I was thinking about leadership in two contexts:
I was meeting with other Baptists who were wondering if Baptist Churches have a clear and positive view of leadership, and whether the lack of a view is a reason why Baptist churches so often fail to follow through on growth and strategy?
Secondly, like many others I was reflecting upon the 2016 we have had; the widespread cynicism about institutions and their established leadership is one factor in the political shift which is sweeping the West.
I was musing whether if the first question can be answered it might offer something to help address the second point.
A Baptist View of Leadership
Authoritarian and hierarchical leadership is contrary to Baptist ethos. So, we cannot simply issue orders from the top. However, if we fail to offer another view we deny our history and experience as Baptists who have been served by leaders.
There is a familiar model of leadership which deploys character and charisma to develop and exercise a significant role. Baptist Churches and denominational structures have, and in many ways, continue to benefit from this way of leading. At times that can tip over in nepotism and over-reverence of the leader. In my experience, I have also observed that this form of leadership is very weak when it comes to succession. It often creates a vacuum in which weak and underdeveloped leadership follows an extended period of established leadership. We see this at play in many local churches and in our national denominational structures in recent years. (You can also see this playing out in businesses, football clubs and schools).
Now, I strongly support leadership of character and charisma and would not argue against affirming and supporting such leaders. I believe the weakness is that leaders become divorced from the communities they lead, and they lack a model which shows how strong and creative leaders can function with their communities in a Baptist way.
Here is one such model – a Baptist leader creates space in which the community can flourish. Such a leader offers the scope for people to practise and grow in their faith. The leader is the curator of the space in which we all explore understanding, express what we believe, and reach to those outside our space.
This leadership role is in an integral relationship with the people of the community. People will flourish when they are informed, challenged, cared for and listened to. Also, when they are nurtured, equipped, stretched and restored. A leader who creates space is not the only one who initiates input but is the one who takes responsibility to ensure the health of the space and the vitality of all the care, action, learning and growing that takes place in the space.
I have chosen the motif of the leader curating this space – by that I mean that such a leader will enable voices and creativity from amongst the community and from other contexts to be expressed.
The question for a leader then is not just how competent are you, or what gifts do you have? (Though these are invaluable questions) – but how healthy is the space given for the community in your care? Who is involved?
Now there are a couple of observations about this space which are helpful in defining the emphasis of the leader. I have talked about space. This is not a static space like a house, or a room. Rather it is a dynamic space a bit like a town square – always moving and developing. (I think of Millennium Square in my city of Leeds and the multiple forms and functions it takes in a year – from Christmas market to skating rink; from a viewing space for sporting events to an intimate location for rendezvous.)
Such a space has boundaries which are clear but always open. Such a space works well when it is safe and shared, but fails when it is inaccessible and fearful.
It is the responsibility of a Baptist leader to nurture boundaries of the community space. Without leadership, the boundaries of a Baptist church become too hardened and the church ossifies, or on the other extreme the boundaries disappear and the community loses any distinct identity. This takes wisdom and credibility on behalf of the leader – at times to remove barriers and at other times to retain boundaries, at times to curtail needless controversy and in other moments to open new debate.
It is the responsibility of the leader to encourage exciting and vibrant practices which always keep the community living, on the move and connected with the world around it. In this sense the community space will feel balanced, rooted in its past whilst embracing the present and future.
In looking after boundaries, leaders may foster some debates and discourage others, in encouraging practice the leader will encourage experimentation alongside the practice of old familiar ways. (Just like you see in a city square – annual remembrance alongside new celebrations.)
The question for a Baptist leader is how is the community enjoying clear but open boundaries, how is the community honouring the inherited way whilst embracing the new. How well do people interact? How is the relationship between the familiar and the new? Where you are heading?
So here is a model – a Baptist leader is a space creator, boundary nurturer and participation encourager. A model that is theologically literate, giving a clear role for the leader and thoroughly enmeshed in community.
I believe that this is a very strong and high role for a leader – a role that doesn’t dictate but shapes in crucial ways. We desperately need such leaders. Without these leaders, we will stagnate. This way of leadership demands real character and charisma. The thing is in this model that the leader is continually connected and in interrelationship with the community. In this way, it acknowledges that as Baptists we are gathered as believers in community.
This model of leadership has a strong role within the community but is also connected with the outside.
I think that the familiar motifs of deacons and elders relate well to this model. I believe that Baptists need such leadership. We should confidently encourage this leadership among us. This is not a leader who lacks a mandate and scope to lead – but one who has an exciting and challenging role. Our shared role is to trust and collaborate alongside our leaders so that together we may have direction and grow.
These are the questions I keep in mind as I serve as a minister of Moortown Baptist Church – for I am neither here to maintain an institution, nor fly solo.
This is a way to reflect on leadership in a local Baptist church. It is also a model to offer to those in training and formation as Baptist leaders. It is also a measure of healthy leadership that could be applied by those who lead our Baptist institutions.
Now here is the stretch to the second question – what has this to offer to the crisis of institutions and the politics of wider society? Well, I suggest that institutions and their leaders and gatekeepers have lost credibility in Western societies. At present, there is also such uncertainty about where those who lead in the West are taking us. So, a way of leading that creates space, nurtures boundaries and encourages participation, may be a Baptist contribution for more than just the church.
Graham Brownlee, January 2017