Christ in Leadership

Christ and Leadership

This summer our church will elect bishops, those who will lead our church in the ministry of oversight.

Everyone agrees that we currently suffer a “crisis of leadership.” Our numbers indicate that we have been under led, or led in the wrong sorts of ways. Our indicators of institutional health say that we need to do some things differently.

But I remind you that the first and most enduring “crisis of leadership” is named “Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ not only assaulted our definitions of “God” and “Messiah,” but also disrupted and challenged our notions of leadership. From the first he predicted that the people in charge would reject him. Those early predictions are quickly validated by the response of the authorities to Jesus.

From the first Jesus recruited odd leadership, surprising us by whom he called to lead his movement. Those whom the world regarded as marginalized, ill-equipped, poorly informed, not particularly spiritual or moral, Jesus named as “disciples,” confounding the worldly wise, promising these losers glory in his coming Kingdom.

I’ve read dozens of books on leadership, have even written a few myself.  Books on leadership tend to say, “Here are the personal qualities you must have, here are the skills you must acquire if you want to lead.”  In the world, leaders must be omniscient and omnipotent, capable and courageous, competent and creative. Leaders in Jesus’ name must simply be obedient to his, “Follow me.”

As bishop I am frequently reminded by the Holy Spirit that Jesus was crucified through the leadership of people like me, persons in positions of spiritual authority over others. As bishop, I’m closer to Caiaphas than to Saint Paul. Therefore I have found it a salubrious practice to have close by me King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” written by King to someone just like me.

The only good reasons to be in any sort of ministry are theological. Sometimes we do theology reading books or listening to sermons and sometimes we do theology by getting our hands dirty, diving into the fray, attending to the Body, and working with God for the People of God. The only hope we have for accomplishing anything in our church leadership is our faith that Jesus Christ really rose bodily from the dead and is on the move utilizing the same sorts of knuckleheads whom he first called and commissioned.

When I, mid-year, appointed a pastor to a church that had been in unmitigated decline for two decades — right after removing a pastor whose ineffectiveness was exposed in his first three months at the church — and when I congratulated the pastor for effecting, in a scant three months dramatic growth in attendance, membership, and giving, the pastor replied, “Thanks for having the courage to appoint me here. I’ve made a startling theological discovery in the past couple of months: we have a God who is more able even than I believed.”

One reason why so many of our churches praise a rather trivial, allegedly concerned but essentially inactive God is that they haven’t attempted anything so bold and brash that they risk utter, embarrassing failure unless the first Easter women were right and Jesus Christ really has risen from the dead. Hesitant, circumspect practice of ecclesiology leads to a limp and trifling Christology.

My life as bishop has been a rebuke to those theoretical academics who succumb to the docetic temptation to disdain concern with administrative, managerial structures of the church — Jesus Christ is really, fully, completely human; disembodied faith is not faith in him.

But being a Chalcedonian Christian I also must affirm that the mission of the church is utterly impossible without a Jesus who is really, fully, completely divine. His Body, though crucified, is where the fullness of God chooses to dwell. There is no God hiding behind the Incarnation, holding anything back from humanity. Jesus actually is God coming for us, God in motion, more God than we can handle, God refusing to be vague or insubstantial, God with a body, God so near as to demand human response. Any weakening of the divine in Christ results in indecision and uncertainty, a fatal equivocal, indistinct, vagueness that is the death of leadership in Jesus’ name. Just as some wish that Jesus had not come as a Jew, had not refused self-defense and violence, had not turned his back on wealth and worldly power, had not said so many unkind things about religious leaders like me, many wish that Jesus had not made the poor old United Methodist Church his Body, his answer to what’s wrong, an outbreak of the Kingdom of God, his people saved from the world in order to be his means of saving the world.

What God expects the church to do among suffering humanity can’t be done by humanity alone. The Kingdom of God is not devised by human efforts, even very skilled leadership. Any God who is less than the one who raised Jesus from the dead is no match for the deadly challenges facing The United Methodist Church. What God means to do among us is more, so much more, than even a well- functioning organization. So if God was not in Christ, reconciling the world, then being bishop is the dumbest of undertakings.

