Mon • Jan 26th, 2009 • by Tom Nees • Comments 13
During our recent lunch, Ken Mills, overseer of more than 100 clergy leaders on the Mid-Atlantic District of the Church of the Nazarene, observed that “not all of my pastors are leaders in the sense that they can take a group to a new level of effectiveness.” In his evaluation, “they may be good chaplains, or counselors” but not good at leading congregational life.
We met to discuss a book he had given me as well as a few of his pastors – Extraordinary Leadership: Thinking Systems, Making a Difference by psychiatrist Roberta Gilbert M.D. She applies Dr. Murray Bowen’s theory of family and group interaction to clergy leadership. Bowen, a student of Karl Menninger, who Gilbert quotes as believing that “clergy could be the key to leading Western society out of the quagmire it finds itself in.” But there is a problem.
She cites estimates that “40% of clergy leave the field in the first five years after the completion of their seminary training,” for the most part due to their inability to manage personal and group emotions. Ken Mills says that in his jurisdiction the number of drop-outs in the first five years of ministry is closer to ten percent.
After years of teaching and training clergy she also agrees with and quotes Menninger about clergy leaders in trouble. Over 30 years ago Menninger observed that the clergy “were disenfranchised, confused, lacking direction, and exhausted.” He noticed that sometime during their ministry, in his words, they “Hit a wall. They lose their passion. All the steam goes out of them. Many would like to leave at this point . . . they stay but they’re not very effective.” He went on to lament, “I believe the whole church suffers as a result of this phenomena.
According to Dr. Gilbert it doesn’t have to be this way. Ken Mills hopes that her book will lead to the same results as she describes among clergy leaders who through her teaching and coaching have become extraordinary leaders.
In brief, Extraordinary Leadership is an explanation of family and group dynamics, how we are all influenced by, and influence the moods and emotions of all those around us – our family members and groups including congregations. Gilbert believes that those who learn to differentiate themselves from family and groups, who learn to control their emotions and moods, will naturally be looked to as leaders. She is so convinced of this that she suggests that leadership training is unnecessary if one learns to understand systems theory.
In one of the most interesting chapters she describes how clergy with unresolved anxiety project negative emotions on their congregations through their preaching styles.
The problems facing clergy, Gilbert claims are mostly self-inflicted. Most clergy
drop out or suffer through the kind of dysfunction described by Menninger because of their failure to understand and control their own emotional response to anxiety. They do not have the capacity to remain calm in the face of anxiety in their congregations. They often fail, not from lack of commitment, but because they neither understand themselves nor congregational emotions and moods.
If Gilbert is right, for clergy leaders temperament is more important than talent. The good news is that, in the words of Daniel Goleman in Emotional Intelligence, “temperament is not destiny.” Self-awareness leads to self-management.
Learning to understand and control personal and group anxiety and emotions is difficult work. It takes time and, according to Gilbert, a coach. When it is done right she has found that clergy become the Extraordinary Leaders their congregations and society needs. Her book is intended as a guide for that journey.
Tue • Jan 6th, 2009 • by Tom Nees • Comments 6
On its front page on Tuesday, January 06, 2009, the Washington Post paid tribute to Gordon Cosby founder and pastor for over 60 years of the Church of the Savior in Washington, DC.
In a day when stadium worship mega-churches with their mega-pastors dominate the religious landscape one pastor in Washington, DC led a counter-cultural movement. I heard Cosby warn that it’s important to keep churches small and poor. Small to ensure fully engaged members and poor so that members would not be tempted to use their resources to construct buildings rather than serve the poor.
Under his direction the Church of the Savior evolved into a cluster of somewhat autonomous special interest faith communities each requiring rigorous preparation and deep commitment with accountability for spiritual development and service for membership. This struck me as modern-day adaptation of the Methodist movement guided by John Wesley in 18th century England.
I was introduced to Cosby in the early ‘60’s soon after graduation from seminary while reading Call to Commitment, Elizabeth O’Conner’s first book about the Church of the Savior. I was challenged by a living example of the kind of ministry I wanted. But I was in California, without a thought that I would ever have the chance to see the CofS or meet Cosby.
Eventually I found myself in Washington, DC. Before visiting the national monuments I took the family by “2025,” the CofS address on Massachusetts Ave., where the small congregation worshipped among the international embassies.
