Why Not Servantship?

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The largest church leadership conferences each year include talks from corporate business world stars and world famous CEO’s who make no claim to be followers of Christ whatsoever. The bookshelves of most pastors and church leaders are filled with a solid collection of New York Times bestselling books on leadership, authored by corporate business gurus and political figures. Furthermore, twice as many books on the subject of Christian Leadership are available on Amazon.com as compared to titles on Discipleship. Leadership making has not only trumped disciple making, it has trampled it and left it in the dust. Regarding servantship, look for books on it and you are up the proverbial creek without a paddle. I have not found one Christian book on serving as a coveted position in and of itself. When they do get close to it, every author in the Christian leadership field (in my research) cannot help themselves but to use the phrase Servant-leader. Leader seems to always get squeezed in. Mere servantship is considered not enough.

You will have to search hard for a New Testament translation that uses the word “leader” more than a half dozen times. And the majority of instances it is used are in reference to the over-lording religious leaders that Jesus was constantly contending with. Jesus defined himself as a servant, saying, “I have come to serve (Matthew 20:28).” Most all church dudes do not come to serve, they come to lead. Do we need leadership? Certainly. Where we miss the Jesus boat is that we seek to be defined as leaders. We love to be identified as leaders. And that is the big problem. This is why we love titles despite the clear fact that Jesus forbade them. Why wouldn’t we rather be identified and defined as servants? Leadership sucks—it sucks the life out of the body of Christ, and out of those who are striving to live up to all the definitions we have placed on it. Why would we not embrace an ethos and pursuit of Servantship? I say, abandon ship! i.e. Abandon Leader-SHIP and get on board Servantship.

This is more, much more, than semantics. The posture of servantship is humility, not seeking one’s own way but looking out for the interests of others. Servantship means not dominating other staff members, not pulling rank. So, you’re the “senior cat”? Do you use that status to get your way or to be the first with towel and basin? Yes, servantship is miles beyond semantics, and is not remotely close to what we call leadership.

This is an excerpt from Lance Ford’s new book Unleader Reimagining Leadership…and Why We Must, published by Beacon Hill Publishing. Lance will be one of the speakers at this year’s Sentralized gathering.

What is Biblical Hospitality?

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I use the adjective “biblical” in the blog title to differentiate this form of hospitality from the conventional understanding of the word. Think for a moment. What comes to mind when you hear the word “hospitality”? Tea and biscuits? Martha Stewart? The “hospitality industry” including hotels, restaurants and cruises ships?

In the New Testament the Greek word for hospitality is philoxenia. It is the combination of two words; love (phileo), and the word for stranger (xenos). It literally means “love of stranger.”

In order to love the stranger, and open our homes effectively, we need to expand our view of hospitality. Jesus commands us to extend the circle of hospitality beyond friends and relatives, to include those in need:

When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:12-14).

Now lets be clear. There is nothing wrong with sharing a meal with friends and family. That is always a good thing. But the practice of genuine, biblical hospitality is distinctive from the conventional view of hospitality because it reaches out to undesired, neglected people who cannot reciprocate.

But strangers are not simply those we do not know. In a strict sense, strangers are those who are disconnected from basic relationships. Making space for hospitality is not only about creating physical environments that are welcoming to others, but it is also about the posture we take towards human relationships in general.

It is about turning our lives towards those who are isolated. It is about listening well to those who rarely have a voice. It’s really about inclusion. It is about including others into our lives and our network of relationships.

Who are the strangers in your neighborhood?
Who are the strangers in your community?
What are some of the fears that you have towards them?
How can you open your heart and home?

Is Missional a Fad?

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If the missional conversation is over, it occurs to me that it probably hasn’t really ever been had. That’s because “missional” is not a style or a fad. It’s not an add-on, the latest church accessory, the newest cool idea for church leaders. The fact that some are suggesting the conversation is over leads me to think that they weren’t listening in the first place. My call–and the call of many other missional thinkers and practitioners–was not for a new approach to doing church or a new technique for church growth. I thought I was calling the church to revolution, to a whole new way of thinking about and seeing and being the followers of Jesus today. I now find myself in a place where I fear those robust and excited calls for a radical transformation of our ecclesiology have fallen on deaf ears….