As my episcopacy wanes I feel much like Moses on Mount Nebo. I’ve gotten a privileged, late career glimpse of the Promised Land. I’ve seen Methodism’s vital future. I’ve been able to participate, here and there, in what I believe will be the tomorrow of our church. (It only took God 400 years to get around to rescuing the slaves from Egypt so who am I to lament that I got so little accomplished in eight years as bishop?) If I live until 2050, which seems unlikely, I may enjoy the reality of a fully recovered and robust Wesleyanism. I believe that the patterns of episcopal oversight that I and some of my fellow bishops have begun shall bear fruit. If I’m wrong, you’ll have to come to the basement of Duke Chapel where I’ll be buried in order to mock me in my error.

Those who say, “Willimon, you are not a good leader,” have their point. I readily admit to many of my leadership liabilities (though I’ve discovered that some of what my critics label as leadership liabilities are, through the work of the Holy Spirit, God-induced assets). My only justification for being bishop is similar to that of any Methodist preacher — God put me here. I’m as surprised by God’s call as my critics. All Christian authority is open to question because it is authority that rests upon Christ’s still-disputed sovereignty.

I think I’m obeying God’s will in my episcopacy, but like any disciple who struggles with self-deception, only God knows for sure.  To lead in Jesus’ name means to be able to admit to sin, a great asset for any leader, utterly essential for a bishop.

Still, in responding to Jesus’ vocation, in attempting to conduct my life more in service to the needs of the church than my personal preferences, in trusting Jesus’ faith in me more than my doubts about my abilities, Jesus’ crisis of leadership becomes a grand adventure, leading not as the world leads but as Jesus commands.

For the good of the church (I hope) and for my great joy (most of the time) I got to play a bit part in the great drama that is God’s incarnation in the world, God’s loving determination not to work alone. It’s a vocation I didn’t deserve but I shall always be grateful I got called. Thanks, church.       

