Prologue: Lessons in Spiritual
Navigation
The world is desperately crying for leaders. I have written this book with that universal need in mind. The words that follow are for people who have the conviction, character and courage to transcend self-interest and stand for what is true, just and merciful. Men and women everywhere are asking: Where — and who — are our leaders? Who will provide us with a map and a compass to get us out of our present mess and move us into the light?
Around the world, the role of leaders is changing in the face of growing expectations and cries for accountability. Robin Wright, describing "the leadership revolution," wrote in the Los Angeles Times (January 19, 1993): "The most significant change in leadership stems from shifts emanating not from the top or even the middle but from the bottom: Leadership is evolving foremost because power is spreading."
The everyday Christians I associate with constantly remind me that leadership is what the church is all about. Not necessarily a professional, highly trained, theologically qualified leadership, as important as that
Page 10
may be. Rather, a leadership that leads from below, that understands its profound role as servant, that knows how to listen and respond to the real needs of real people. The church today needs leaders who demonstrate the capacity to communicate and live the good news so there is no question as to where their loyalties lie.
A leadership of personal integrity, a commitment to Jesus Christ — not just to programs about Jesus Christ — and an uncompromising allegiance to the gospel are the only dynamics that will ever give the church the power to be the driving force needed as we approach the unbelievable challenges of a new millennium. Like it or not, understand it or not, and even if you've heard it before and are tired of hearing it, we are in a fierce battle, not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities. This is not an enemy we can line up in the cross hairs of our physical weapons. Our adversary is an invisible foe that's creating visible consequences. This war is over the questions Whose values will we take as our own? Whom do we follow? How do we sift the true from the false, the leader from the charlatan? The battle lines are being drawn deep in the hearts and souls of men, boys and girls as never before in history.
Ed Hayes, president of Denver Seminary says in his insightful pamphlet "The Cultural War: Seizing the Opportunity,"
The real question in the fading twilight of the 20th Century is, "Whose values will prevail?" There is a cultural war going on in America. We are witnessing a gradual abdication of the traditional underpinning of American society . . . In reality it is a battle about matters of the spirit. Christians call it spiritual warfare . . . [That's why] we must return to the springs of living water. This is exactly what Jesus offered the Samaritan woman.
It is folly simply to wring our hands at the moral dilemma facing us. We must do more than lament that our precious values are being "devalued." This is the hour for leadership at every level — government, family, university, seminary and the church — to return to those springs
Page 11
of living water that will give us the courage and the nerve to speak the truth, thus providing us with the guidance we desperately need as we voyage into the stormy seas that lie ahead.
We are in a leadership crisis. We see it not only in the church but also among Christian men and women who are trying to fight the battle in the secular world. People with a passion for moral responsibility are longing for leadership. But how to produce great leaders seems to elude us in our enlightened late twentieth century. We need to remember that true leadership is a gift from God — therefore we need to produce godly men and women. We may have a poverty of leadership in our own country, but as one scans the world horizon we are seeming a remarkable explosion of faith and life overseas with increasing numbers of Christian leaders at the helm. Stories of faith and confidence in the living God are found all over this planet. Christ is alive in the Two-Thirds World, and his messengers are more eager to share the good news than at any time in those nations' history. Perhaps this is the time for us to turn to our brothers and sisters overseas and ask them to come over into Macedonia to help us!
At the turn of this century, thousands of eager students were motivated to serve Christ in other lands through the Student Volunteer Movement, one of the great missionary movements of history with world-influencing, life-changing impact. In The Future Leadership of the Church, John R. Mott called for spiritual leaders who would "leave a message and be conscious of a mission," be able "effectively to express this passion for Christ and people" and above all be "great in character."
Thousands of eager students responded to Mott's challenge and followed their Lord as missionaries through what became the Student Volunteer Movement. These many decades later, the cause of Christ continues to advance, most remarkably in the Two-Thirds World and in the developing countries where earnest Christians are charting their own spiritual course through dangerous, difficult waters. Faithful servants of Christ in places like China, the former USSR, the nations of
Page 12
Africa, the Middle East, southeast Asia and the countries of Latin America have a message, a mission and a passion for Christ. Their passion is stirred by the light of God; their mission is reflected in the face of Jesus; and their message is a love for people without Christ. The hearts of these believers are inflamed as they stand humbly at the foot of his cross.
Thank God for the work of Mott and so many of those early student missionaries who put down such deep, solid roots that continue to produce a rich harvest in the lands beyond the sea. But what about here at home? Is it possible for us to recapture our own vision for a message and a mission? Is it possible for us again to focus on the serious development of a Christian leadership that stands up for what is right, that refuses to compromise, that will lead fearlessly, and that will demonstrate the commitment to help us turn the tide of unbridled secularism to an unashamed declaration of faith in Jesus Christ? My faith-bound answer is Yes, I know we can if we will let him!
While I have opportunity, I want to share some of the things I am learning about God's ways of maturing and training for Christian leaders. Jesus Christ himself is the source of our Christian message for reproducing his character and ministry in ordinary people. It is a process of spiritual formation that offers the key to producing truly spiritual leaders. Spiritual formation means learning to rely on the living Lord who is with us in both victories and defeats. It means becoming mature as Christians — shifting the weight of confidence from ourselves and our abilities to the Savior who has taken upon himself responsibility for our lives. Spiritual formation is response to the ultimate reality, living by faith with our living Lord.