When I use the M-word, I’m doing so to describe the wholesale and thorough reorientation of the church around mission. Coffee at Starbucks or couches in the church building might be in some measure an indication of this reorientation, but they aren’t in themselves the sum total of the call I have been making.

Of course, I’m not the only person calling for this complete paradigm shift for the church. My dear friend and occasional coauthor, Alan Hirsch, has been at the forefront of this movement. Indeed, it was with Alan that I wrote the following challenge in our first book together in 2003:

In writing this book we are advocation a wholesale change in the way Christians do and be the church and because of this ours is not necessarily a popular message. We’ve become disturbingly aware through personal experience and observation that those who advocate such a thoroughgoing recalibration of the church will not always be met with open arms by the prevailing church leadership. And yet we feel compelled to lovingly challenge the church with the taks of dismantling so many of the arcane institutional structures it is now beholden to and to bravely face the future with imagination and courage. (The Shaping of Things to Come).

This is an excerpt from Michael’s latest book, The Road to Missional. Michael will be a speaker at this year’s Sentralized gathering in September.

Sending Language in John’s Gospel

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One of the foundational pieces in the missional conversation involves recognizing the missionary nature of God and his church. Mission is the grand narrative of Scripture. The entire Bible is generated by and is all about God’s mission. The word mission is from the Latin missio, meaning “sending.” It is thecentral biblical theme describing God’s activity throughout history to restore and heal creation. While often overlooked, Scripture is full of sending language that speaks to the missionary nature of God.

In the New Testament, sending language is most obvious in the Gospel of John. It begins with the incarnation (or you could say it actually begins with the pre-incarnate Christ) in John 3:16-17 as the Father sends the Son, and it ends with Jesus sending his disciples in John 20:21. In between these two passages Jesus sees himself as one “sent by the Father” more than twenty-five times. Here are a few of those passages. Read through the entire list and reflect on the sending nature of God and the “sentness” of the Son.

John 3:34
“For he whom God has sent utters the words of God.”

John 5:23
“He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.”

John 5:24
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life.”

John 5:30
“I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

John 5:36-38
“These very words which I am doing, bear witness that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me.”

John 6:38
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.”

John 6:44
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

John 7:28-29
“But I have not come of my own accord; he who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I came from him, and he sent me.”

John 7:33
“I shall be with you a little longer, and then I go to him who sent me.”

John 8:18
“I bear witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me.”

John 8:26
“He who sent me is true.”

John 8:29
“And he who sent me is with me.”

John 8:42
“I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.”

John 9:4
“We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day.”

John 12:44-45
“He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And he who sees me sees him who sent me.”

John 12:49
“The Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment what to say and what to speak.”

John 13:20
“He who receives me receives him who sent me.”

John 14:24
“The word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”

John 14:26
“The Counselor will teach you everything and will cause you to remember all that I told you. This Counselor is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.”

John 16:7
“If I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

John 17:3
“And they have believed that you have sent me.”

John 17:18
“As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

John 17:25
“They know that you have sent me.”

What thoughts come to mind when you read these passages? How does it speak to the missionary nature of God? How might it influence the way you think of the church? How might it influence the way you consider your ministry?

Originally posted on The House Studio blog

When Narcissism Leads

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Below is a short excerpt from Lance Ford’s new book, UnLeader, Reimagining Leadership…and why we must, which comes out in September, published by NPH Publishing. Lance will be one of the speakers at this year’s Sentralized gathering in September.

The majority of pastors I have discussed the subject with quickly dismiss the suggestion of any type of guidance in the church other than one guy at the top of the command chain. “I’ve never seen it work,” they say. My argument is that the real issue is that work is exactly what it takes. It takes hard relational work for mutually submissive leadership to be successful. Denver pastor, Kathy Escobar—who serves in a co-pastoring relationship—says

For some reason I have always found myself attracted to the creative minority in the church. I feel connected to the dreamers and pot-stirrers who have ideas of toppling unhealthy power structures, practicing equality as a natural rhythm of life together, honoring doubt and questions, pursuing justice and mercy on behalf of others, and destroying the great divide between “us and them.” On the whole, almost every system and structure we live in perpetuates power, strength and policy over relationship.[i]

In many ways it is certainly easier to just set up an organizational chart and make sure everyone stays within their boundaries. Institutions are always less messy than relationships. But institutions can never produce life. They can only contain it, or fake it. The hard work of relationship building produces something that can never be concocted via committees and hierarchies. We will delve into the subject of mutually submissive leadership at depth in the second part of this book.