Will Willimon

By: William H. Willimon On 6/18/2012
Topics: Weekly Message from the Conference

Comments

1. Frances Moore wrote on 6/18/2012 3:06:48 PM
Thank you, Bishop, for the leadership you have given us. I am sure you will continue to give leadership in whatever path you choose to follow with God's guidance. This message today is one of the best! I plan to copy it and also send it on to others not in our Conference who i know will also appreciate it. Best wishes to you and Mrs. Willimon in your retirement.
2. Tim Callaway wrote on 6/18/2012 5:12:53 PM
Perceptive and profound, Will, as usual. I hope we can keep in touch. Which golf course will you be living on?!
3. Ted Leach wrote on 6/18/2012 5:46:20 PM
Phyllis Tickle, in her book, The Great Emergence, gives me a paradigm to understand this strange, difficult era. It's a tough time to be a pastor, and I have the utmost respect for those who serve now as spiritual shepherds. It must be even tougher to be a bishop at this point in history. I attended both the North Alabama and Memphis annual conferences this year, and one common theme was a new level of honesty about the institutional challenges facing the church. This was against the backdrop of a General Conference in which (as far as I can tell) no one left very happy. I believe Phyllis is right when she says we are in the midst of a global transformation of the church (and the culture) that will be as thoroughgoing as the Protestant Reformation was 500 years ago. Lovett Weems has helped us understand the demographic "death tsunami" facing the UMC unless we regain our Wesleyan passion for discipling folks. I believe we are experiencing other cultural "tsumanis" that require nimble, prophetic, and deeply pastoral leadership. Bishop Swanson's comment during his Q&A session about African American youth leaving the UMC because of Euro-centric worship was poignant. Doug Meeks, in a Memphis Conference Bible study, echoed this theme by saying that our membership decline is due largely to the fact that we've "lost our children." Many of them have left the church because they see no difference between the church and the culture and the culture "is more fun." That's the kind of cultural tsunami we face. Bishop Willimon's comment about his being surprised by the call to the episcopacy reminds me of when John Rutland, Sr., was announced as the new superintendent of the Tuscaloosa District. The District Lay Leader, Ed Montgomery, got up a petition to persuade Bishop Goodson not to send John to be their D.S. John called him on the phone and said, "I hear you have a petition against me coming." Ed said, "That's right." John said, "Good, I'll sign it." John became his D.S. and they became close friends. Bishop Willimon's comment about his own "leadership liabilities" reminds me of Jim Collins' identification of one of the characteristics of great leaders: humility, coupled with "will" or "fierce resolve," or utter dedication to the mission of the business or institution. I believe these times call for a "tenacious humility." That's my prayer for our pastors and lay leaders. That's my prayer for our new bishop.
4. Jarvis Brewer wrote on 6/18/2012 6:54:46 PM
Bishop Will:One reason you have been and are, a great bishop and leader is your ability to listen to the Holy Spirit. We don't always like what we hear from God but we learn from experience that God really is God. I was once asked during an interview for a position of importance that I was not sure I wanted to explain my theory of management. I responded that I had no theory, I just looked people who worked for me in the eye and told them what I expected of them, gave them what needed to do the job, and stayed out of their way. I got the job and was told by my key supervisors who had heard of my response, "lets have an eyeball talk". I enjoyed that assignment.
5. Will Willimon wrote on 6/18/2012 9:28:09 PM
Wow. It's wonderful to have such engaging and thoughtful responses from some of my favorite fellow Methodists! Thanks. The good news is that whereas we have some folks who find it difficult to move toward the future with greater expectation and accountability, we have many more, like those of you who have testified here, who believe that we have turned a corner, that tuth is being told, and that we are responding to it well. This is the emergent reality for our church and it has been a high honor, and quite humbling to get to be part of it! Bless you all!
6. James "Woody" Woodin wrote on 6/19/2012 10:46:04 AM
Thank you Bishop for many things. First, for your willingness to answer the call. Thank you for demonstrating a level of vulnerability that does indeed, in my humble opinion, emulate Christ Jesus our Lord. As is the case in humanity (since "the fall"), if people spend enought time together, they will most certainly find something to disagree about. However, thanks be to God, we by His grace can agree to disagree while remaining in love and charity with one another. So for your critics, I recall an old saying about "walking a mile in my shoes..." I will continue to uphold you in prayer as you transition into your next chapter of life with Him who created and sustains all life. Peace be with you always. Woody
7. Jack L. Matthews wrote on 6/19/2012 11:32:59 AM
A CLASSIC CHRISTIAN EPISTLE INDEED!!! I have never encountered a more direct, dynamic, and challenging piece than this affirmation by our beloved Bishop soon to depart our Conference. I particularly was impressed with how Will personalized everything, the easy, the controversial, and the difficult. The only equivalent, theologically speaking, is perhaps in the writings of the Apostle Paul in my opinion. I was stirred a while back to purchase his recent book: "The Best of Will Willimon" due to the quotations from it in the Bishop's weekly messages. I read it every night before retiring... a concise passage at a time. I then ponder its meaning, sometimes with shock, sometimes with confirmation, but always with Christ-based motivation. When finished, I'll re-read it and mature in Christ even further. In short, I feel that we have transcended blessings from the eight years of Christ's Leadership in Bishop Willimon. We have received a God-based strategy and blueprint for the fulfillment of the Great Commission in today's challenging world. Thank you, and may God continue to constructively use you always... and in all ways! Now, I intend to make a copy of this epistle to review, share and focus whatever is left of my life for the Living Christ.
8. Warren Laird wrote on 6/19/2012 5:58:38 PM
Best wishes to you, Bishop Willimon. I am very glad that you were elected to the episcopacy and that you came our way. Thank you for sending Mikah Hudson to Highlands, too! Any time you feel the need to share a homily in the deep south, just remember that you are loved at Highlands!