Sometimes we think if the pastor gets it right, then results will follow. I challenge that assumption by noting that Protestant churches now have some of the best trained leaders we've ever known.
We hear too much talk about leadership and not enough about following. Congregations that do great work have strong followers. People work out of their own deep faith and commitment to the church they love, not necessarily because their leaders have some special skill or knowledge.
Thomas Russell, The Christian Century, December 28, 2010
"We hear too much talk about leadership and not enough about following. Congregations that do great work have strong followers."
ReplyDeleteStrong followers a pain-in-the-tail to today's leaders in the age of self-publishing on the net.
I do not concur with Russell's assessment that "we" (whoever that is) have some of the best trained clergy leaders the church has ever known. My observation is that "we" suffer under some of the most poorly equipped leaders the church has ever known. Check the backgrounds and GPAs of the classes being admitted by seminaries today and compare what you find to similar data for classes admitted by those same schools during the late 1940s and 1950s and you will see what I mean.
ReplyDeleteGPA? Is that relevant? Anyway, I concur with you (Randy) that the current training might not make our leaders spectacularly well equipped. I really don't know, but I'd like to know more about why Russell considers today's leaders so well-trained.
ReplyDeleteI think it's my job as a leader to teach people how to be good followers--by which I do not mean "people who will shut up and meekly do what I tell them," much as I might wish for that on a hard day.
Amy