November 4th, 2007
197 Browning Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3K 0L1
REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS
The Characteristics of an Effective Church: Leadership
(Isaiah 61:1-3, Ephesians 3:14-21)
We come this morning to the last in the series on the Characteristics of an Effective Church - the characteristic of Leadership.
There is a line from "Alice in Wonderland" that I think neatly sums up the reason that leadership matters - "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." One of the tasks of leaders in the church - or in any organization or business - is to say "That is where we are going." Leaders are called to cast a vision - to state this is what we are going to be about - this is what we say is central to our life as a church.
Now that may make it sound as though leaders are the dictators who are in charge who are the boss. And this is where the life of leaders in the church and the life of leaders in the business world differ.
It is no accident that this series began with Prayer and ends with Leadership. By beginning with Prayer we stated that the primary characteristic of an effective church is that it is a church that recognizes that God is in control. And leaders in effective churches recognize the same thing. The church does not belong to the elders, it does not belong to the minister, and we all nod our heads - but the church does not belong to the people in the pews either - the church does not belong to the members. The church belongs to Jesus Christ. The church is His.
Leaders in effective churches are themselves people who are led. Gifted church leaders lead out the fact that they themselves are led. The church does not belong to them - it belongs to Jesus Christ who is the only king and head of the church - Jesus is the one to whom all church leaders - and all church members ultimately look as the one who is in charge - who is the one who is the leader.
Through the action of the Holy Spirit, people - ordinary, everyday people - are called into leadership in the church. Called by the Holy Spirit, these people are given gifts by the Spirit to lead. These people may not be leaders in their place of work, in their lives outside of the church - because the gifts to be a good leader in the church are not necessarily those that make someone a good leader out in the world. Church leaders require spiritual insight, sensitivity to the voice of God, and a willingness to say that they want nothing other than the will of God - nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.
God has the habit of choosing unexpected people to be leaders in His church. Poorly educated fishermen like some of the disciples were, people who kicked over the traces and rebelled against their parents like St. Francis of Assisi, people looked down upon by the rest of society like the people who attended the church on Asuza St. in Los Angeles where the Pentecostal movement broke out. And so on and so on. God takes the things that are not - people who are looked down on - and makes them into something great in his hands.
The Holy Spirit calls leaders into leadership in the church so that they can articulate God's vision for the church. And now we are back to the quote from Alice in Wonderland - "If you don't know where you are going any road will take you there." The church is not to be like - the church is to be living out the vision of God in the world - in its community - in its neighbourhood. It is to live by the vision that God has placed in the heart of the church's leaders. And God places big visions - big dreams in the hearts of leaders.
Wednesday night I was out in our neighbourhood and heard two 7 or 8 year olds at the door of a house - they said more than just "Trick or Treat" - they had a whole pair of rhyming couplets - "Trick or treat, give us something sweet to eat; not too big, not too small, just the size of Montreal." Now that is a big dream - a chocolate bar the size of Montreal.
Far too often the church is afraid to have big dreams - both leaders and those who attend church are afraid to dream big - to plan big - to declare a large vision. But listen again to the words that end the passage we read from Ephesians 3 - "Now to Him who is able to more than we can ask or imagine ... " The visions that God gives the church are big visions -- big dreams - bigger than we can ask or imagine. And most of us can dream big dreams - most of us when given a chance can name large things that are part of our vision. But this verse says that God can do even more than our dreams say - God is able to do more than we can ask or imagine.
All too often our dreams are too small- in part because our God is too small. We have shrunk God down to our size - limited God to be about our size. And in the process we have shrunk the vision of the church -- shrunk it to something that we can get our heads around. But since the church is not ours - since it does not belong to us - the vision for the church is to be bigger than our limited vision for the church - the vision for the church is to be more amazing than we in our limited imaginings could come up with.
