05 September 2025
Succession Part 2 - Planning to finish well
But all that preparation made for a wonderful journey that profoundly impacted my life. Most of my fellow pilgrims were equally prepared but not all, in fact some people seemed to be clueless about everything I'd obsessed over - no physical conditioning, dodgy shoes, denim jeans, no hat and a backpack from junior high school! Miraculously, most of these amazing people also made it to Santiago, but golly they had a rough journey and lots of blisters.
If one metric of good leadership is a healthy succession, then the journey to that outcome needs careful, intentional planning. So where do you begin in planning to finish well? Here in part 2 I want to explore lets call it, the leadership mindset and planning sequence. In part 3 I'll conclude by exploring the personal journey.
I'm going to offer a number of suggestions about this planning process but I acknowledge that there are many variables and assumptions at play. Firstly I am thinking primarily about organisational contexts though the principles apply in many settings, even for instance, the family business. Also I am assuming you are in a position of senior leadership within that organisation. You may not be the head of entity, but you might be one day and you have influence now. Lastly I'm writing with an underlying value for longevity in the organisation. I know people are now far less likely to stay in one organisational context for decades, but the shorter the tenure the harder it is to both shape culture and do succession planning well. Regardless of how long you'll be there, or wherever you sit in the organisation, if you love something enough to want it to continue on after you, then read on.
Start at the beginning. In part 1 I asked you to estimate how many years out you think you are from leaving your current role or organisation. If you just arrived you are not off the hook. The early years of a role are about establishing the mission (if its not already there), the culture you want to outlast you, and developing a stewardship and succession mindset. This might include thoughts like:
- I am choosing to be here for the long haul, but I am not here forever.
- I want to leave the organisation healthier and more fruitful than I found it.
- It's not all about me and I am not indispensable.
It is also a good time to be asking:
- How do I build (or contribute to building) an organisation that is so desirable to work in?
- Who do I have in my leadership pipeline and where are the gaps?
- How can I prioritise the emerging generation now?
Leadership development will be a priority at all stages and while age is not always a factor, typically the priority is developing people younger or those whom you lead. Your organisational context will dictate this to some degree. For example, in the naturally multi-generational church space, we have a unique opportunity to start really early giving children and teens invaluable leadership opportunities. But in most organisational settings you are only working with employees or adult volunteers so in reality these people may be anywhere from 5 to 25 years younger. They may not report to you directly but you are intentional about engaging with them, listening to them and observing their work, and where possible creating opportunities to stretch them.
5+ years out - Continue culture building and leadership development plus a focus on organisational fundamentals - mission, vision, governance and structure. In as much as you have authority, these need to be a high priority to ensure organisational resilience. So here are a few suggestions:
- Do the important collaborative work of forming or renewing the 'Why' of the organisation - its mission and vision. This serves not only to bring clarity and unity to the existing team but engage those who may be the ones to champion it into the future.
- Optimise your governance effectiveness. Is board renewal needed? Is upskilling needed? Are they relationally healthy and effective in their work? How about core documentation - constitutions, policies and procedures etc? Are there leaders you need to expose to the governance environment? A strong board is vital to a healthy leadership transition and they will need the capacity and skill to guide the process to its conclusion in the future. This all takes a lot of time so start now. Finally, start talking about the principle and value of succession planning across the whole organisation. As I've been suggesting, succession is your responsibility, but ultimately it is the board or bishop or governing authority that has the task of preparing and executing succession processes for its senior leaders. They need to know not only their responsibilities, but how to carry them out.
- What about your organisational chart? Does the structure of your organisation need renewing? Does your structure support your mission and vision? Does it encourage staff leadership development? Does it create room for people to advance and does it provide a way in for new recruits?
48-24 months out - Focus on organisational health and development of key people.
- How is the atmosphere? Are there lingering staff issues? How about the finances? Are the key performance indicators trending down or up? Are there major projects that could become major problems or distractions if not completed?
- This is the time when you are becoming clear on who your potential replacements are and if you don't have them, it's getting late to source them so you better get cracking. Raise the bar of responsibility with your key staff. Work more closely with a few and delegate more. Modify your role in ways that begin to take your hands off the wheel and place other hands on it.
36-12 months out - Beginning the conversation
- Your planing is now becoming concrete and you are beginning to think about the transition
- You have one or two people now carrying significant responsibility.
- You have the conversation with your board about your eventual succession intentions without being specific about timing. This gives them time to both acclimate the prospect of change without having to suddenly fly into action. Note this is a delicate moment and wisdom is needed here as to if, and how you have this conversation without it backfiring.
- Personally you are now considering timing in more deliberate ways, discussing it with a spouse, mentor or close friends. Perhaps you are praying for guidance and wisdom around when to press 'go'. It's soon but not yet.
- In this period you may also be considering what you might like to do after you finish (like walk the Camino!)
12-6 months out - Shifting from succession planning to transition planning
- Going public - At some point you have to inform your board of your intention to formally resign and how much time you are prepared to stay on after the announcement. In some contexts it may be the minimum requirement whilst in others you may offer the board as much time as they need to affect a smooth handover to a successor. This is ideal but not always practical.
- You can give too long and too short notice. Too long and it drags out for everyone and you become a caretaker leader. Too little time and you create unnecessary chaos somewhat souring the good finish. Any way you look at it, once you go public, everything quickly changes.
- You are now shifting from succession planning to transition planning. This phase relates specifically to the detailed sequence of communications and preparation the organisation needs for your departure as well as the recruitment of your successor. And to be clear, in most organisational settings this is not your responsibility. In fact you will increasingly step out of the room at this point because the board or its delegated group will now engage their own search and recruitment processes. Anticipate that their focus is going to quickly shift away from you as the leader to the critical task of finding your replacement. Don't take this personally.
- Your leadership of the organisation will take on a different posture now as people process both the emotion and the implications of your announcement. You still have influence but you do not have the same positional power you had prior to the announcement.
- You will focus now on continuity and the key people ensuring that, as best as you can, the incumbent has what they need to start well. You'll need to work out now what a good handover will look like.
- And finally, don't skip the actual finish. This is a significant moment for everyone so say what you need to say, thank those you need to thank, repair any relationships you need to repair, and celebrate all that you are able to be thankful for.
I can already hear you say "it's all way more complicated in my context!" - to which I totally agree. If nothing else, my goal in writing down this retrospective on my own very imperfect journey is to encourage you to think about your succession journey. And whether its a year or a decade away, to avoid the blisters of a lack of preparation, and recognise that you can be intentional from day one, till your farewell party. Your organisation will thank you for it and you will expereience the elation of a job well finished.
31 August 2025
Succession Part 1 - Letting go.
'What’s become of my ring, Frodo, that you took away?’‘I have lost it, Bilbo dear,’ said Frodo. ‘I got rid of it, you know.’ ‘What a pity!’ said Bilbo. ‘I should have liked to see it again. But no, how silly of me!In the last scenes of the LOTR trilogy a frail Bilbo Baggins is wistful about "the precious" Ring of Power, that he'd spent so much of his life coveting. The ring, infused with dark power would corrupt and distort the heart of its bearer, even almost, an ordinary hobbit. And though now destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, it's lore still bore a magnetic power over the failing memory of Bilbo.
Power sometimes has a beastly way of doing that to ordinary people - it takes a hold of us and then we can't let it go.
Now power and leadership are not the same thing but leadership involves many kinds of power. No matter its form, the challenge of all power, and by association leadership, is not merely in the attaining or managing, but in the relinquishing - casting it aside, letting it and yourself be unplugged from it.
Which brings me to a subject I've been personally close to in the past few years, that of leadership succession. We typically think about leadership in terms of ascension, more likely to celebrate that upwardly mobile promotion than the demotion. People never seem to post on their LinkedIn profiles that they gave up their senior role for something less commanding. We are told to climb corporate ladders, not leap from them because by nature, we esteem that courageous climber, the celebrity, the winner.
It all looks like a one way street but the further I get into the middle third of life the more I think planning your replacement, is essential, not optional to good leadership.
I think, the last great gift you give those you are leading, is to get out of their way!
Yet in the thick of our lives, and leadership roles, we tend to ignore our replacement like we ignore our death, somewhere in the distant future and we have too many urgent things to do in the present to concern ourselves with the important stuff that isn't happening any time this year. But then, all of a sudden, its too late. We miss the window of opportunity to leave well and those we led bear the consequences.
Pope Francis apparently had his resignation letter written long before his death, though his intention was always to die in the role as is papal tradition. I loved that till the day before his death Francis was greeting world leaders and common folk in church, and then he went home to Jesus, with the affairs of his replacement a very distant concern.
