A couple of years ago as I was preparing my talks for The Leadership Summit, I was meditating on why a church leader's influence is so paramount in the redemptive work that we're all called to do.
I started to recall all the experiences I've had with literally hundreds of churches throughout the world. I recalled the faces of the battle-weary pastors who wondered aloud whether or not it was all worth it, and I sympathised deeply with the numerous challenges that were unique to their particular community or part of the world.
And then I recalled some of the things I learned having been around Washington DC. I became very aware of what our government leaders can and cannot do. They can write some laws and change some broad legislative actions but they can't change the nature of the human heart.
They cannot take a fundamentally hateful person and turn him or her into a fundamentally loving person. They cannot take someone who is unconcerned about the poor and make them concerned about the poor.
That transforming work is distinctly the work of Christ as a result of the gospel message being proclaimed through local churches. If that's true, I thought, then there's a whole lot more riding on this thing we call church leadership than meets the eye.
In a moment of personal clarity, I began to understand the "Kingdom math" in a way I hadn't before. The new "equation" - if you will - raised the stakes for me and helped fuel my already white-hot passion for helping church leaders in the world's most important mission.
It goes something like this: If you change a church leader, you change a church. If you change a church, you can change a community. If you change enough churches in that community, you can change a region, a nation, and eventually the world.
Change a Leader, Change a Church
If you're ever going to change a church, a church leader will have to change from having a fuzzy vision (or no vision) to a clear and hot vision. They'll have to change from a protecting ground mentality to a taking new ground mentality. They'll have to change from merely presiding over a church to energising,empowering, and unleashing a church. A huge change has to occur in the heart, mind and skills of a leader in order for the rest of the equation to make sense.
A leader who has experienced that kind of change can then effect change in their church by changing it from a vision-free church to a vision-focused church and from a passive, spectator-orientated environment to an engaged, activistic environment.
A church whose top value used to be comfort and convenience will turn into one that thrives on commitment and mission achievement, and a church mired in lethargy will transform into one that pulsates with passion.
Change a Community
Every church is called in Scripture to effect its community. That is the "salt and light" concept referred to in Matthew 5. It is the feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide resources for the poor, love thy neighbour, relieve oppression, change inequitable structures, and be a conscience to the community concept.
But that doesn't happen automatically. Once a church is energised in all the right ways by the power of the gospel and the unquenched Spirit working in the congregation's life, then that energy has to be focused. So many churches consider "success" the aggregating of ever-increasing numbers of people. But that is only one measurement, and, in some cases, not even a good measurement of effectiveness. A much better measurement of effectiveness is how many people in the church are envisioned and equipped to bring Christ to their arena of influence. How many bring the power of the gospel into where they work, live, and play golf, and into the neediest areas of the community?