Soon after I became the pastor of the Washington First Church of the Nazarene I joined a mission group with Cosby at the Potter’s House – the CofS coffee house and book store in the multicultural Adams-Morgan neighborhood. We met at 6:00 PM each Thursday evening for meditation and spiritual direction. When the doors opened at 7:30 we waited tables until the close at around 10 PM. That was our mission, waiting tables – a Journey Inward, Journey Outward, as O’Conner described in another of her challenging and inspirational books.
Those of us in that mission group along with some others created Jubilee Housing, Inc. My life was never the same. Not only had I been introduced to accountability for inward, spiritual development, I was charged with responsibility for gathering together a small group to take on the redevelopment of a fully occupied, deteriorating apartment building near the so-called “riot corridor” in one of Washington’s poorest and dangerous neighborhoods.
That was the beginning of the Community of Hope that consumed the next 20 years of my life.
Elizabeth O’Conner continued to write books which told the story. In the Eighth Day of Creation, The New Community, Search for Silence, Our Many Selves and other titles, she kept stirring imagination. What might happen if people of faith would follow their deepest and best convictions. What if prayer means listening? What might we learn about ourselves and the world around us if we occasionally entered into silence for several days? Could we help change ruined neighborhoods one building at a time?
I watched Gordon Cosby serve coffee at the Potter’s House to people who had no idea who he was. It was there in the mid ‘70’s that he introduced us to Robert Greenleaf, who was beginning to write about servant leadership. Greenleaf’s idea was that leaders must become servants before they are ready to lead.
Cosby has not written much. He has spent his time with a relatively few committed followers who have gone their own ways to serve and lead others. He has refused the trappings of religious leaders. Even as he led prayers for political leaders he could be an irritant to those who ignored responsibility or abused their privilege.
Sounds like someone else who served and sent followers on their way a long time ago.
Sun • Jan 4th, 2009 • by Tom Nees • Comments 2
The NY Times editorial on December 31, 2008 proposed “A few big ideas,” for repurposing the US military.
Big ideas are about really important things –– the “raison d’être,” reason for being. In theology it would be Paul Tillich’s “ground of being” and his “ultimate concern.”
It’s something Albert Einstein searched for all of his life. His groundbreaking discoveries in theoretical physics led him to believe that there exists a unifying principle in the cosmos behind the theory of relativity for which he became famous.
Big ideas are the stuff of leaders. Although positions require leaders to manage systems and execute effectively, what sets them apart is their ability to inspire a following with big ideas.
I remember being asked to present an idea for providing housing for homeless families in Washington, DC., to a government committee When I presented my idea – something we were actually doing at the Community of Hope, a government official scoffed. “It can’t be done,” he said. “You’re right,” I replied, “and that’s why we are giving it a try, because it’s something no one thinks it can be done.”
Eventually that idea – providing apartments for homeless families rather than placing them in shelters – became a model for other city-funded programs.
Here are a few big ideas that are changing lives.
Gary Morsch, MD and Army Colonel, founder and director of Heart to Heart International has a simple big idea – “to create a healthier world.” Through its volunteers, in 2008 Heart to Heart distributed $120 million of medical supplies (wholesale value) to 59 countries and 123 cities in 30 States in the US.
Jim and Colleen Copple organized ServantForge and SAI with the big idea “to produce change at the grass-roots level to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS,” particularly in their work in Africa. They are seeing dramatic improvement when personal and cultural change is embraced by individuals and communities.
Jesse Middendorf, a leader in the Church of the Nazarene says that the big idea is to “change the planet.” That’s a bigger idea, he says, “than simply persuading people to attend church.” For faith communities, he’s convinced that the big idea is to change the way people relate to one another, to help solve global poverty and eliminate racism, among other things. His faith community is doing that in over 150 countries.
Big ideas drive business as well as nonprofit and faith-based communities.
For Gerald Smith, founder and president of Premier Studios, in Lenexa, Kansas, the big idea for his media company is “building brands that people love” “We’re not concerned” he says, “about who owns the idea or where the idea comes from but how authentic it is.” He adds, “it’s important to marry the big idea with expertise.”
2009 promises to be a year full of global challenges in need of big ideas.
The stewardship of leaders is to advance big ideas that advance the common good as well as their own causes and enterprises.