"Milquetoast Pastors" ... led entirely by his board and other "controllers." As a result, he allows everyone else to set the agenda and avoids conflict at all costs. Desperately "co-dependent," ...In truth, many of these dear souls are burned out or disillusioned church reformers. Many are God's wounded warriors.
"Churchy Clergy" Career-driven ... "professional" or "officially" anointed Christians draw their personal esteem from the privileges ... Most speak "religionese" ... love top-down religiosity, spiritual bureaucracies, and legalistic agendas.
"Hospital Chaplains" ... the church becomes a hospital where people are healed ... the focus is on the well-being, the happiness, and the health of the flock. ... never leads his sheep beyond their protected enclosure. He never asks his flock to "grow up," to "go out," or to "propagate."
"Information Brokers" ... teachers. ..., they impart "knowledge"--they deliver "information"--they mediate the "facts" of faith. ... their "ideas" were born in the modern period, which was already anti-mystery, anti-spirit, and anti-emotion.
"Ministry Police" ... "do" the ministry. ... It's a caste system, a clear divide between those who are "official" and those who are "just lay persons."
"Control Freaks" ... They micro-manage the whole church. They brood over "crowd control." They insist on approving everything.... laity must do it exactly the way they're told--no mistakes and no variables. ... obsessed with "quality control" that mistakes are rarely forgiven. That means "trial and error" is never permitted and--as a result--individual growth is never enabled.
"Feudal Overlords" ... primarily concerned about the size and resources of their church. This makes sense, for their church is conspicuously about them. In other words, their spiritual journey is mostly an ego trip.
"Marketing CEO's" ... covet the powers of strategic planning and commercial success. ... Their game is a numbers game, so whatever the market wants. . . . Then, the Spirit becomes a commercial product. Lots of "eye-candy" and "ear-candy" offer instant gratification. And the mystical and miraculous seem even better than a trip to the amusement park.... harvest where nothing is planted. They barter a spiritual birthright for something "far more successful."
Yet, spiritual seekers still need spiritual leaders. Somebody must discern the destiny, cast the vision, and empower the people in this "anything goes" society. In short, somebody must know how to start a fire, and tend a fire.
Unknown to most, the Lord of History is giving us these new leaders. But this moment presents both a gift and a problem. For these new leaders are not what we think. In fact, there is no way--out of our old notions--that we can even begin to understand who they are.
Quite intriguing don't you think? A bit damning of leadership: of course the reality is that many church leaders are people with one or more of these tendencies and often no idea of the way to be otherwise. One of the things we need is good supervision for church leaders, in the Anglican system it should be bishops and their apostolic team, but it rarely is, regrettably.
Post Modern Christianity: The Future of the Church and Post Modern Ministry in the 21st Century:Filed in: Christian, leadership, post-modernity
2 comments:
Interesting post, Andii. Enjoyed it.
We leaders sure have our liabilities, don't we? Lord, have mercy.
perhaps we should confess our tendencies? I certainly recognise information brokery as a temptation and at my worst [okay when feeling wounded and disillusioned] the milquetoast thing looks familiar.
What I didn't say of course is that I'm on tenterhooks to see what paradigmn he offers for the emerging leaders...
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