Maybe a pope can get away with this but for the rest of us, it poses an important question around planning our endings and succession. As leaders we usually don't plan to die in the role, but neither do we think much about handing it on to the right person at the right time through the right process.
When it comes to succession, I think I've been more deeply formed by those who did not do it well, than those rare individuals who did. I've watched admired pastors lead their churches into decline or stagnation because they did not make succession a priority. Maybe it was a bit of a messiah complex, maybe they just loved their work, maybe they were afraid of what comes next, or maybe it was good intentions mixed with bad planning. Whatever the reason, this culture of non-succession is one of the greatest blindspots in leadership. Much focus is on professional development of leaders to lead well, but we don't develop them to leave well.
And what might leaving well look like?
Yet in the thick of our lives, and leadership roles, we tend to ignore our replacement like we ignore our death, somewhere in the distant future and we have too many urgent things to do in the present to concern ourselves with the important stuff that isn't happening any time this year. But then, all of a sudden, its too late. We miss the window of opportunity to leave well and those we led bear the consequences.
Pope Francis apparently had his resignation letter written long before his death, though his intention was always to die in the role as is papal tradition. I loved that till the day before his death Francis was greeting world leaders and common folk in church, and then he went home to Jesus, with the affairs of his replacement a very distant concern.
Maybe a pope can get away with this but for the rest of us, it poses an important question around planning our endings and succession. As leaders we usually don't plan to die in the role, but neither do we think much about handing it on to the right person at the right time through the right process.
When it comes to succession, I think I've been more deeply formed by those who did not do it well, than those rare individuals who did. I've watched admired pastors lead their churches into decline or stagnation because they did not make succession a priority. Maybe it was a bit of a messiah complex, maybe they just loved their work, maybe they were afraid of what comes next, or maybe it was good intentions mixed with bad planning. Whatever the reason, this culture of non-succession is one of the greatest blindspots in leadership. Much focus is on professional development of leaders to lead well, but we don't develop them to leave well.
And what might leaving well look like?
For starters, it may very well look like 1. a clear, well paced and communicated plan, 2. ideally with real internal successor option(s) in the wings, 3. in a fundamentally healthy organisation. Of course its never that simple and every context will demand some variation within these three aims.
In part 2 I'll get more specific about good succession planning but for now, if you are a leader in your context, have a go at answering the following questions:
I love how in LOTR, the story doesn't end with Frodo destroying the ring of power and then The End. The ending feels especially long and unhurried as the reader comes to terms with not only the rings final destruction but the ending of its fellowship. Frodo was leaving with Bilbo, and Sam's story would continue without him. It is as though Tolkien wanted his reader to end well also.
I also love how, as Tim Keller illustrated in one of his stellar sermons, J R R Tolkien, saturated in Christian thought, chose to make a radical departure from the historical plot line of all other great legends and quest stories in antiquity. Tolkien does this in Lord of the Rings by making the central figure at the heart of of the story (Frodo), triumphant not because he was powerful nor won something precious at the tale's climax, but because he gave up something precious, even if it cost him his life, for the sake of others. And by letting go he truly won. That is of course the heart of the gospel story, and the kind of counter cultural vision of power, leadership and success that Jesus exemplifies - and the template for in all of us who aspire to lead.
In this past week I've felt the deep gladness of completing my own succession journey, gathering with my church to commission my replacement, Ben, a young(er) man who I've had a role in nurturing for the past decade. He is in my estimation a superior leader in every way and he will, under Christ, take the church further than I ever could have.
In this past week I've felt the deep gladness of completing my own succession journey, gathering with my church to commission my replacement, Ben, a young(er) man who I've had a role in nurturing for the past decade. He is in my estimation a superior leader in every way and he will, under Christ, take the church further than I ever could have.
And isn't that a great thing! Isn't that the kind of KPI we leaders should be judged by? At the right time, letting go, casting off our power so that something or someone greater than us can truly flourish. My succession journey was in no way perfect, but it is such a joy to let go, and finish well.
May you finish well too.
.......
In part 2 I'll get more specific about good succession planning but for now, if you are a leader in your context, have a go at answering the following questions:
1. If you had to guess, in how many years will you be departing your current role?
2. Have you started thinking about your succession? If not why not?
3. If hypothetically, you left your organisation on this day in three years time, what steps would you take from today to ensure both leadership continuity and momentum in your organisation?
4. Who are you actively training to potentially replace you?
2. Have you started thinking about your succession? If not why not?
3. If hypothetically, you left your organisation on this day in three years time, what steps would you take from today to ensure both leadership continuity and momentum in your organisation?
4. Who are you actively training to potentially replace you?
5. If you weren't doing what you are doing what else could you do?
Image: Unsplash
28 July 2025
Do Disciples need Disciplines?
Despite my love-tolerate relationship, I still know spiritual practices are essential to Christian vitality and becoming. Though, I do feel the need to qualify such a claim because the same spiritual practices that animate one person's life, may be hollow rituals to another. The power of the spiritual practice is not simply in the activity but in the way it allows the Spirit to access the head and heart.
I think about spiritual practices as intentional actions with internal consequences..... resulting in external consequences. Animated by the Spirit of God, spiritual practices, do three basic things:
- embed the love of God in our hearts (Psalm 18,139)
- move us toward greater self awareness and awareness of others (Psalm 139)
- illuminate the way of God for our everyday lives and direct our responses (Psalm 25:1-5)
The first is the most important. Spiritual practices are not an end in themselves, but exist to nurture familiarity with the God who makes himself personally knowable. Not "the universe", not some animistic force or amorphous mishmash of all religions, but the divine person of Jesus who really lived with us, really died for us and overcame real death so we could have real life.
And Jesus promises his disciples that even though he will leave, he will not leave them like orphans. Jesus says "I will come to you"..."I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever"...."the Spirit of truth who Jesus says lives with and within you" (John 14.17) It is the Holy Spirit who makes the relationship personal and the spiritual practice more than self-help or trying harder because in Christianity, we simply can't think our way to God or work our way to holiness. Real change and renewal of the heart and soul is the work of the Holy Spirit.
And yet, there is no avoiding the personal commitment necessary to embracing a life of spiritual practices with God. Perhaps thats why more historically we've referred to "spiritual disciplines" implying something more deliberate, committed and costly. Though not an obligation, authentic Christian spirituality is undoubtedly a (shared) commitment to a way of living regardless of the ebb and flow of my feelings and gratifications. Spiritual practices are a structure we build for all those times in life when our feelings falter and the benefits don't flow our way.
And yet, there is no avoiding the personal commitment necessary to embracing a life of spiritual practices with God. Perhaps thats why more historically we've referred to "spiritual disciplines" implying something more deliberate, committed and costly. Though not an obligation, authentic Christian spirituality is undoubtedly a (shared) commitment to a way of living regardless of the ebb and flow of my feelings and gratifications. Spiritual practices are a structure we build for all those times in life when our feelings falter and the benefits don't flow our way.
All this to say YES disciples do need the discipline of spiritual practices. Thats the principle at least.
But my experience personally, and as a pastor is that a large proportion of Christians experience ongoing cycles of confusion, frustration and guilt associated with their misapplication of this principle. For example prayer may feel hollow, scripture confusing and Sabbath rest an impossibility. If our spirituality needs spiritual practices, what becomes of all the people for whom they are so hard to establish or maintain? Are they just not trying hard enough or is there more to this?
My own conclusion is that there is no universal technique or curriculum for Christian formation and spirituality. Indeed there are many kinds of spiritual practices because there are many kinds of people living at many stages of life and faith. To illustrate, around 5% of Australians have been diagnosed with some form of ADHD and God knows how many people are undiagnosed. So for all those people who struggle to focus for more than 5 minutes, how do they navigate conventional spiritual practices that are typically contemplative and stationary? What about rambunctious teenage boys or just anyone born in the past 20 years who only know life through a digital lens? What about tradies who leave for work before the sun rises, or mothers juggling work, marriage and three kids? How about people with ASD or those with social anxiety? What about those with learning difficulties or Downs Syndrome? What if you just aren't wired for rhythms and disciplines? You might think I'm only highlighting minorities but all those minorities add up quickly.
Sometimes I wonder if we do more harm than good corralling people onto generic programs and pathways. I'm slowly figuring out that:
Connection with God matters
but prayer takes many forms.
Belief matters
but learning takes many forms.
Serving matters
but "ministry" takes many forms.
Thankfulness matters
but worship takes many forms.
Immanence matters
but encounter takes many forms.
Confession matters
but accountability takes may forms.