As I read the excellent Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, one of the people he interviewed called Jobs a Narcissist. Several times throughout reading the book the thought had occurred to me that many of the traits—both good and bad—in Steve Jobs were ones I had seen in a multitude of pastors and church leaders. The Narcissistic traits especially stood out and that took me on a journey of trying to understand more about the clinically defined Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

It is somewhat dumbfounding when you consider the makeup of the narcissist. Their behavior can be charismatic and charming one minute, cold and calculating the next, or on occasion breaking into unpredictable rages.[ii] I have to say that I read more books and articles on the subject than I could have imagined. Again, I found myself saying, “This stuff perfectly describes an inordinate number of pastors and church leaders I know personally, as well as the many stories I have heard from those who have worked with them.”

We are all somewhat narcissistic, whether we are willing to admit it or not. Though only about one of a hundred people are clinically diagnosed with NPD, a large number of people are deeply narcissistic. And the leadership field draws them like ants to a picnic. The field of study on the subject of NPD provides language and handles for us to gain a better understanding of what is going on in the orbit of the narcissistic leader. The following list is a tool professional’s use for help in diagnosing NPD—From the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition:

“A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, and indicated by five (or more) of the following:

  1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
  2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
  3. Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high status people (or institutions)
  4. Requires excessive admiration
  5. Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
  6. Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
  7. Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
  8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
  9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.”[iii]

[i] Escobar, Kathy. Down We Go: Living into the wild ways of Jesus. Folsom, California: Civitas Press, 2011. 33, 34

[ii] Hotchkiss, Sandy. Why is it always about you?: the seven deadly sins of narcissism. New York: Free Press, 2003. From the Forward, xi

[iii] Payson, Eleanor D.. The wizard of oz and other narcissists: coping with the one-way relationship in work, love, and family. Royal Oak, Mich.: Julian Day Publications, 2002. 21

On Mark Driscoll Concerns

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Following is a Facebook post from my friend Lance Ford. I think Lance shares some insightful thoughts on the present state of leadership in the American church that we all need to hear:

A strange phenomenon has occurred with the evolution of social networking and the overall interweb world. A lack of civility, patience, gentleness, and kindness too often prevails. I must begin here by admitting that I have too often jumped into the pool of cynicism and snarkiness myself. I hate it in others and I despise it in myself. For some reason we get really bold when just facing a monitor and keyboard. Our rule for the internet should be never to say/post anything that we wouldn’t do so in the face-to-face presence of Jesus and the person to whom we are referring to. Recently I was called to task by my friend Darrin Patrick regarding an April Fool’s Day post I popped up, aimed at his fellow laborer, Mark Driscoll. Privately, Darrin suggested it would be helpful for me to share thoughtfully if I had concerns regarding Mark. Thanks for the right-hearted rebuke, Darrin. So, here goes. If I were in a room with Mark and Jesus, I would say to Mark…

Brother, your gifts and talents are needed more than ever for the body of Christ and the future of the church. I couldn’t agree with you more that we need Godly men in our churches. I disagree with you theologically regarding the limits you believe are to be placed upon women, and I hurt for our sisters and mothers in Christ, but I must respect that as a conviction of what you sincerely believe. My deepest concern is in the way you conceive of and posture leadership itself. You are far from alone in this, but my concern is with the hierarchical viewpoint and ethos with which you emit and propose. When Jesus rebuked his disciples for their jockeying for position—“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you” Matt. 20:25-26a—He really meant it. I don’t believe you get this. It appears to be very much “so among you”.

I recently watched your recruiting video for the Lead Pastor Residency training program where you spoke of “kingly duties” etc. Not to parse your words, but this is but a micro example of your emphasis on the “Lead” guy, the one great leader who is over the others. This leadership-centric idea leaves the ethos and emphasis of humble servantship in the dust…which is the emphasis of Jesus’ following words in the passage above—”But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Matthew 20:26b-28.

