Leading in Rough Waters
I’m starting with the thing I’ve heard from pretty much every pastor and Christian leader I’ve talked with recently: “this is a rough time.” The upheaval in our nation, the politics, the leadership, the international scene, the poor treatment of human beings is making it very tough to lead. No one could have foreseen how incredibly polarized our country–and our churches–would be in such a short period of time. What leadership looks like now is very different from what it was a few years ago–in form if not in substance. The seas are rough.
What does a pastor or church leader do in such times? It’s super confusing. Many of our congregations are full of people from across the spectrum, whether political or theological or both. Most of us live not in blue churches (more progressive) or red ones (more conservative) but in purple ones. Our people are mixed. Among other things, it means that no matter what is said (or not said) somebody is offended. Nowhere is this more evident than in preaching, but it’s in other areas of leadership in the Christian community as well.
When Paul talks about leadership in 1 Corinthians 4:1, he says “This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.” Servants. The specific word Paul uses is huperetas, which indeed can mean “servants,” but more literally is “rowers.” Mediterranean galley ships in Paul’s day utilized rowers, and his reference inspired Heinrich Bullinger (16th century, 2nd Helvetic Confession) to write: “Now the apostle calls them huperetas, rowers who have their eyes fixed on the coxswain.” Not unlike today’s crew racing, the coxswain (the smallest, non-rowing and seemingly most insignificant person in the boat) was the crucial guiding voice and decision maker of the crew, setting the pace and direction. We’re all rowers, with Christ as coxswain. What does it mean for our eyes to be fixed on him in these days? How do we remain focused on Jesus, but not hide in a cave somewhere? Here are some things I’ve been pondering as a pastor:
Preach what God gives you from the scripture. That’s the primary call. Read, study, pray, think creatively, which are all ways of listening so that in the end we can...preach what God gives you from the scripture.
Don’t avoid talking about “political issues,” in pulpit or out. Not even when a longtime elder says you are getting too political in sermons and that you need to stick to spiritual things. It is my conviction that many of the issues of our day are spiritual issues before they are political ones. If we are going to apply scripture to real life, there is no avoiding poverty, racism, homelessness, gun violence, abortion, sexuality, marriage, war, materialism and the environment. We don’t preach on these things because they are political, but because they are spiritual issues that followers of Jesus are called to deal with in their everyday lives. They just happen to sometimes be political ones as well.
Don’t be overly concerned with offending someone, but do work at cultivating environments in which disagreements can happen. I’ve had people leave a church because I was too conservative. I’ve had people leave the same church because I was too liberal. I’ve had people leave churches who have close alignment with me on almost every theological issue except one. Apparently, only unanimous agreement would have been enough.
We cannot be silent about things happening in our country and world. If the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had not called out racism on biblical grounds...we might still be in the Jim Crow era. We dare not emulate most of the German Church of the 1930’s, which either sat silent or was complicit with Hitler’s schemes of genocide to create a pure, homogeneous society. Our nation currently finds many people dispensable, deplorable or deportable. But followers of Jesus know full well that the Old Testament, the New Testament and Jesus’ own words unanimously speak up for the care of aliens, foreigners, those oppressed, the poor, orphans, widows and the elderly. When we encounter decisions and leaders who stand against valuing people as human beings, we cannot be silent.
This question is important: Lord, what do our people need? That is a very different question than what do our people think they need! Eugene Peterson used to say that perceived needs are way overblown, and that he wouldn’t trust people as far as he could throw them to know what they really need.
I’m convicted that our community needs our leaders, including me, to pray with them. Pray WITH them, and not just FOR them. One of the main things a pastor or leader does is teach people to pray. And the best way to do that is to pray with people.
All six of these bullet points are worth nothing if they aren’t a direct outcome of what I started with–keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. Even then, the tension of context, nuance and compassion are difficult to navigate. And sometimes very costly. How does one lead in such a time? How do we stay focused? I recently received some good wisdom from my neighbor Daryl, who is a contractor and a leader in his local Pentecostal church. Last week we were working together on trimming a large hedge between our two yards when his phone rang. The voice on the other end was clearly a younger person in his church, looking for some advice on a decision. I only heard Daryl’s answer, and it sounded like this: “If you’re confused, go back to the last thing God spoke clearly to you on and do that.”
To me, that felt like encouragement to keep my eyes on Jesus. That’s what good rowers do, even when the water is rough.
Peace of Christ,
Dan Baumgartner
Dan Baumgartner is the senior pastor at The Cove in Santa Rosa CA and formerly served as Secretary on The Fellowship Community Board.