Whither Leadership

 On the weekend, I watched a documentary on CBC, #BLESSED, which explored the C3 church movement which has now been expanded to Toronto from its beginnings in Australia.  The C3, which stands for Christian, City, Church, is an international evangelical church which has had great success attracting millennials.

The documentary, which rightly has been criticized for not being an in-depth critical look at the church, presented a church which seems to have many things I am in agreement theologically.  However, I was left feeling uneasy about what was not explored in the documentary.  It presented C3 as what could be described as not untypical evangelical church with praise leaders, a charismatic pastor who connected with his flock, and little in the way of liturgy.  There can be no arguing with its success, if success is measured by growth in the number of people who attend services and in the number of congregations and the ability to plant new church congregations. 

As was noted in one critical article, the documentary did not explore what the church does to make the church so attractive to the millennial aged people they are apparently so successful in attracting.  It also doesn’t explore the potential danger that a charismatic leader, who almost becomes an object of worship, can cause for those who follow his or her – especially if there are few, if any, constraints in place in the organization itself.

We have currently many examples of what can happen when leaders do not live up to the expectations which are placed on them.  We have all the politicians and civil servants who have demanded that citizens do not travel in this time of the COVID shut down and have turned around and done just that because “they deserve it” implying that they are special and, therefore, the rules - which they impose - do not apply to them.  We have the much more serious example of bad leadership in the United States which has incited insurrection to attempt to over turn a legitimate election. 

The question that is being begged to explore (but not begging the question) is what makes a good leader?  As I have mentioned, at the end of 2020 (that seems a long time ago), I took a course on Benedictine Spirituality.  I have continued to read one of the books recommended for the course, The Rule of Benedict by Joan Chittister.   The Rule of Benedict includes much information of what is required of leadership and leaders.  Over the next few week, I will explore aspects of leadership which are outlined in the Rule.  I find it particularly interesting that the Rule of Benedict was written over fourteen hundred years ago but it has stood the test of time and is just as applicable in today’s circumstances as it was when it was written despite the times being very different.

I will begin by looking at one aspect which is a good foundation for good leadership.  It states in the Prologue to the Rule that the leaders of the monastic community, “are to lead the community by a two- fold teaching: they must point out to the monastics all that is good and holy more by example than by words.”  Chittister’s commentary on this expands on its relevance today:

Autocrats and militarists and spiritual charlatans and abusive parents and corporate moguls want the people under them to obey laws from which their exalted positions hold them exempt.  Benedict says that the only authentic call for obedience comes from those who themselves demonstrate the value of the law.

This is a good application of the Golden Rule which Jesus and others taught, ‘do unto other what you would have them do unto you’.  If leaders do not have this as a guiding principle, he or she will be in danger of leading themselves down a wrong and potentially dangerous path.

Blessings on your journey and may you have God as your guide.