Friday 25 July 2008

Who'd be a leader?

How does Gordon Brown feel this morning? He's had this ambition for years to become Prime Minister because he wants to make a difference, yet in the year since he took office very little has gone right for him. Will Glasgow East be the last straw? Probably not, but he must see his world collapse around him.

What about Rowan Williams? Are Church leaders supposed to be ambitious? In some ways, it's OK; I've certainly known people in the Church of Scotland whose ambition to be in high Church circles has been obvious. I've no way of knowing whether Rowan Williams had ambitions to be Archbishop of Canterbury, but he's there; he's the leader of the Anglican Church across the world. How does he feel today with the prospect of the Anglican Church splitting massively? It's not his fault, but it is happening on his watch!

There are some people in the Church who think leadership is a great thing, because you get to be 'at the front'. That's where they want to be because people will look up to them and they want to be looked up to! That's their ambition! There is no doubt that being at the front is a great adrenalin rush - how must Barak Obama have loved being the centre of attention for 200,000 Germans in Berlin yesterday!

Christian leadership has another model, though. The model for Christian leaders has to be Jesus; the symbols of leadership as modelled by Jesus are the basin and the towel. Leadership modelled by Jesus is about service to others, caring for the needs of others. That service comes in all kinds of forms - for some it is a calling to be a preacher, a Church leader full-time; for others it is giving some of your time and energy to serve Christ and His Church in other ways.

It doesn't matter the way in which we lead, or the kind of leadeship we offer, it always costs. There is always a cost. Your great ideas are discarded by your group; the ideas you do put into practice don't work; you've done this for 30 years and struggle to find new energy to keep going; the people with whom you work are really awkward and hard to get on with. There is always a cost.

But, those whom God calls He also equips. We need to pray for Gordon Brown and Rowan Williams, for everyone you know who is a leader in Church or society; pray for energy, strength, wisdom, stickability. Good leaders are valuable beyond price; we need to value them, support them, above all pray for them.