Faith matters
but courage takes many forms.
Obedience matters
but sacrifice takes many forms.
Koinonia matters
but community takes many forms.
Self-awareness mattes
but examen takes many forms.
Self-denial matters
but fasting takes many forms.
Rest matters
but Sabbath time takes many forms.
And in their exploring lies our adventure.
My point is there is a distinction between essential principles and ultimate forms. I'm not arguing against the principle just the overly prescriptive definition of the form. I know well the tension between getting clear and becoming prescriptive. In research I conducted in 2024 with 20 evangelical pastors across several denominations I found about half had a rough plan for their congregations discipleship and a further 30% said they had a clear plan that was "more in theory than practice." But, when asked, all wanted a clear executable plan recognising that neither ambiguity nor hollow aspirations represent good leadership. Which is true! I've been that leader for years tinkering with these tensions and the dream of cracking some ultimate discipleship code.
As pastors we are all attempting to find the best way to lead the largest number of people into deeper waters. And the larger your church the more you want to systematise your discipleship models so that they are concrete enough to communicate and deliver to everyone you are shepherding. But the shepherding analogy falls short in as much as people are not in fact sheep who all think and act the same way. Every person is unique and this makes the whole enterprise of discipleship so much more challenging, especially today in a hyper individualistic culture.
Ok so what's the alternative genius? It'd be a bit hypocritical to now offer a sure fire solution to this discipleship dilemma, and I don't have one. But if I was a pastor starting out or starting again I'd think about reframing the practices and rethinking the strategy. Such as....
When it comes to spiritual practices:
- Continually normalise the diversity in how people connect and experience God.
- Offer people more options than you think they need - and look beyond your denomination.
- Celebrate curiosity and experimentation with regular storytelling.
- Embed spiritual practices in ordinary daily life as its happening.
- Prioritise relational connection over content delivery... as Jesus did with his disciples.
When it comes to discipling people more generally:
- Scrutinise any and all sacred-secular language, structures or practices in your context.
- Prioritise empathic understanding of the lived experiences of people in your context.
- Normalise the challenges and struggles people face in life, and as disciples.
- Make everyday life the principal context and curriculum of Christian spirituality, not Sunday.
- Communicate the vision of discipleship but resist prescribing all the steps to get there.
- Customise discipleship for every individual but minus the vibe of individualism.
- Reinforce the vital role of commitment to the body of Christ in spiritual formation.
- Invest more effort into coaching and storytelling, than preaching the theory.
- More tools less techniques. More permission less prescription.
- Curate contexts for catalytic experiences.
03 May 2025
From Popes to Politicians - What is good leadership?
I voted yesterday at the local pre-polling booth and it seemed like half the electorate had the same idea. While I waited, two men stood together in a small pop up cabana near the front of the line handing out flyers as the endless line of voters shuffled impatiently past them, looking away, suddenly fascinated by their phones or maybe a glance saying "no thanks mate" or muttering something else less kind. These two men were not your regular volunteers, they were the sitting Liberal member and his young gun Labour counterpart. I've known the Liberal member for many years, a good man, and I've also met with his younger Labor rival. They both looked utterly shattered, pale and pasty in the late afternoon rush, as though both had run a two month marathon of smiles, handshakes and smalltalk. When I reached them in the line, I had 30 seconds to shake their hands, thank them for their work and wished them well.....before I went to cast my vote on their political fate. Thats democracy!
In this unique week between a Papal funeral and a federal election a lot of us are pondering the nature of good leadership and how to get it. Seems most of the world judged Pope Francis to have been a good leader, and today we will make a judgement about our political leaders who, for weeks have been magically appearing in strange places, pumping petrol or cuddling kids at childcare centres hoping that by doing so, public opinion may tip in their favour as the best leadership option for the electorate.
But we are a cynical mob when it comes to leadership, especially political. We carry unbelievably high expectations of leaders and low confidence they will deliver. We critique them more than we praise them, as if we could do a better job fulfilling the one utilitarian task we assign them all - raise our standard of living right now!
People rightly want good leaders in all spheres of life, be they Popes, PM's, principals or pastors. But it is worth pausing on this election day to recognise that good leadership is neither comfortable nor easy, for both the leader and the led. If you want a high approval rating, getting a job as a Santa or selling ice cream may be a better option. And if you want to be led well, anticipate discomfort.
People rightly want good leaders in all spheres of life, be they Popes, PM's, principals or pastors. But it is worth pausing on this election day to recognise that good leadership is neither comfortable nor easy, for both the leader and the led. If you want a high approval rating, getting a job as a Santa or selling ice cream may be a better option. And if you want to be led well, anticipate discomfort.
Good leadership is tough for the leader and the led and perhaps thats why the leadership genre is a bit of a bottomless pit. The classical idea of leadership was leader-centric. By that I mean the power dynamic was almost entirely tipped toward the hero, warlord, commander & chief or CEO who autocratically influences people to do what they probably don't want to do (there are a few world leaders who seem to like this style at the moment).
But in more recent decades, leadership has become increasingly follower-centric where the power dynamic has shifted toward the follower. Barbara Kellerman says that the social contract in the 21st Century, between leader and led has changed from “have to” to “want to” be led - though she admits this is still dependent on context and “carrot and stick” leadership will always be a factor in many organisational settings.1
The digital age, particularly social media, has been emancipatory for the majority handing people power and knowledge they could never have imagined in previous generations. As a consequence Kellerman writes "there is less respect for authority across the board—in government and business, in the academy and in the professions, even in religion. Power and influence have continued to devolve from the top down—those at the top having less power and influence; those in the middle and at the bottom having more. For their part, followers, ordinary people, have an expanded sense of entitlement—demanding more and giving less."2
I think what Kellerman is saying is that everyone today wants to live like they are in charge, only without the burden leadership.
Perhaps the art of good leadership is in stewarding power in both a directive and collective way simultaneously.
- Peter Northouse in Leadership Theory and Practice, notes four characteristics generally present in leadership. Leadership is a process, involves influence, occurs in groups and involves common goals.3
- Similarly, Tod Bolsinger in Canoeing the Mountains writes “Leadership is energizing a community of people toward their own transformation in order to accomplish a shared mission in the face of a changing world.”4
- Joseph Rost, defined leadership as “an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes.” In this Robert Banks et.al notes the four essential leadership elements: 1. that the influence relationship is multidirectional, 2. the influence is non-coercive, 3. it involves meaningful change toward a purpose, and 4. followers are active participants.5
The thing I note about these conceptions is the role of both leader and led toward common or shared goals. Good leadership is something we want but also something we participate in, and cultivate by prioritising mutuality over individuality. And in the political context, the role of a local member is to synthesise the goals, aspirations and needs of thousands of individuals into a collective vision and action plan which they all participate in. I think for all our negativity, our politicians are making a genuine attempt to do something infinitely difficult at a societal level.
By the time you read this, the election will likely be decided, but spare a thought for all those local members and candidates - for every happy winner there are many more feeling deflated. These men and women all show great courage I think, to put themselves in a highly vulnerable position where their local community can explicitly reject them. They should all be congratulated and encouraged no matter the side of politics.
We all want good leaders but I wonder, do you have a shortlist of things you'd look for? As I ponder both new popes and parliamentarians, I can think of 9 qualities I'd like to experience as a follower (in no particular order):
- Vision - a compelling idea of where they want to take people.
- Credibility - the technical skills and life experiences that engender confidence in followers.
- Courage - to lead with conviction in the face of inevitable opposition.
- Consistency - an integrity between their personal and public life.
- Compassion- to truly see people and work for their flourishing regardless of status.
- Wisdom - navigating complexity and competing priorities with acumen.
- Maturity- to emotionally manage themselves and their relationships well.
- Values - an epistemological foundation for the wisdom that orients and guides their life and leadership.
- Humility - to selflessly serve and steward power always for the common good.
Much more could be said, but thinking about Pope Francis' exemplary life helped me focus in on a few key things. And while I sure don't want the next pope to lead the country, I do hope all our incumbent leaders might express, just as imperfectly as even Francis, the same qualities of good leadership.
I reckon only Jesus expressed these perfectly, but every leader has unavoidable choices around the kind of person and therefor leader, they want to be becoming. As do we all because in the end, we all share in the vocation of leadership, even if only of ourselves and those close to us.
1&2 Kellerman, Barbara. The End of Leadership. 1st ed. New York: Harper Business, 2012.
3 Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice. Ninth Edition. Los Angeles: SAGE Publishing, 2022.
4 Bolsinger, Tod E. Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory. Expanded Edition. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2018.