Young men are in their years of greatest physical strength and stamina. They are out to conquer and prove their “something” in this world. The current hubris that saturates our leadership and church planting conferences and training is offering young men tips and tricks on how to exercise authority and leadership, while giving a wink at best to servantship—the very persona of Jesus. Brother Mark, we don’t need to settle for machismo, masked in leaderese. We need the power that comes from brokenness—genuine, dialed down humility, evidenced in speech and posture. We don’t need an army of testosterone filled dudes for Jesus. We don’t need spiritualized flesh. We need dead men walking. We need millions of emptied out men and women, falling over themselves to serve one another and the world around them trying to get people to forget their own names and shining the spotlight on His name.

If we look to Jesus as our mentor and our model we will reach no other conclusion than to follow him means we will seek to be servants, not leaders. Then when we do lead it is born from the person of Jesus. Our desire and greater obsession must be to develop servantship cultures in our ministries and churches. When we discover that serving is mentioned fifty times more in the New Testament than leading is we should need no more evidence of what is most pressing on the heart of God. And what presses God’s heart must press ours as well.

The command and control ethos that saturates our church leadership cultures is the exact thing Jesus forbade. Mark, you have come across as representing and emphasizing this very thing. Jesus says, “It will not be so among you.” The church needs you, Mark. But it needs a genuinely broken and contrite Mark Driscoll that uses his call and gifts as a servant, not a leader. The leading will happen as the servant manifests.

The Christian Celebrity Cult as False Witness

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Following is the Foreword written by Alan Hirsch for a new book from Lance Ford titled “UnLeader.” The book is published by Beacon Hill and is scheduled for release this September. Alan and Lance will both be speakers at this year’s Sentralized gathering.
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I must admit to been increasingly concerned with the culture of celebrity that surrounds the adulation of many popular Christian leaders in the West. Aside from the fake, contrived, “heroism” that is embodied in such forms of leadership, to my eyes it looks like it an illegitimate attempt to steal glory from Jesus Himself. The celebrity is a mere slave to the crowd; he or she needs the crowd as much as they long for a celebrity. But this is not Christian leadership; it is way too codependent, narcissistic, and emotionally parasitical to be viewed as an extension of genuine discipleship—adherence to Jesus. Clearly Jesus himself, while willingly serving the people, was never subservient to the crass, consumeristic, groupthink of the undiscipled crowd. Neither were any of our great saints and heroes—Paul, Augustine, Patrick, Francis, Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, It marks them off as different from the false heroisms of our day.

The second phrase in the Lord’s prayer affirms that God’s name (representing all that He is and signifies) is to be made holy (hallowed) through the obedient actions as His people in every arena of their lives. In other words in biblical worldview, God’s name is hallowed when I do things that cause others to honor and respect God and all that He is to the world. To hallow the Name is therefore the highest ethical act we can do as believers….it is to bring glory to the One we love through the things that we do. Its not hard to see that it lies at the heart of worship itself. Our lives must point beyond ourselves to that of the One we serve. This is the very meaning of Christ-like-ness. It also lies at the heart to the whole Biblical notion of being a witness. The quality of our lives do matter. In other words people read the message of our lives and God’s reputation is somehow bound up with them.

But implied in this call to hallow the Name is also the possibility of its opposite, what the rabbis call “blaspheming the Name”. To blaspheme the Name of God is to distort its meaning in the world so that the character and purposes of God are thereby obscured, His glory veiled, and His name cursed by others because of what we as his witnesses do. Blasphemy inverts holiness and makes it inaccessible to others. Our lives can therefore either hallow or blaspheme the Name. In short, it means bearing fundamentally false witness. This is a justifiably a horror to all that love God truly. Leaders, those people whose actions are amplified because of their influence on others, more than anything else are required to live a consistent life worthy of the Name they represent. If they are not doing this, their acts distort (also in an amplified way) the nature and meaning of the Gospel itself. God gets the blame when we get it wrong!

Viewed as such, Christian celebrity, especially in that ideological, primadonna-ish, spin-loaded, cult of self that it embodies, distorts what Jesus essentially stands for and therefore amounts to false witness. As someone who is involved in many of the forums that could so easily lend themselves to the cultivation of such celebrity, with along with it’s false representation of leadership, I have to admit that I can discern in myself a slow but inexorable slide towards pride and conceit. I need to be constantly addressed by the Gospel, called to account by Lord and community, to repent and constantly surrender myself to the call to be an adoring follower of He who won my salvation through culturally ignominious means—a life of suffering love and a death on cross.