We are living in a time in which authority structures are not just being challenged, they are being passed by as non-essential. A different foundation for leadership is needed to lead when trust in institutions is at an all-time low. In particular, we leaders need a new basis for authority.
It has been said of Gandhi that he led not by virtue of his role, but by the power of his life. That kind of authority – a missional authority – is not seized but rather given and granted. Nehemiah was such a leader. So was our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus ministered with an undeniable and irresistible authority. His contemporaries said of him, “Where did this man get this authority?” and “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” And Jesus transferred his knowledge of the secrets of God’s kingdom along with his authority, not to the wise and the learned, but to babes. When the council examined Peter and John after their arrest, they thought it remarkable that they were ignorant fisherman but took notice of the fact that they had been with Jesus. The proof of Jesus’ missional leadership was realized in that moment.
Missional leadership does not lead by the world’s authority, or according to the world’s agenda. In John 4:27-37, Jesus and his disciples stopped in what was for them hostile territory – Sychar, Samaria. The disciples made a hurried trip into town to buy lunch. Jesus, in the meantime, asked a woman who had come to the well for water. He engaged her in conversation and made the most of this missional moment. When the disciples returned, they were confused by Jesus’ actions. So they ignored the woman and urged him to eat.
The problem was that the disciples were unaware that Jesus had another reason for stopping in Samaria than just lunch. He “had” to go through Samaria and he had to talk to the Samaritan woman because he loved the people of Samaria. This was a total reorientation for his followers, who despised the Samaritan people and probably questioned what Jesus was doing. But they were not off track as the disciples may have supposed. They were not lost. Christ knew precisely where they were and why they were there and invited his followers into the adventure. “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
We must understand that Jesus is on a mission and is about that mission. And as leaders, we must first be disciples of Jesus and his mission. This is what Patrick Kiefert (author of Where We are Now) refers to when he reminds us that missional leadership is not about location but about temporality. More time with Jesus, not less, it what is demanded of us. As Jesus himself patterned for us in his relationship with his Father, we need to spend time sitting at Jesus’ feet like Mary. There we can listen to his words, see our current situation through his eyes, and understand his calling as we hear it in the voice of the stranger along the way.
As leaders, we must keep ourselves and the people of God on task with that mission. This is what Jesus is doing with his disciples when he says, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields. They are ripe for harvest.” Are we standing with open eyes when we look at the buildings in our neighborhoods? Are we seeing our neighbors as people who are ripe for harvest? When they pass us by on the stairwell, who are they to us? Do we see our neighbors as the future workers in the harvest field?
This is what we must do with the people we’re leading. Walk with them around the neighborhood. Show them their neighborhood on Google Earth. Sit with them at the mall and ask them to just watch the people passing by and pray for them. Dwell with them in the word of God until we hear the voice of God speaking to us, calling us into his mission. Walk with them through the process of experimentation, sharing in their victories and failures, because we are on mission with God.
We must help individuals understand their place within that mission. This is what Jesus meant when he said to the disciples in John 4, “I sent you into Samaria to reap what you have not worked for” (verse 38). It was Jesus who sent, even though they didn’t hear him say it. They were too preoccupied with other things, as we can be today as well. We must find our place in the mission of God and then help churches and individuals do the same.
When Jesus sent out the twelve, he gave them authority to fulfill their own tasks in his mission. Jesus himself is the one who gives gifts to people who are on mission for him. Ephesians 4 tells us that he gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for equipping the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. And this work of “building up the body” will be sidetracked if the wrong individuals are entrusted with responsibilities. Assuming that the Holy Spirit has given these gifts, a spiritual leader will wait, along with the church, for the Spirit’s clarification as to the roles and responsibilities of each person.
As we have opportunity to lead people – whether because of our influence, because of our role or both – let us keep our Lord Jesus, the missional leader, before us!
Artwork:
Christ and the Woman of Samaria” is a circa 1585 depiction of John 4:27-37 by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), a sixteenth century Italian Renaissance painter.