5 Ledbetter, Bernice M., Robert Banks, and David C. Greenhalgh. Reviewing Leadership: A Christian Evaluation of Current Approaches. Second edition. Engaging culture. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2016.
20 April 2025
Maybe Church?
I write these words as the sun dawns on Good Friday morning 2025. For as long as I can remember this day, and Easter Sunday has been a profound and special moment in the annual rhythm of Christian life for me. It is a time to gather with community, to reflect on the death and resurrection of Jesus and how our lives together are caught up in the great gospel invitation of redemption and resurrection through Christ. It's also been a day of adrenalin for me, and needing to be on point as hundreds gather to participate in something inspiring, creative and beautiful.
But this Good Friday and Easter Sunday I'm at a bit of a lose end. On purpose that is, giving my church and old staff team vital time to find their feet apart from its old Senior Pastor, and if I am honest, myself time to find my own feet apart from the role. I finished my role at the start of the year and for most of the year I'm choosing a kind of social obscurity, stepping away from the platforms I've lived on, handing back the keys, and the microphones. It's weird, but I think wise.
Actually, I'm not missing much at all about my old role 3 months down the track. What I feel the most acutely is the intentional dislocation from community and community gathered in moments like Easter. I will visit a mate's church today and some friendly faces will be there, but they aren't my community so it always feels a bit like rocking up to a birthday party of your friend's close group of friends.
Absence from my church community will last for much of the year while a new leader is appointed, and in the meantime I have an opportunity to experience first hand what dislocation feels like. Over the years I've witnessed so many people disconnect from church communities, deconstruct and sometimes destruct their faith. Covid catalysed much soul searching for people and for many, the search ended in ending their commitments to gathering with a specific community in a specific rhythm.
And there were lots of reasons. In the thick of those Covid years I remember sitting down to write a list of all the reasons I'd been given by people for why our church was no longer necessary and in about 30 minutes I'd rattled off 50 reasons that my bruised heart has squirrelled away over the years. Some really valid of course, and some just sad.
I still think a lot about those who deconstructed or just reprioritised life away from the rhythm and discipline of gathering. Sometimes I blame myself, but mostly I just feel sadness, and sometimes a little anger if they had young children who then missed out on the profoundly formative gift of faith development in community.
In a recent NCLS aritcle exploring findings from their annual Australian Community Survey and research from the Scanlon Foundation found that people who worship together have
• Higher social cohesion across all domains
• Higher levels of civic engagement,
• Higher levels of subjective wellbeing.
I still think a lot about those who deconstructed or just reprioritised life away from the rhythm and discipline of gathering. Sometimes I blame myself, but mostly I just feel sadness, and sometimes a little anger if they had young children who then missed out on the profoundly formative gift of faith development in community.
In a recent NCLS aritcle exploring findings from their annual Australian Community Survey and research from the Scanlon Foundation found that people who worship together have
• Higher social cohesion across all domains
• Higher levels of civic engagement,
• Higher levels of subjective wellbeing.
People think more collectively, they behave more selflessly and the feel more positive about life. Im not surprised about these findings because they are precisely what I've witnessed throughout my life in faith community.
Its easy to miss the forest of goodness for the few trees of challenge in the rhythm of Sunday church. Yes people can be irritating, pastors can disappoint, relationships strained, Sundays may not do it for you, and serving can be a drag sometimes. Yes the preacher may be not be all that engaging and the band off key. Yes the coffee might be weak and the parking lot full. Yes a sleep in sounds brilliant and a room full of people sounds stressful.
Its easy to miss the forest of goodness for the few trees of challenge in the rhythm of Sunday church. Yes people can be irritating, pastors can disappoint, relationships strained, Sundays may not do it for you, and serving can be a drag sometimes. Yes the preacher may be not be all that engaging and the band off key. Yes the coffee might be weak and the parking lot full. Yes a sleep in sounds brilliant and a room full of people sounds stressful.
Yes church might be all that. But its much more than that, and indeed all those niggles are not problems to resist but parts of the curriculum for our formation and maturation. Sure things can to some extent be done better, but the point of being church is being a community of people whose entwined lives and loves are being progressively reoriented away from self toward the love of God, one another and world. And in that place, people experience a different kind of flourishing and goodness in life that your sporting team or smashed avo at the cafe or sleep in can only try and mimic.
Some of the latest research from McCrindle is indicating a quiet return to Christianity by people who had walked away in recent years (see also here). Nearly 785,000 Australians who identified as having no religion in the 2016 Census listed Christianity in 2021. The statistical decline in Christianity in the past few decades is often presented as evidence for a societal shift away from faith toward secularity. But perhaps all it really reveals is that cultural Christianity is finally dead in Australia and people only tick the Christian box because they have a genuine conviction to identify as Christian.
Over 55's, according to McCrindle, are the largest age bracket returning to churches as are millennials and younger who are becoming increasingly disillusioned with post-modern relativism, the limitations of science and technology, and dwindling hope of economic prosperity in their generation. McCrindle notes that the majority of young people want to have spiritual conversations as they search for a sense of identity, meaning and purpose beyond these.
Anecdotally I'm constantly hearing pastors say that new people keep showing up on Sunday and many are returning after a hiatus of several years of non attending any church. I suspect the social cohesion of community, the engagement of purpose beyond self, and the reorientation of life around a commitment to spiritual formation and worship - is something the church uniquely offers and with it a life of renewed significance, purpose and flourishing.
Some of the latest research from McCrindle is indicating a quiet return to Christianity by people who had walked away in recent years (see also here). Nearly 785,000 Australians who identified as having no religion in the 2016 Census listed Christianity in 2021. The statistical decline in Christianity in the past few decades is often presented as evidence for a societal shift away from faith toward secularity. But perhaps all it really reveals is that cultural Christianity is finally dead in Australia and people only tick the Christian box because they have a genuine conviction to identify as Christian.
Over 55's, according to McCrindle, are the largest age bracket returning to churches as are millennials and younger who are becoming increasingly disillusioned with post-modern relativism, the limitations of science and technology, and dwindling hope of economic prosperity in their generation. McCrindle notes that the majority of young people want to have spiritual conversations as they search for a sense of identity, meaning and purpose beyond these.
Anecdotally I'm constantly hearing pastors say that new people keep showing up on Sunday and many are returning after a hiatus of several years of non attending any church. I suspect the social cohesion of community, the engagement of purpose beyond self, and the reorientation of life around a commitment to spiritual formation and worship - is something the church uniquely offers and with it a life of renewed significance, purpose and flourishing.
Perhaps going it alone wears off. It's already worn off for me and Ive only been absent for 12 weeks! Absence makes my heart grow fonder.
Hey if you've read this far in my Easter ramble, maybe this weekend is a good time to take a chance on a local evangelical church near you? Maybe it's one you left long ago, or its one you've driven by a hundred times? I guarantee it wont tick all your boxes, and it will feel awkward.
But it might also be the start of something beautiful.
23 March 2025
Update - 2025
Hello! I've neglected writing for fun (here) over the past few years, mostly because my attention has been consumed largely by the constant process of writing for preaching, and by the research and writing connected to the Doctorate that I've been labouring in since 2022. These two commitments have certainly consumed my imagination and my energy for extra-curricular composition.... till now!
In the first months of 2025 I concluded my role as the Senior Pastor and primary preacher at Georges River Life Church and, I also finished the first full draft of my thesis and sent it off to my supervisors. So within the space of a month, the two largest writing commitments have abruptly ceased, and I am coming to terms with a wide open diary in which to look back and think forward.
For me, writing is my best avenue for thinking well and paying attention to what is happening in and around me. Writing or journaling is a spiritual practice to order and articulate often incomplete and confused thoughts and feelings. To quote American author and poet Jim Ferris, he said "I dont know what I think till I read what I have to say." I think that's me too.
If you want to reach out, best to get me on my gmail email account: revscomo@gmail.com
Warmly
Scott
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| Old friends returning on my farewell Sunday... |
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| Pressing send on my thesis (draft) .... |
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| Preparing for a very long walk in June... |
07 May 2023
More than a Coronation
My parents are old enough to remember the coronation of Queen Elizabeth 2, but for the vast majority of the global population, we were all first timers of such a ceremony. Mercifully, the commentary helped decipher what on earth was going on in this 1000 year old ceremony reframed for a very different world than the one of Charles’s parents, and mine.
What surprised me in this broadcast (which at first I had little interest in watching), was the depth of meaning woven through it all and, what this said about faith, work and vocation. We were not simply witnessing the coronation of a King but an ordination and commissioning to a life of vocation.
