To Lead or Not to Lead
I’ve been reflecting a lot on what it means to be a leader.
To be more accurate, I’ve been thinking about what it doesn’t mean to be a leader.
I realize there is no shortage of individuals today talking about that reality. But I’m less interested in experts (as important as they are) and far more interested in what it means to be a leader in my small suburban Chicago parish.
Two things have come together to push me to wrestle with this: my desire to grow as a priest-leader and my search for ways to invest in my parish's leadership.
Priestly Leadership
I have the blessing of people who cultivate my desire to grow as a leader. Without that, I suspect that any of the success I’ve had in leadership would have been nonexistent or far more costly.
I have advanced training and education in two different disciplines. Both lacked leadership training. The only course at the seminary that even referred to leadership focused on how to run meetings (poorly, if you ask my staff) and that you can’t fire volunteers (spoiler alert: Not only can you, but under certain circumstances, failing to do so is abdicating your leadership responsibility). The course conflated leadership, management, and authority, and failed to provide guidance on any of them.
Stepping into the world of parish renewal, I’ve wondered why leadership training was not integrated into my formation for the priesthood. There are probably many reasons, and admittedly, a lot of formation needs to happen in a limited time, so things will inevitably be left out. I wonder, though, if it wasn’t addressed because the unspoken understanding is that being ordained a priest makes you a de facto leader. While there is truth in that, there is far more wrong with it than right.
Being a leader and being in charge are different things.
Being a leader and being highly visible are different things.
Being a leader and being a decision-maker are very different things.
While there is increasing discussion in the seminaries about servant leadership, from what I can see from the seminarians I interact with, the focus is on what it means to serve, leaving the leadership part unaddressed.
Borrowing words from a former colleague of mine, a servant without leadership gives rise to a pastor who is the personal chaplain of the most engaged few, not the spiritual father of a community of missionary disciples.
I suspect part of the unending waves of scandals tumbling out of the church’s hierarchy is the confusion of positional and supernatural leadership. These days, there is a resumé that one can assume a bishop will have. The details of that resumé change depending on the current Pope, but nonetheless, there are discernible patterns. By no means does that mean that those resumé items are bad. However, that approach to selecting men for the fullness of orders has an impact, especially when we fail to distinguish between positional and supernatural leadership.
In short, I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership because I don’t feel like my seminary or diocese has equipped me to be one.
Parish Leadership
The second reason I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership is that as my parish continues developing and refining its Leadership Summit model, we are still discussing who should be invited. That conversation is, in essence, about how we define a parish leader.
The goals of our Leadership Summits are to:
Continue to cast a vision for our community while keeping us focused on the mission that will get us there;
Make the gospel model of a disproportionate investment in leadership a lived reality;
Equip and empower the baptized to step into their rightful role of being co-responsible for the Great Commission;
Provide formation and receive feedback on how we can become more fruitful disciples.
With these goals, it is imperative that our true leaders are present. That may mean some individuals attend whose leadership is powerfully hidden and humble - sometimes even hidden from themselves!
Between my awareness of the lacuna in my pre- and post-ordination formation and my on-the-ground experience in the parish, I’ve grown in my appreciation of what it means to be an authentic church leader.
Forms of Leadership
There are far more books and lectures on leadership than anyone could hope to experience. That is a good thing and a sign of the hunger for exemplary leadership in the church and beyond. The following reflections on different forms of leadership are simply what I’ve seen in my church and what our team is using to guide us in our goal of disproportionately investing in leadership. I suspect these observations may hold true for other parishes.
POSITIONAL LEADERS These are individuals who, by their position, are leaders. As a pastor, I definitely belong to that category. Staff and council members are also included. This is the weakest form of leadership because it can give the appearance of leadership without making the necessary demands. In fact, someone possessing solely positional leadership exhibits more authority than leadership. This doesn’t mean positional leadership is bad. It is, however, insufficient to be a leader. Those in my parish who fall in this category are strong leaders because they are in one (or more) of the other leader categories.
INSPIRED LEADERS These leaders exhibit a docility to the Holy Spirit that opens their ears to the voice of the One True Leader. In communion with the Will of the King of Kings, they lead not out of their own person but out of the Persons of the Trinity and, thereby, are the only ones who can bring about authentic, lasting renewal in the church. These individuals speak truth because they speak from hearing the voice of God, meaning their words have an objective and supernatural power. Give me a person of humble and contemplative prayer over the experienced CEO with a worldly worldview any day. At the core of church leadership is hearing the prompting of the Holy Spirit and acting accordingly; any other form of leadership makes the initiative ours rather than God’s.
THOUGHT LEADERS These individuals lead in a way that opens up possibilities and pathways, seeing what can be, what should be, and how to build a bridge between the “here” and “there.” Their leadership goes beyond the “well you should do….” to the “let’s together do…” because they work towards incarnating their ideas. These are no backseat drivers: they write the map, build the engine, and help others drive.
INFLUENCE LEADERS These parish leaders are especially effective in swaying the hearts of their neighbors and galvanizing others around the Lord’s vision for His people. In ways mostly simple and small, influence leaders are the catalysts that shift a parish's culture and are thereby irreplaceable in leading renewal. Influence leaders make excellent evangelists.
INVESTMENT LEADERS These individuals lead by making the Lord’s Will for His Church possible even within the limitations of human society. They don’t volunteer; they serve. They don’t donate; they give like God gives. They don’t approach their community with a transactional posture; they selflessly use their gifts and charisms for the Great Commission to “Go, make disciples of all nations…” Even more so, investment leaders don’t simply invest in institutions; they invest in hearts. They step into the brokenness of human life and the confines of our society, investing in (read: accompanying) individuals to bring the freedom needed for the Gospel to take root and transform.
While these different categories capture my experience of parish leadership, it is important to note that many leaders fall into more than one of these categories. In fact, I’ve noticed that as disciples intentionally surrender themselves to one form of leadership, others tend to manifest in their lives.
A Little Crazy is What We Need
As my parish continues to develop and refine our Leadership Summit model, we cast a wide net regarding who should be invited. In fact, most of the people in the room are not in positional leadership roles. I also suspect many in that room would not see themselves as leaders because, for most people in the church, positional leadership is the alpha and omega of their experience of church leadership.
Church leadership can - it must! - look like many different things. If you want to know authentic leadership, look towards the saints of our church who have led renewal:
We need leaders like Catherine of Siena; a little crazy, full of holy boldness, and passionately in love with Jesus.
We need leaders like Ignatius of Loyola; experiencing what it means to be forgiven of much, practical about how grace works in our humanness, and unapologetic in the work of renewal.
And we absolutely need leaders like Francis of Assisi; one who sells everything for the pearl of great price, seeks out that which is hidden, and knows that nothing is too radical when souls hang in the balance.
The late, great Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, said it this way: “But finally, the reform of the Church will not come from management theory. It will come from holiness. St. Francis of Assisi, Blessed Mother Teresa, St. Catherine of Siena are the reformers we look for, even we bishops.”
These are the leaders we need. These saints are genuine agents of renewal, and right now, many more renewal leaders act like sleeper cells waiting to be activated in my parish and yours. I know this is true because the Lord does not leave His church without what She needs. So, since the church desperately needs supernatural leadership, there must already be leaders out there waiting to be unleashed.
If you are baptized, you are called to be a leader in the church. Do you think that’s crazy? Well, you are baptized into the triple office of Christ as priest, prophet, and … king.
We desperately need more leaders in the church. So, how about dusting off your baptism and stepping into that role?
The Holy Spirit is not lacking in the gifts He provides His church.
Be that gift for the church.
Be a leader.
We need you.