The more you look and the longer you are alive the more you see the truth of the saying, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men...," by John Dalberg-Acton. I think it is no coincidence he is speaking about the Church when he says this. I was saddened today when I discovered another Pastor I was fond of and followed fell to corruption. While disappointing it was not surprising as his rise to religious stardom was rather quick and he started to associate with groups that support independence over accountability. This theme is one that continues to plague the church today and while it would be easy to blame the individual, I don't. I know what you're thinking why wouldn't you blame the person, the adult, the leader, the one responsible. The key term there is responsible. One of the things I learned early on in leadership is that everyone wants rights, but rarely does anyone want the responsibility that comes with "said" right. It is a human paradox, to say the least, starting at childhood we want the right to do what we want, rarely are we taught that with each right comes a responsibility. Amazingly, I would assume with age would come this realization naturally. This too has proven not to be the case. You see there is another saying "that ignorance is bliss." For many this is the choice they make, day in and day out.
I know this is kind of a contradiction to the whole theory of faith, to begin with. You see it is easy to make justifications for one's well being in lieu of standing up for what is true and right. When the stakes are in front of us and they are defined by standing up to a leader or "the leader" many times individuals hide behind things prevalent to church life. First, is the most prevalent and that is "respect" as in they are a "respected" leader I can't oppose them. They helped me get my start in ministry how can I oppose them, that would be a betrayal like Judas! I have known them my whole life, they would never do that. I trust them like my own family, how could they ever betray that trust. Second, very common to the church is the improper usage of Bible text to excuse, look past, minimize or allow for something to happen. One of the most common of these is "Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?" (1 Samuel 26:9, NIV). Of course, this does not take into account all the scripture relating to the "responsibility" of the leaders to care for and serve others and not themselves. This is why I never allow for a single scripture to be presented as evidence. You wouldn't see a court of Law say, "Hitler was a good man he said, "The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people." Of course, this was followed by why the protection of children can be used to deceive Jewish parents, but that one sentence alone is of good sentiment. Finally, the leaders themselves are just cowards, afraid of the ramifications of standing up to anyone. This is a real fear and can have real consequences that may not end favorably. The Bible too speaks to this and shows often times that the justice of God may not be realized. There are many Biblical stories that do not end with, "they all lived happily ever after," like a Disney movie. Being a leader is a position of power and control, giving that control to God is hard for anyone this includes leaders as well. They feel the pressure of a family, the community and friends to look a blind eye or make justification and move on. Hoping things will work themselves out! Again the scripture says in Luke 8:16-18 NIV, "16 “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”"
Going back to my original statement about not blaming the leader in this case. I think it is true they are at fault no doubt. The blame for it happening falls on leadership in this case and all cases. I see it time and time again. Leaders are not leaders if they are not willing to lead and lead effectively. Being a leader puts you in a place with many rights and all those rights come with great responsibility. This responsibility is to protect the leader and the followers. While the leader gets hurt in every instance, so do the followers. The truth is almost all of the situations could have been prevented had leadership done their job on the front side. One of the key areas I see leadership fail is structure. They don't look at the structure to ensure there are accountability and transparency being practiced regularly. Leaders just assume because there are By-Laws they must be right. Because there are policies in place they must be correct. This is where failure meets leadership in every instance. The leadership has to recognize some key things if they are going to stop history from repeating itself. First, don't allow the leader to be supreme, they have to answer to someone and on a regular basis not just in writing. They must have the ability to be fired, no matter how much blood sweat and tears they have put into the organization. In our society today we see all these corrupt people using their power to manipulate the system. They are doing so because the world's system is flawed. Stop looking to man and start looking to God. The scripture is very clear that leaders must make it hard for His anointed to stumble. So many times I read these stories and see these failings and think, what leadership allowed the Pastor to meet alone with women behind closed doors? How naive can leadership be? Obviously, very! Regardless, at the end of the day, there is nothing 100% and I get that. Though it can be close. Taking every precaution to prevent it on the front side is far better than having to deal with the ramifications on the backside. This is something I get to deal with far too often being in the midst of large scale ministry. Coming from the bowels of leadership dysfunction, I operated in a very unhealthy hope deferred environment for far too long. Seeing healthy functioning ministry is a breath of fresh air and an opportunity to help others learn from past mistakes. I hope you take the time to look at what your part of and have the strength to stand up to the Devil's opportunities at destroying it!
Blessings!
B
No comments:
Post a Comment