'Vocation' is much more than the job or profession you do. It's all the activities, roles, people and contexts to which we are called, inspired and enabled for the service of others, and a common good. What distinguishes vocation over merely a job is the sense of calling to doing good work for a greater outcome than self. Religious or not, desiring a life that feels purposeful and significant is, I think, hard wired into all of us.
Breaking convention, Charles prayed aloud with deep vocational intent. He prayed “God of compassion and mercy whose Son was sent not to be served but to serve, give grace that I may find in thy service perfect freedom and in that freedom knowledge of thy truth. Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and belief, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness and be led into the paths of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”
This was a royal and priestly prayer to a vocational life of service to ALL people, in the manner of Jesus. And note, it was from that Christ-like posture of serving, that perfect freedom comes, and a revelation of what is truly true, tender and peaceable.
It’s quite a beautiful prayer. But neither such a prayer, nor such a commissioning is limited to kings and priests - this is the common prayer to which every person is invited to pray.
Past the pomp and ceremony, I think we just witnessed something profoundly common to us all - an invitation to humbly step into a whole life ordained with deep purpose and significance, oriented toward the flourishing of all people. A life of vocation.
Charles waited a very long time to be crowned and commissioned into this new vocational season. But when it comes to thinking and living vocationally, its never too early to start.... and it's never too late either.
Every day counts.
Hey thanks for reading this article. Could you help me out with a national research project I am running on attitudes to work life and the place, if any, of faith and faith communities. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. Instructions in the link below. Thanks!
What surprised me in this broadcast (which at first I had little interest in watching), was the depth of meaning woven through it all and, what this said about faith, work and vocation. We were not simply witnessing the coronation of a King but an ordination and commissioning to a life of vocation.
'Vocation' is much more than the job or profession you do. It's all the activities, roles, people and contexts to which we are called, inspired and enabled for the service of others, and a common good. What distinguishes vocation over merely a job is the sense of calling to doing good work for a greater outcome than self. Religious or not, desiring a life that feels purposeful and significant is, I think, hard wired into all of us.
Breaking convention, Charles prayed aloud with deep vocational intent. He prayed “God of compassion and mercy whose Son was sent not to be served but to serve, give grace that I may find in thy service perfect freedom and in that freedom knowledge of thy truth. Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and belief, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness and be led into the paths of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”
This was a royal and priestly prayer to a vocational life of service to ALL people, in the manner of Jesus. And note, it was from that Christ-like posture of serving, that perfect freedom comes, and a revelation of what is truly true, tender and peaceable.
It’s quite a beautiful prayer. But neither such a prayer, nor such a commissioning is limited to kings and priests - this is the common prayer to which every person is invited to pray.
Past the pomp and ceremony, I think we just witnessed something profoundly common to us all - an invitation to humbly step into a whole life ordained with deep purpose and significance, oriented toward the flourishing of all people. A life of vocation.
Charles waited a very long time to be crowned and commissioned into this new vocational season. But when it comes to thinking and living vocationally, its never too early to start.... and it's never too late either.
Every day counts.
25 December 2022
Joy. What even is it? And how do you get it?
Ah, Christmas, a season that teases us with good times, pleasures and happiness - to have a holly jolly Christmas, to have yourself a merry little Christmas, tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la. Apparently, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. You might be getting a few days off work, off your diet, maybe reunited with friends and family, the emails slow down, or you just ignore them, you sleep in, take a trip to the beach or the boxing day test match. Ham, more ham. Perhaps you really love today and this week.
Or perhaps it’s NOT the most wonderful time of the year because it’s the time when you most feel the absence of family. You skipped putting up the tree because no one would see it, or you did but there are no presents under it and no feast to enjoy with others. Perhaps you are cleaning up from floods, or longing for rain in east Africa, or longing for peace in Ukraine. Whether you experience all those Christmas feel good vibes this year, or feel like its escaped you once again this year, I wonder if you would notice two things:
1. All those hopes for the comfort of connection and intimacy, and inclusion with other, to come and sit around a table, eat good food, laugh to sing, to delight others with a gift, to feel loved with a gift or a card or kind word, to feel like you can truly relax in safety - are all universal desires woven into our humanity. We all desire this.2. And those common desires point to an even deeper, often unspoken belief that IF the world could be put right, IF communities and families and IF our lives could be put right, these are the kind of delights we would know. Let me say that another way – our desire in Christmas for happiness, pleasure, connection and love are signposts pointing to a world we were all made for and hope for. And when we catch a glimpse of that world and that life, and feel it’s impact in some small way – we have a word for that. Do you know what we call it? It's one of the most elusive, slippery, misunderstood words in our Christmas vocabulary. Do you know what it is?
JOY!
The funny thing about joy is that we use the world but when pressed, don't really know what it means. Joy is quite hard to define, it seems to resist definition like trying to define a colour. So, we often just think joy = really happy - like those crazy Argentinians after winning the world cup last week. We reduce it to feeling of happiness or delight. But is that it? I don't think so.
When Christians sing “joy to the world”, when we think about joy, yes it is a kind of happy emotion but this joy is not tied to happiness. This joy’s existence is not limited to being on the winning team, or life going to plan, or having your desires satisfied.
Reading through many instances of the word joy in the New Testament, a definition of this joy starts to form:
Reading through many instances of the word joy in the New Testament, a definition of this joy starts to form:
- An angel announcing to the shepherd’s good news of a great JOY – about the in breaking of God, a saviour, the birth of a messiah, the Lord.
- Wise men we read are OVERJOYED at seeing a star that would lead them to a great king – the king that the heavens above would even be moving for.
- Simeon, an old devout man of God, joyfully praising God at the sight of the baby Jesus saying I can now die in peace because I have seen the one who will be the light to all nations.
- The parables Jesus told of discovering God’s kingdom like a treasure found in a field or a fine peal – and in the JOY of discovery, selling everything to have it. Or the joy finding of a lost coin, or sheep or son.
- The 72 disciples returning from a day of ministry with great JOY at seeing how the work of the devil was overpowered by the name of Jesus
- The JOY Jesus spoke of in heaven when one sinner repents and Jesus himself, for the JOY set before him, the joy of saving a broken world.. endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. What I notice in all these instances is that
These instances reveal to me that joy is what people encounter when they behold, or better still, get involved in something of real substance, beauty or eternal significance in God’s vision for life...because as they do, they catch a glimpse of the world as it is in heaven, a glimpse of the world made right and the life they were made for and long for.
Unconvinced? Well, when do people experience misery and despair? Usually when the world is not as it ought to be – when their lives collide with tragedy or suffering. And so by contrast, when do they experience a kind of joy? When the world is as it ought to be and they collide with a flourishing life, with love, beauty, selflessness or compassion.
This I think is why joy is so hard to have in a broken world. This is why you may feel like you never feel joy. Unlike “happy” or “pleasure” which we can somewhat orchestrate, joy is, as CS Lewis put it, "never in our power." Joy finds you more than you find it. You can’t buy it or manufacture it. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it and touches down like lightening for a flash then seems to go just as quickly. Again, as CS Lewis wrote many years ago in his autobiography, “All Joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still ‘about to be'”.
If you have ever known or encountered true joy, even for a moment, you want it again. But how? Here are 2 ways to invite Joy to touch down into your life this Christmas and beyond it:
This I think is why joy is so hard to have in a broken world. This is why you may feel like you never feel joy. Unlike “happy” or “pleasure” which we can somewhat orchestrate, joy is, as CS Lewis put it, "never in our power." Joy finds you more than you find it. You can’t buy it or manufacture it. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it and touches down like lightening for a flash then seems to go just as quickly. Again, as CS Lewis wrote many years ago in his autobiography, “All Joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still ‘about to be'”.
If you have ever known or encountered true joy, even for a moment, you want it again. But how? Here are 2 ways to invite Joy to touch down into your life this Christmas and beyond it:
1.Behold – God’s world come and coming. “Behold” means, to fix your eyes, to focus with attention and care; don’t miss it! Paul encouraged the church in Philippi to rejoyce always, and as a way of living that he encourages them to think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Behold them, fix your thoughts and vision on them!
Those magi, shepherds and Simeon –they searched, and saw and they beheld– fixed their eyes on not just a baby in a manger – but who this baby would be and do, and in doing so caught a glimpse of on earth as in heaven. A revelation of the glory of another world coming in Christ – a king, a messiah a lord.
Those magi, shepherds and Simeon –they searched, and saw and they beheld– fixed their eyes on not just a baby in a manger – but who this baby would be and do, and in doing so caught a glimpse of on earth as in heaven. A revelation of the glory of another world coming in Christ – a king, a messiah a lord.
