Rick Barger is a talented Lutheran pastor in Colorado whom I have worked with in the past on issues of church renewal. Last year, the Alban Institute published a wonderful book by Barger on leadership.Here are some of his thoughts on the requisites for leadership, lay and clergy, in the church. As our churches think about who ought to lead, and as our able Board of Ordained Ministry prepares for its candidate interviews, I find Barger's thoughts most helpful:




1.. An absolute passion for the church and her mission This quality is to be distinguished from a need to be liked or needed or the understanding that leadership in the church is akin to a helping profession.It also has nothing to do with credentials. Jesus' first disciples were lacking in any impressive credentials. Passion here means that persons have been seized by the transformational power of the church, are unashamedly in love with Jesus Christ, and are caught up in a sense of urgency about the church's mission. It would be a mistake to assume that passion is readily apparent in all leaders. For some the fire visibly burns bright. In others, the furnace burns internally.

2. Teachability. Leaders want to know their growing edges and are open to any process of evaluation. Leaders learn from their mistakes and are hungry to widen their expertise and increase their skill levels. On the other hand, they know their strengths. Leaders are much more likely to find joy and thus be effective if given permission to go with and further develop their strengths. A right-handed person is going to shoot a basketball much better with the right hand than the left.


3. Leaders show up. I believe that ninety percent of life is simply showing up - that is, entering into the situation as it may be and giving one's self to it. In this day of the church, passion, teachability, and showing up are much more important than experience, managerial aura, or skill sets. For passionate, committed, and teachable persons, skill sets can be learned.


4. Integrity. People are not born with integrity. It is taught and expected.


5. Courage. Not foolhardiness but courage. Leaders are often called to make the choices nobody else wants to make. Leaders are subject to second-guessing and criticism. A person who has never faced criticism or adversity is probably a person who has never stepped up and truly led.


6. Humility. The transformation of the church is the work of God, not us. In whom is someone's trust? Themselves and their gifts? Or God? The church is a living witness that God is able to do some very extraordinary things through very ordinary people.


7. Having the skills for situational leadership is a must. Leadership is not about having a certain style. The style must fit the situation. Each style is essentially a combination of offering direction and offering support to those one leads. Discerning what style is needed is essential. The basic read of this is Ken Blanchard's Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness through Situational Leadership (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1985).


8. In terms of seeking servant-leaders for today's congregations, I would choose those who spend much more time in investing in their own spiritual development than in developing skill sets or learning the latest church growth strategy. The highly effective leader of the reborn church will not be a CEO-type but a spiritual giant.

9. Also in searching out and seeking leaders, it is imperative to choose team players. Doing ministry as a team is essential to the authentic congregation. Everybody works together like a symphony.
-- From A New and Right Spirit: Creating an Authentic Church in a Consumer Culture, by Rick Barger, The Alban Institute, Herndon, Virginia, 2005, pp. 6-11.


William H. Willimon