reflected the population at large in any profession. That may be so, but it is irrelevant, because we need our Christian leaders to be the strongest of heart and the most energised in the gospel as they call people to come and die with Christ.
Do you know who feeds, spiritually, the leaders in your church who regularly feed you? Or do you just assume it is happening? The chances are that they may be getting less regular help with their spiritual walk than the people they are called to lead, and their wives will be getting less still. The people who bear the largest burdens for the least input in any church are always leaders' wives.
1 Timothy 5 tells us to honour leaders, indeed to consider them worthy of double honour. If you want leaders who are continually brimming with spiritual energy in your church, then the church will be regularly asking "how do we honour them?" A primary way is to make sure they have the sources of spiritual input they need to then feed others.
Reader Comments (2)
Thought provoking as always Marcus. One observation I have is that one of the main causes of a loss in spiritual fervour (for lack of a better word) is loneliness. A single leader operating without the support of a functioning team. The burden for everything then rests (or feels like it rests) with the leader. Church - leader, family - leader, self - leader, community - leader, evangelism - leader. It's a weight I don't think anyone was supposed to carry.
I couldn't agree more, Phil. On top of that when the brickbats get thrown at you the only way a lonely leader can respond in the long term is to build defences. Leaders with a team around them are much more likely to be able to be able to survive in the long term while remain open and vulnerable, because the team carries any burdens of hostility or opposition together