Behold Jesus! Every one of those witnesses to the birth of Jesus had something to get over or see beyond when they beheld that baby in a peasant stable, and all through history that’s still the same. Joy needs a different kind of vision. Whatever historical or cultural clutter you have today, whatever reluctance or disappointment or misapprehensions – the invitation is to come and see, to behold the wonder of Jesus for yourself for this is the greatest intervention of love and miracle the world has known. As Dorothy Sayers famously wrote of Jesus:
The most high is coming low, God is coming down, becoming one of us. God is greater than we thought and we are more sinful. For whatever reason God chose us to allow us to be limited, suffer, sorrows and death, he has nonetheless the honesty and integrity to take his own medicine and step into it himself. He can ask nothing of us he has not exacted from himself. He has himself gone through the whole of human experience. From the trivial limitations of family life and the cramping limitation of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation and defeat and despair and death. He was Born in poverty, died in disgrace, suffered infinite pain and he thought it all well worth his while.
2. Become - join in on God’s kingdom coming. In John 15 Jesus explicitly says that he desires that His JOY to be in them and explains that the secret to living in joy is in keeping his commandments. He says “If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you." (John15:10-12)
So, inviting joy into my life can take place as we see differently and it can take place when I join in. Join in what?
Letting Jesus love you - Love one another Jesus said, just as I have loved you. Let this be your foundation in life - that God delights in you with a steadfast love. That your worth, meaning and purpose flow from realising just how much God loves you. And in the overflow of His love...
To love others with that same sacrifice and generosity. As we do Jesus says, we join in on the kingdom coming on earth as in heaven….and that’s when we experience Jesus’ Joy. I have found that the closest I get to joy in life is when I see others touched by compassion, grace, generosity, and love. When I see people seeing a glimpse of the world as it ought to be in the faces, hands and feet of those who are bringing it. Jesus next words in John 15 unpack that further, he says.. "greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends."
And this is what I hope you see for yourself – the greatest love and life we can behold is Jesus. He was born into poverty, died in disgrace, suffered infinite pain and he thought it all well worth his while. He thought it all JOY to enter into our humanity, to let heaven and earth collide, and lay down his life to give us a way into His joy. So that, no matter what happens, whether it’s a holly jolly Christmas or its not the best time of the year - joy is a gift available to us all, as we each behold God who became one of us, as we receive Jesus as our king who loves us, and join in with Jesus in loving others with the same love we’ve received.
Ahh we so easily settle for self-made happiness when we can invite joy into our life. Like those first witnesses, come let us adore HIM– and as you rightly behold Jesus – you glimpse the true joy of Christmas. If you want to encounter true joy, invite Jesus into your life this Christmas! Jesus doesn’t offer happiness or pleasure, but joy to the world. May his Joy be in you this Christmas and in the year ahead.
And this is what I hope you see for yourself – the greatest love and life we can behold is Jesus. He was born into poverty, died in disgrace, suffered infinite pain and he thought it all well worth his while. He thought it all JOY to enter into our humanity, to let heaven and earth collide, and lay down his life to give us a way into His joy. So that, no matter what happens, whether it’s a holly jolly Christmas or its not the best time of the year - joy is a gift available to us all, as we each behold God who became one of us, as we receive Jesus as our king who loves us, and join in with Jesus in loving others with the same love we’ve received.
Ahh we so easily settle for self-made happiness when we can invite joy into our life. Like those first witnesses, come let us adore HIM– and as you rightly behold Jesus – you glimpse the true joy of Christmas. If you want to encounter true joy, invite Jesus into your life this Christmas! Jesus doesn’t offer happiness or pleasure, but joy to the world. May his Joy be in you this Christmas and in the year ahead.
09 October 2022
Can’t I bring my faith to work anymore?
On Monday, Andrew Thorburn was appointed as the new CEO of the Essendon Football Club, the team the former head of NAB had followed since he was a boy. But on Tuesday, after a sustained wave of media, club and political pressure, Thorburn was forced to resign - not because of a scandal or unethical behaviour or that he lacked the skillset, but because he is an active member and leader of a local Melbourne church. And his church (City on a Hill), which he volunteers his time and governance skills to, is a regular Anglican church with orthodox views on the gospel, the biblical vision of human sexuality, marriage and the inherent worth of all life, even unborn life. The church, whom my good mate Andy was the former Executive Pastor, was portrayed as “outrageous”, “extreme”, “radical”, “absolutely appalling” and intolerable to the values of modern Australia.
Anyhow, this raises a much broader question for people of any faith today as they explore future careers, apply for jobs, or head off to their workplaces. Can they bring their faith, their spiritual self, their personal beliefs and values to work?
As I ponder this, I am looking at the ever-growing pile of photocopied journal articles on my desk, written over the past 20 years by organisational behaviour researchers, psychologists, human resource and management gurus. They are all studying one field, Spirituality at Work – yes that’s a field!
Interest in spirituality at work in all its forms and definitions, is not simply the domain of pastors, priests and clerics. It is now widely accepted and backed by validated data, that the healthiest, most productive workplaces are the ones where employees are encouraged to be whole people. Not simply human resources, or labour hire, but integrated whole, and often messy, human beings. We are physical, social, emotional, spiritual beings who function best when all those parts of our lives are integrated.[1] When people live dis-integrated lives - being someone with a particular set of beliefs and values in one context and someone entirely different in another - they tend to become disillusioned and frustrated. Moreover, human beings inherently seek meaning and purpose to their lives, of which work undoubtedly contributes to that pursuit.[2] After all, work (paid or unpaid) can easily consume well over 50% of our waking hours, year in year out across the span of life. So, it is not surprising that we increasingly want to spend this largest chunk of our life in an environment where we feel authentically ourselves and personally energised by what we are doing, and who we are doing it with.
As Ashmos and Duchon explain, the spirituality at work paradigm essentially recognises that people “work not only with their hands, but also their hearts or spirit.”[3] They conclude, “it is when people work with a committed spirit they can find a kind of meaning and purpose, a kind of fulfilment which means the workplace can be a place where people can express their whole selves.”[4]
And, go figure, the research repeatedly confirms they are happier, less conflicted, more creative, engaged, ethical, committed and productive people… and employees! As researchers, Regio and Cunha conclude “When people find meaning in their activities and in general feel involved in richly spiritual organisational climate, they become more healthy and happy, act in a more engaged and collaborative manner, apply their full potential to work and bring their entire selves to the organisation. They thus become more productive over the long run compared with employees in organisations where spirituality is ignored or disrespected.”[5]
Did you catch that? People who are allowed to bring their spirituality to work are better workers.
Ok, so what do we mean by ‘spirituality?’ Spirituality is, unsurprisingly, a very broad term that the experts like to disagree on. After reviewing 140 publications, Karakas identified 70 working definitions.[6] Mitroff and Denton’s definition has been popular in the literature. They defined workplace spirituality as “the effort to find one’s ultimate purpose in life, to develop a strong connection to co-workers and other people associated with work, and to have consistency (integration) between one’s core belief and the values of their organisation.”[7]While Cavanagh defined spirituality as “the desire to find ultimate purpose in life, and to live (work) accordingly.”[8]
Some definitions are primarily focused on the spiritual values and beliefs of the organisation as a whole, while others focus on the individual’s personal values and beliefs. When spirituality lives at the organisational level, it by necessity must be so generalised, nebulous and safe that it risks meaninglessness. This is exemplified in Giacalone and Jurkiewicz who define it as “a framework of organisational values that promotes employees’ experience of transcendence through work process, facilitating their sense of being connected to others in a way that provides feelings of completeness and joy.”[9] I don’t really know what that means other than good vibes at work.
Modern workplaces are increasingly realising that employees flourish (and they get the most out of them) when their quest for spirituality is acknowledged and valued as essential to their overall wellbeing. But organisations have to consider either a bottom up or top down approach to their spiritual culture (or a combination of the two). A top down approach would involve some form of corporate prescription of spirituality, as in, “here are our organisational values, manifestos and alignments with culture which we want you to champion”– e.g. "you will wear this pride Jersey in the next round of the football season."
Alternatively, a bottom up approach, would allow the individual to take the lead in their spiritual quest. But, as we have seen with the Andrew Thorburn case, it gets messy when you do. If you are going to encourage a bottom up, individual pursuit of spirituality in an organisation - what happens if a person’s spiritual quest leads them to embodied core beliefs, values and practices that are religious in nature and potentially at odds with others?
