I recently read a 2006 article by Gil Rendle on Leadership Under Constraints. In it he defined the difference between management and leadership. What follows builds on his definition of the difference. Management, he suggests, tries to bring order and stability to the present situation. Its primary question is, “Are we doing the things right?” and seeks to bring stability, efficiency, and order to the present situation. Leadership, on the other hand, looks to the future and tries to prepare us for the challenge ahead of us. Its primary question is “Are we doing the right thing?” and what changes do we have to make to respond to the challenges ahead of us.
Management seeks the best practices to cope with what is happening in the church. leadership wants to explore the question of purpose and meaning and can often be disruptive because, while it doesn’t have the answers, it knows that we have to change in order to respond to the changing environment. What is needed, suggests Rendle, is adaptive leadership that is flexible in responding to what is happening.
Most churches have a vague understanding that the world is changing around them and want to call a pastor who will “lead” them into the future. However, once the pastor arrives, the congregation expects him or her to be a manager of the present congregation so that things run smoothly. Their criteria is usually shaped by a nostalgia for a past memory, whether accurate or not, of when the church prospered and people were comfortable. If you are going to be a leader in this chaotic time, you are seeking to enable the church to be willing to ask from a fresh perspective three questions: who are we, what is God calling us to do or be, and who is our neighbor?
At the vortex of this chaotic struggle to be the church is the pastor. It is a stressful time in which to be a pastor but it also is an exciting time. It is a time of waiting with an expectant air for God again to speak as God did at the first experience of recorded chaos — Let there be light. Have patience with yourself, expect to be stressed, know that you need to be intentional about taking care of yourself, and recognize that you are part of a transformative moment.
