A Guiding Conviction - Your Greatest Leadership Asset is...
In 1989, a German pastoral theologian named Dr. Wunibald Miller contacted Henri Nouwen seeking help. Dr. Miller desired to establish a spiritual therapeutic center for Christian leaders in Germany. Nouwen thought the proposal a great idea, but wrote back with a caution: “My main concern would be that the word “spiritual” be more central than the word “therapeutic.” Nouwen goes on to explain,
“I have an increasing sense that the most important crisis of our time is spiritual and that we need places where people can grow stronger in the spirit and be able to integrate the emotional struggles in their spiritual journeys.”[1]
I resonate deeply with Nouwen’s conviction, and it frames the way I’ve developed my own initiatives to encourage and equip ministers. I’m convinced that to lead in Christian ministry we must first nurture our own soul.
The 4th century church father St. Athanasius the Great understood this. As Bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius was exiled five different times by five different Roman Emperors. Despite spending seventeen years in exile he had a tremendously successful ministry that lasted forty-five years. Reflecting on his ministry Athanasius wrote, “You cannot put straight in others what is warped in yourself.”[2]
Several years ago, Alistair Begg challenged ministers at the CRU Ministry Conference with these words: “The people we serve don’t need our giftedness, they need our godliness.” I couldn’t agree more. For all the talk of “Leadership” in the church today our focus has centered running our congregations efficiently and effectively. But we sometimes lack concern for what is most vital in a leader – Godliness.
We should always remember that our greatest asset as a leader is not our talent, our skills, or our charismatic personality. Our greatest asset isn’t the aptitude to run an organization or cast a vision and see it become reality. Our greatest asset isn’t the ability to preach an engaging sermon or lead a dynamic worship service. Our greatest asset in ministry is the health of our own souls.
In his fine book Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul, Lance Witt writes, “We have neglected the fact that a pastor’s greatest leadership tool is a healthy soul.”[3] Witt argues that “Godly leadership is always inside out.”[4] I recommend Witt’s book as a wonderful tool to explore the heart of Christian leadership.
We need the reminder Witt offers because we tend to put pressure on ourselves. We like being defined by what we do - especially if we are good at it. If we aren’t careful we can feed off our “front stage” life of ministry and neglect our “back stage” life in Christ. We neglect the work of God in us at our own peril.
Henri Nouwen writes this powerful challenge in his book The Way of the Heart,
“What needs to be guarded is the life of the Spirit within us. Especially we who want to witness to the presence of God’s Spirit in the world need to tend the fire within with utmost care. It is not so strange that many ministers have become burnt-out cases, people who say many words and share many experiences, but in whom the fire of God’s Spirit has died and from whom not much more comes forth than their own boring, petty ideas and feelings.”[5]
“Our first and foremost task is faithfully to care for the inward fire so that when it is really needed it can offer warmth and light to lost travelers.”[6]
We would all do well to read and reread Nouwen and Witt to take stock of our soul condition. In his book The Great Omission Dallas Willard says, “The sudden failures that appear in the lives of some ministers and others are never really sudden but are the surfacing of longstanding deficiencies in the ‘hidden person of the heart’.”
If you begin the journey with Witt and Nouwen, may God gently and graciously reveal that “hidden person” and may He grant the courage to come to Him for healing and wholeness.
[1] Henri Nouwen, Love Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life, 214.
[2] On the Incarnation, 24.
[3] Lance Witt, Replenish, 19.
[4] Ibid, 20.
[5] Ibid. 47
[6] Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart , 47