See the dilemma? You need to foster spirituality for the sake of your people and the organisation. But, there is a risk if you mandate the beliefs, values and spiritual norms, and risk if you give people freedom to work it out themselves. As water always flows toward the lowest point, I’d argue that spirituality also flows toward some form of embodied core beliefs, values and practices that are religious in nature. And should we be surprised when they do? What is spirituality after all if it never lands in real beliefs, practices and associations, which we may generally call religious in nature?
As Lynn, Norton and VanderVeen point out, “spirituality is a quest or search for meaning and religion is the specific beliefs, practices and historical and institutional scaffolding which complement that quest.”[10] Their point is that as much as people want to divorce religion and spirituality they are inevitably joined. In fact, they need each other and are both better together.
Robert Orsi explains, much of what is labelled spirituality “severs religious idioms from their precise location in the past, then posits an essential identity among those deracinated (uprooted…yeah I didn’t know what that word meant either) “spiritual” forms, on the one hand, and between the present and the past, on the other, obliterating difference. “Spirituality” does so without giving an account of the reasons for its selections, moreover masking the fact that it is making any selections at all, authorising a new canon while pretending to be surveying an established tradition.”[11] In other words, we can think “spirituality” is neutral, generic and free of dogma, but it never is. Spirituality is never context free and it is never without emerging dogmas and practices that look for all intents, religious.
In The Mystical Element of Religion (1923), Baron Friedrich von Hugel proposed that spirituality ultimately cannot flourish without the historical, institutional and intellectual dimensions associated with religion.[12] He asserts that the institutionalised and intellectual dimensions of spirituality are necessary to lift spirituality beyond its otherwise highly emotive, individualistic, therapeutic and relativistic baseline.
Von Hugel's words may be 100 years old but he could easily have been commentating on the present. Our post-modern secular culture is still deeply interested in spirituality so long as it is unhinged from historic institutional and intellectual religion. While we still crave the spiritual journey, our roadmap is largely individualistic self-authored and stripped of all vestiges of mainstream religious instruction or commitment. This feels liberating, but in the end, I think all we get are those nebulous, individualistic good vibes, that are self-serving and apparently self-saving.
So Thorburn lost his job, not because he is spiritual, but because his spirituality has intersected with a (religious) world view of human flourishing derived from the bible – a document that has fundamentally shaped the very society in which we can freely ask such questions, or as Stephen McAlpine puts it, everyone wants the fruit of Christian thinking but not the root.[13] The irony is, that those who pushed him out have equally dogmatic world views on human flourishing grounded in some other authority that they don’t care to reveal – perhaps its Michel Foucault or Friedrich Nietzsche, Darwin, Oprah or Lady Gaga or just the relentless messaging of a consumer driven, epicurean culture where if it feels good it must be good. Everyone is being spiritually formed by their favourite prophets and dogmas and I do wish we would be honest about that as a society.
I do not for one moment deny there is a lot that Christianity has needed to answer for across the world. Our words and actions have consistently betrayed the teaching of Christ and have at times been the source of great harm for already vulnerable people. There are no excuses, and at that macro level, I am not surprised that people assume the worst. But as one who repeatedly sees how their local church can be a remarkably beautiful gift for the vulnerable, hurting and isolated, day in day out for decades. I have to admit I find it hard to reconcile the reality I see (in the grace ordinary, imperfect Christians consistently show others), with the stereotypes and headlines people read.
When Thorburn had to choose between his church and his career people were shocked – he chose his church! Go figure, his faith is worth more than the prestige of the position.
I wonder if anyone wonders
why that is?
Andrew, I suspect, would have been a damn fine leader of a football club that has struggled for several years. And if power brokers, premiers and members who threatened to tear up their club membership had taken the time to understand the man, his deep spirituality, grounded in the gospel and the local church, they would have also realised he would have had the character, wisdom and sensitivity to bring the best of his spirituality to the best of his exemplary leadership in the club he so loves. Their loss.
So, can you bring your faith to work? I don't know. But for everyone’s sake, I hope you do.
References:
[1] Jurkiewicz, C.L and Giacalone R.A, eds., Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organisational Performance (New York: Armonk, n.d.).
[2] Viktor E. Frankl and Harold S. Kushner, Man’s Search for Meaning: The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust, trans. Ilse Lasch (London: Rider, 2008).
[3] Ashmos, D.P and Duchon, D, “Spirituality at Work: A Conceptualisation and Measure,” Journal of Management Inquiry 9, no. (2) (2000): 134–144.
[4] Petchsawanga, P and Duchon D, “Workplace Spirituality, Meditation and Work Performance,” Management Department Faculty Publications University of Nebraska, 92 (2012).
[5] Rego,A and Cunha, M, “Workplace Spirituality and Organisational Commitment: An Empirical Study,” Journal of Organisational Change Management 22, no. 1 (2008): 53–75.
[6] Kotze, M., Neil,P., & Smit, P., “Psychometric Properties of a Workplace Spirituality Measure,” Journal of Industrial Psychology 48 (2022), https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v48i0.1923.
[7] Mitroff, I.I., & Denton, E.A, “A Study of Spirituality in the Workplace,” MIT Sloan Management Review 40, no. 4 (n.d.): 83.
[8] Cavanagh, G.F, “Spirituality for Managers: Context and Critique,” Journal of Organisational Change Management 12, no. 3 (1999): 186–199.
[9] Jurkiewicz, C.L and Giacalone R.A, eds., Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organisational Performance.
[10] Lynn,M.L, Naughton, M.J, VanderVeen, S, “Faith at Work Scale: Justification, Development and Validaation of a MEasure of Judaeo-Christian Religion in the Workplace,” Journal of Business Ethics 85 (2009): 227–243.
[11] Orsi,Robert A., “2 + 2 = Five, Or the Quest for an Abundant Empiricism.",” Spiritus 6, no. 1 (2006): 113,121,146,.
[12] Lynn , Naughton, VanderVeen, 229
[13] Stephen McAlpine, Being the Bad Guys: How to Live for Jesus in a World That Says You Shouldn’t (Epsom: The Good Book Company, 2021) 00:16:20.
Image source:unknown
01 April 2022
Superheroes, Senior Pastors and the dark side of power
And to that end, power is also the subtext beneath much of our lives. To be crafted in the image of God is to be inherently and distinctively powerful. And with that power does come great responsibility – to steward, to subdue, to rule, to reproduce, to name, to cultivate, to co-create. The first chapter of the bible reveals power, at least in principle, is a gift bestowed on all, for the common good. Power rightly conceived, enables all people and all creation to flourish.
And yet like the increasingly conflicted superheroes of Marvel and DC, power has a very dark side. Friedrich Nietzsche, (possibly the original proponent for our first modern superhero Superman), believed that all life is ‘the will to power.’ That to seize and exploit power by whatever means, is to seize life itself.
And that, sadly, is where we land most of the time in the power conversation – people seizing life from others. Sometimes its blatant and premeditated, like Russian cruise missiles or the Taliban barring Afghan girls from an education. But mostly it’s anonymous, unassuming and quietly coercive. It lives behind closed doors in family homes and at the office, in the social media feeds we scroll and in the tension between races, cultures and gender. Overt or covert, power when abused seizes life, and births great trauma and shame in it's victims. As you read this, I recognise that you, reader, may know and feel this with a clarity and depth that I can not begin to imagine.
Power wears many costumes today. It shape-shifts between charisma, knowledge, gender, celebrity, morality, rank and religiosity. Spotting it is often hard because on first appearance it looks heroic and we are attracted to those who possess it. The legendary Stan Lee says “a superhero is a person who does heroic deeds and has the ability to do them in a way that a normal person couldn’t. To be a superhero, you need at least one exceptional power and you need to use that power to accomplish good deeds.”
According to that definition, we are well accustomed to elevating people to superhero status. We seek out giftedness, and heroism and surrender to their exceptional confidence, eloquence, their abilities and sometimes, their narcissism. It might be a musician, a celebrity, a sportsperson, a spiritual leader or just someone we find particularly successful. We love these superheroes because we love powerful, gifted, beautiful people who use their abilities in messianic ways. If we can’t be them, we can at least follow them and try to emulate them. The influencer trend sweeping our digital landscape is simply another iteration of the superhero phenomena. We actually want to be influenced. We want someone to lead us, to save us. We are simultaneously charmed and harmed by the superheroes of our own making.
Leadership in any form is a massive privilege and burden. The more people look AT you, the more they look TO you. This is especially prevalent in church leaderships. The church leader (be it pastor, priest, or any official leadership role) leads not only from their charisma and capabilities, but through character. A leader must not only do their job well but do their life well. The stakes are so incredibly high. You may wow everyone with your superpowers, but if your life doesn’t essentially match your message, all that power eventually turns to poison and people get terribly hurt.