I am encouraged that many seminaries have begun to offer courses in spiritual formation, encouraging students preparing for ministry to create space for the liberating power of the Holy Spirit in their innermost selves. It was during a time of discouragement in the early years of my first pastorate that his liberating power of the Holy Spirit
Page 13
became real to me and changed the direction of my life and ministry. My cold heart became a burning heart, and I made the decision to be guided by that vision rather than my own ambition and need to be successful. I began to learn what it means to lead from the heart.
Life is difficult and complicated, and so is spiritual leadership. What I have learned and am still learning is from the heart. I have learned that the way to the heart is the way to freedom, because it is the way to truth. Henri Nouwen expresses it succinctly when he says, "Spiritual formation gives us a free heart able to see the face of God in the midst of a hardened world, and allows us to use our skills to make that face visible to all who live in darkness" (Sojourners, August 1977, p. 16).
This is the kind of leadership our world cries out for. My purpose in this book is to pass on to you what I have seen God do for those to whom he has given the purpose, passion and power to fulfill the most important mission on earth.
Pollster George Gallup gives his own prescription for what is needed in the 1990s — a decade he refers to as one of "deepening commitment." Leaders, he says, need to listen, teach, encourage, inspire and target key groups for spiritual nourishment.
Are you ready for such training? Are you prepared to let God grow you into a leader who will help do battle with the cultural-spiritual war that needs to be fought at every level of our society? If so, perhaps the words of this manual may indeed become a navigational guide to help you chart the waters of your own development as a Christian leader.
Let me say that I am just a fellow struggler, sharing my thoughts with you who, I hope, are also struggling to be the person and leader God wants you to be. During my years of ministry as a pastor, teacher and player-coach, there have been times when I thought I knew something about the game of Christian leadership, only to discover I was still a beginner.
So I will not use these pages to frustrate myself by dwelling on opportunities missed or perspectives muddled. Instead, I'm writing this
Page 14
book because I am grateful to my Captain for a life of limitless blessing and intimate friendships in what has become a journey with all the storms, harbors, near-shipwrecks, mutinies and on-board training that come with any decent voyage.
One of my favorite mentors on this journey of discovery has been Henrietta Mears, Christian leader and Bible teacher extraordinaire at Hollywood Presbyterian Church from 1928 to 1963. As Henrietta looked into the eyes of her college Bible class students, she would often say something like "I'm excited for you. You have a wonderful Savior, and with him you're going to do great things for God." Her enthusiasm said to me, I'm here to help you, pray for you and stand by you as you discover and do the will of God. How could any student not feel special with such an outpouring of praise, encouragement and affection?
Although I was not in her college class, I still consider her my mentor and guide, one for whom I have often been grateful during the subsequent years of my ministry as pastor and teacher — and even now as a writer of the book you hold in your hands.
So why do I write this book, especially when there are already plenty of volumes on leadership? I want to share with you what to me have become simple, time-tested principles of spiritual navigation and spiritual development. You may be a "novice seaman," learning the ropes, just figuring out what it takes to be a decent deck hand. Or you may be an "old salt" with many voyages, battle scars and skirmishes behind you. Whoever you are and wherever you are in your spiritual journey, it is my prayer that this manual of spiritual navigation may serve as a compass for you on your own pilgrimage.
First I will tell you my story, because my confidence comes initially through my own experience.
My pilgrimage began one stormy night crossing the Pacific as a college student. An encounter with the possibility of death sent me in search of God, and I discovered Jesus, the Friend who promised to shed light in the midst of my confusion.
Page 15
After a frustrating year of living in two worlds, I learned that my Friend also meant to be my Captain in the voyage of life. I set off to Bible school and then seminary to master the fundamentals of spiritual life and leadership. I offer the experiences and lessons of this early journey in the first four chapters of this book, as the foundation for the years of ministry that followed.
I learned the art of pastoring in a small church in South Hollywood, California, where I discovered how the Holy Spirit could empower a dynamic ministry. Nine years later, I found the heart of my ministry in Berkeley, where a vital congregation in the university environment was strategically placed to make its mark on the world. The 1960s found me in a Seattle church, struggling with the social upheaval of the time but learning about Christian community. Finally, at Fuller Seminary I began to share the lessons of spiritual formation learned along the way with a new generation of people preparing for ministry.
In chapter five I will talk about where the power for this ministry comes from and how it comes. Then we will look at our missionary mandate and how it is to be lived out (chapter six) — all of this in the context of community (chapter seven). The crucial concept of teaming will be the subject of chapter eight.
The journey I describe in the chapters of this book is offered to you as an encouragement for your own journey. It all started as an exciting adventure, the opportunity of a lifetime for a young junior from UC Berkeley to ship out from the safe harbors of routine living and launch into a world of the unexplored and unknown. The date was summer 1931. The place: the South Pacific. The weather: typhoon conditions. Visibility: zero.