Let's go back to those kids dreaming of a candy bar the size of Montreal. That is probably not the dream that God has for the church - a candy bar that big. But what about a Winnipeg where everyone knows that God loves them. What about a St. James where everyone knows that Jesus loves them. What about a Westwood and a Crestview where on every street there are people living out the good news of Jesus Christ in word and in deed. That is a big vision - a big dream - maybe a dream big enough to say that it is more than we can ask for or imagine.
Church leaders are people who are called to discern God's vision - and to articulate that vision for the community of faith - the church. God gives them the boldness to do that to speak of the vision - to say "This is what we believe God is calling us to be and to do."
Articulating such a vision is done with a combination of boldness and humility - for those are the characteristics that are to mark the life of leaders in the church. Church leaders are to boldly proclaim the vision that God has for the church - for the community - for the world. They can do that boldly because their loyalty is to Jesus Christ - a Jesus Christ who arose from the grave - a Jesus Christ who has broken the power of all those things that might hurt or harm us. Church leaders can be bold because the vision is not theirs - they did not call it into being - it isn't out of their heads - it comes from having discerned what God is saying.
And this is where the humility comes in - while they are bold in proclaiming the vision God has given - they are surprised - humbled -- that they are the ones who are to be proclaiming the message. In humility they say this message is God's vision - He is the one who has called us to this vision -- to this dream. This is not to say that church leaders do not care about the vision - they care profoundly about the vision - they are willing to bear it as their cross. But all the while they know that the vision belongs to God and that achieving the vision is also all about God.
In the passage that was read from Isaiah we have a big picture painted - a huge vision.
It all begins with the simple statement - we have been appointed to preach good news. And this is what leaders know that the church should be doing - proclaiming the good news - because that good news is the only thing that can transform the world. And maybe that is the most important thing about church leaders. They are people who have experienced in their lives the transforming power of God - and know that that is the only thing that can turn the world around.
Only the good news of Jesus Christ can heal the broken hearted. Only the good news of Jesus Christ can comfort those who mourn. Only the good news can bring hope to a world that is full of despair. Only the good news can release people held captive in prisons of their own making - or the other prisons without walls that our culture imposes on people.
Church leaders are people who are caught by this vision - who feel it in their bones whose lives live in rhythm with the power of this vision. And thus are the people that God has called to be those who articulate the vision.
As you may have noticed in various pieces that have come from Session meetings - the elders of Westwood Presbyterian Church have been caught by a vision - a big vision. A vision that we believe is one that God has for us ..
By 2010 we have twin goals - there will be 200 people in attendance at worship each Sunday and 20 cents of every dollar that comes into Westwood Presbyterian Church will be going out the door in mission - in our community, in our city or country, or somewhere in the world.
I realize that that vision sounds very cut and dried beside the big vision that Isaiah 61 holds out to us. But if there are going to be 200 people in worship at Westwood by 2010 - it will be because people have found that the good news which binds up the broken hearted - and comforts those who mourn - and lifts those who live in despair - has been proclaimed here. So while 200 sounds very business like - it will only happen as we as a congregation are committed to living as a people of prayer who with boldness live the message of Jesus Christ in our community and on our streets.
If we are going to reach the point where 20% of all money into Westwood goes out the door in mission - it will only happen as we commit ourselves to seeing the bigger picture of what God wants for the world where the good news comes to the poor, to those who have not heard the message, to those who are broken by life.
So here is a vision - 200 people in worship and 20% given away by 2010 -- a vision the Session brings to you with boldness and in humility. With boldness because we believe that it will take courage and commitment to see that happen. Boldness because it is saying - "That is where we are going" - and that is always a frightening prospect - to stand up and say that. But also with humility - because we believe that this is a vision that God has given us. God wants more people to hear the good news of Jesus - God wants more people to be touched with his love - and this is the goal that we believe he has set for us. But it will not be achieved by our hard work and our effort - it will only come about with God's leading and guiding. All of us - elders, leaders, members, everyone - are to be led by God the Father who made us, Jesus Christ, the Son of God who calls the church into being, and the Holy Spirit that calls and gifts leaders for the church.