In recent years, we’ve witnessed a steady procession of superhero leaders/pastors (I think all male) failing in their personal lives. Most recently its been Pastor Brian Houston from Hillsong, though he is one of many well known leaders who have been dismissed due to some form of misconduct. Personally, I’ve also witnessed gross misconduct in the church up close and felt its devastating effects. And when this happens there are heartbreaking and dehumanising consequences for their victims. Many never recover from this kind of betrayal. They leave the church, they leave the faith. In truth, everyone loses - the families, the friends, the church, the reputation of the gospel and of course, the perpetrator.
Give power away –the best thing you can do with your power is progressively give it away, especially to those who are systemically disempowered by gender, culture or circumstance. Include people not like you in your decision making. If you are male, ensure you have a large representation of women in your team and decision making processes. Share your knowledge, share your contacts, delegate authority, not just tasks. Learn to get out of the way more often. Your job is to do yourself out of a job by giving others more of it.
Cool that charisma – we don’t really need mythical superhero leaders through whom we vicariously live. We need leaders who are confident yet humble, authentic, accountable and consultative. Organisations built on a charismatic individual often flounder after that leader is gone.
Build the right brand - there is a place for social media and great communication to a wider audience. But be careful that the brand or platform you are building doesn’t have you as the ultimate destination. It’s really not all about what you can do for Jesus. It’s simply all about Jesus. His glory not yours.
And finally, don’t be too enamoured with anyone, including yourself. Partly because people are never as good as they look - I'm not, you're not. But mostly because in the end, there is only one real superhero worth our adoration – Jesus.
Power wears many costumes today. It shape-shifts between charisma, knowledge, gender, celebrity, morality, rank and religiosity. Spotting it is often hard because on first appearance it looks heroic and we are attracted to those who possess it. The legendary Stan Lee says “a superhero is a person who does heroic deeds and has the ability to do them in a way that a normal person couldn’t. To be a superhero, you need at least one exceptional power and you need to use that power to accomplish good deeds.”
According to that definition, we are well accustomed to elevating people to superhero status. We seek out giftedness, and heroism and surrender to their exceptional confidence, eloquence, their abilities and sometimes, their narcissism. It might be a musician, a celebrity, a sportsperson, a spiritual leader or just someone we find particularly successful. We love these superheroes because we love powerful, gifted, beautiful people who use their abilities in messianic ways. If we can’t be them, we can at least follow them and try to emulate them. The influencer trend sweeping our digital landscape is simply another iteration of the superhero phenomena. We actually want to be influenced. We want someone to lead us, to save us. We are simultaneously charmed and harmed by the superheroes of our own making.
Leadership in any form is a massive privilege and burden. The more people look AT you, the more they look TO you. This is especially prevalent in church leaderships. The church leader (be it pastor, priest, or any official leadership role) leads not only from their charisma and capabilities, but through character. A leader must not only do their job well but do their life well. The stakes are so incredibly high. You may wow everyone with your superpowers, but if your life doesn’t essentially match your message, all that power eventually turns to poison and people get terribly hurt.
In recent years, we’ve witnessed a steady procession of superhero leaders/pastors (I think all male) failing in their personal lives. Most recently its been Pastor Brian Houston from Hillsong, though he is one of many well known leaders who have been dismissed due to some form of misconduct. Personally, I’ve also witnessed gross misconduct in the church up close and felt its devastating effects. And when this happens there are heartbreaking and dehumanising consequences for their victims. Many never recover from this kind of betrayal. They leave the church, they leave the faith. In truth, everyone loses - the families, the friends, the church, the reputation of the gospel and of course, the perpetrator.
I am struck by how many ‘heroic’ leaders finish poorly in ministry and I take every new case as a sobering reminder of my own fragility and need to tread so very carefully. That old Phil Keaggy song plays in my head each time...
“But It could have been me, I could be the one to lose my grip and fall, it could be me the one who’s always standing tall…for unless you hold me tightly Lord and I can hold on too, then tomorrow in the news it could be me”(link here for full lyrics).
I kinda understand why the next generation of young Christian leaders say they are reluctant to become senior leaders/pastors. Who would want either the complexity, the burden or the risk? But perhaps the type of men and women we need are the ones that don’t want to be alpha leaders? A leadership based not in the right-handed sense of power as Nietzsche described but in that left-handed kind of power we see in Jesus. A power borne in selflessness, humility and sacrifice. That a true seizing of life, is to surrender power, not attain it.
We love our screen heroes in all their farfetched glory. And back in the real world, I doubt we will ever stop exalting certain gifted individuals, for that is just human nature. Nor do I think individuals will ever stop blowing up their lives and hurting others, for that too is human nature. But I do hope we can wise up to power and its potentialities. For starters...
Stop thinking you don’t have power – My natural bias is to downplay the significance of power in my leadership, but I've learnt thats a perilous mindset. Your positional or personal power is real and it’s either naivety or false humility thinking you don’t possess it. Know which 'superpowers' you possess as a leader and how they affect and influence those around you in positive and negative ways. Your strengths and abilities taken to their limit often become your weaknesses and blindspots.
Handle power responsibly – now that you know you have power, be careful how you steward it, especially with those who are vulnerable or who will want to please you or get close to you. How do you lead those around you in non-manipulative or non-exploitative ways? What are the conflicts of interest you need to manage? What guardrails and accountabilities do you have in place for yourself and those you lead? Identify structures in your organisation that elevate some and disempower others? What is in your organisations culture that could make people vulnerable to the abuse of power? Are you listening to people who don't have the same power? How do you empower people in your setting to give feedback or commentary on your leadership? If you don't regularly get push back or 'constructive' feedback as a leader, then maybe it's because those you lead don't really think they have permission to give it, or they are afraid of how you will receive it? If so, you have a power issue.
I kinda understand why the next generation of young Christian leaders say they are reluctant to become senior leaders/pastors. Who would want either the complexity, the burden or the risk? But perhaps the type of men and women we need are the ones that don’t want to be alpha leaders? A leadership based not in the right-handed sense of power as Nietzsche described but in that left-handed kind of power we see in Jesus. A power borne in selflessness, humility and sacrifice. That a true seizing of life, is to surrender power, not attain it.
We love our screen heroes in all their farfetched glory. And back in the real world, I doubt we will ever stop exalting certain gifted individuals, for that is just human nature. Nor do I think individuals will ever stop blowing up their lives and hurting others, for that too is human nature. But I do hope we can wise up to power and its potentialities. For starters...
Stop thinking you don’t have power – My natural bias is to downplay the significance of power in my leadership, but I've learnt thats a perilous mindset. Your positional or personal power is real and it’s either naivety or false humility thinking you don’t possess it. Know which 'superpowers' you possess as a leader and how they affect and influence those around you in positive and negative ways. Your strengths and abilities taken to their limit often become your weaknesses and blindspots.
Handle power responsibly – now that you know you have power, be careful how you steward it, especially with those who are vulnerable or who will want to please you or get close to you. How do you lead those around you in non-manipulative or non-exploitative ways? What are the conflicts of interest you need to manage? What guardrails and accountabilities do you have in place for yourself and those you lead? Identify structures in your organisation that elevate some and disempower others? What is in your organisations culture that could make people vulnerable to the abuse of power? Are you listening to people who don't have the same power? How do you empower people in your setting to give feedback or commentary on your leadership? If you don't regularly get push back or 'constructive' feedback as a leader, then maybe it's because those you lead don't really think they have permission to give it, or they are afraid of how you will receive it? If so, you have a power issue.
Give power away –the best thing you can do with your power is progressively give it away, especially to those who are systemically disempowered by gender, culture or circumstance. Include people not like you in your decision making. If you are male, ensure you have a large representation of women in your team and decision making processes. Share your knowledge, share your contacts, delegate authority, not just tasks. Learn to get out of the way more often. Your job is to do yourself out of a job by giving others more of it.
Cool that charisma – we don’t really need mythical superhero leaders through whom we vicariously live. We need leaders who are confident yet humble, authentic, accountable and consultative. Organisations built on a charismatic individual often flounder after that leader is gone.
Build the right brand - there is a place for social media and great communication to a wider audience. But be careful that the brand or platform you are building doesn’t have you as the ultimate destination. It’s really not all about what you can do for Jesus. It’s simply all about Jesus. His glory not yours.
And finally, don’t be too enamoured with anyone, including yourself. Partly because people are never as good as they look - I'm not, you're not. But mostly because in the end, there is only one real superhero worth our adoration – Jesus.
