A previous general secretary of the United Nations once declared that the greatest challenge to face Africa is one of leadership. He maintained that the greatest crisis in Africa is not one of poverty, disease or corruption – but one of leadership. One might argue that this is true not only of the larger continent of Africa but also of the rest of the world. The daily headlines of every news media outlets echo this worldwide, desperate need for authentic and transformational leadership. But where do we start?

The answer lies in preparing tomorrow’s leaders today. How do we do this in an increasingly spiritually corrupt world? Christian thinkers going back to the Apostle Paul have described human history as involving a struggle between two opposing spiritual forces. The African Church leader, Augustine of Hippo, writing in the 5^th century, describes these two opposing forces as the City of God and the City of the World: the Civitas Dei and the Civitas Mundi. The City of God is dedicated to serving others and to God’s will and to His glory. The City of the World is dedicated to the pursuit of worldly ideals – commercial systems of rampant and competitive self-seeking, cities of debilitating selfishness. Most of us feel this spiritual tension in our interactions in our world: to which city or world system will we belong?

Christians globally are faced with this sacred challenge: Training authentic Christian and Biblical leaders that could change the world. How do we do this? How do we ensure that we do not follow the road of shallow worldliness taken by so many leaders that have come before us? How do we balance the Gospel call to humility and holiness with the desperate need for firm and clear leadership?

As Christians we do not walk blindly. Albert Schweitzer once made the point that, “example is leadership.” We have a wealth of deeply spiritual and authentic Christian leaders that have walked this difficult road before us, the ultimate being our Lord and Savior, Jesus of Nazareth. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippian church (2:5-11) faced similar cultural values of pride and abuse of power and in response to this used the example of Jesus in an early hymn as the perfect model for how Christians should behave as leaders. This beautiful confession of faith and early worship song of the church reads as follows:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)

Note how this hymn in Philippians proposes five distinct leadership values rooted in the example of Jesus:

1. The value of self-emptying: “emptied himself”
2. The value of becoming a servant: “taking the form of a servant”
3. The value of humaneness and compassion: “being born in the likeness of men”
4. The value of humility: “he humbled himself”
5. The value of obedience: “became obedient to the point of death”

It is interesting to note that the Philippian hymn completes the list of leadership values in describing the radical obedience of Jesus. Christian leaders are marked by a different set of behavioral values and leadership measurements than the world. True leadership is not measured by the mere effects of our activities to lead, it is ultimately judged by our intentions to obey God’s Word. Our world can be changed by Christian leaders that are willing to emulate the radical obedience of Jesus.

I am increasingly persuaded that an authentic Christian leadership can only be formed by turning our eyes once again to the example of Jesus. Only when we have what the Apostle Paul called, “this attitude of Christ”, then our leadership will be marked by self-emptying, servanthood, humaneness, humility and obedience. Nothing less would be Christian leadership that can change our world. Let us rediscover the example of Jesus and lead on.

We live in a generation that considers labor as a necessary evil, simply as a means to an end, and ultimately only as an avenue to secure wealth and provisions for the “real life” that occurs outside of our work time. The British playwright, Oscar Wilde, holding this worldly view famously declared that “work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do.” The Christian university is not immune to this worldly attitude. Our labor of studying, learning, writing, administrating and grading can often be seen as burdensome, “paying our dues” or just terribly hard and undesirable work.

But the wisdom coming from the wealth of Christian thought on the nature of work speaks of another reality: The ancient and Biblical truth that work can be a way to imitate God, an activity that can bring healing to the soul and an avenue to worship  the one true God. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word used for work (avodah) could be translated as meaning both to worship and to labor. In Biblical terms, work and worship are connected. Jesus declared the holiness of work when He declared: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (James 5:17, NIV).

The Desert Fathers and Mothers in the fourth and fifth centuries of the Christian era understood something of this healing nature of God-given work. It is said in the Philokalia (the collection of writings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, literally called “The Beautiful Writings”) that one of the Fathers, called Abba Paul “proved that without working with his hands, a monk cannot endure to abide in his place, nor can he climb any nearer the summit of holiness.” For the early church, work was seen not only as worship but also as part of God’s process of sanctification. This wholesome perspective on work finally gave place to Benedict of Nursia’s (480-547 AD) monastic maxim of “Ora et Labora” (prayer and work) that reminds all of us that the two activities of work and worship indeed operate together and are complimentary dimensions of a “whole and holy life.” The Medieval Church Theologian, Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 AD) would later agree: “There can be no joy in living without joy in work.”

It is clear that work and worship are intimately connected in the foundations of a Judeo-Christian worldview. One of the great recoveries of the Protestant Reformation under the leadership of Martin Luther (1483-1546 AD) and John Calvin (1509-1564 AD) was an affirmation of the dignity of all honest occupations and manual labor as vocations (literally callings to worship God). How do we recover a redemptive and Biblical theology of work in a world that has a broken view of work?

Baruch Spinoza, a 17th century Jewish/Dutch philosopher (1632-1677 A.D.), described pride as a form of madness: “Thus we see that it may readily happen, that a man may easily think too highly of himself, or a loved object, and, contrariwise, too meanly of a hated object. This feeling is called ‘pride,’ in reference to the man who thinks too highly of himself, and it is a species of madness.” The English author, C. S. Lewis (1898-1963 A.D.) described pride as the “complete anti-God state of mind…the great sin.”

The problem of pride in leadership is that it provides leaders with a completely false sense of themselves. They find their identity in their talents, expertise, accomplishments and possessions. The only cure for this kind of prevalent leadership madness is a clearer vision of God in which we find our own true self, created and sustained in Him.

The reformer John Calvin (1509-1564 A.D.) made this helpful observation: “…it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face… because all of us are inclined by nature to hypocrisy, a kind of empty image.” I am persuaded that authentic Christian leadership starts with the quest for a clearer vision of God in which the false images of pride are stripped away to provide, in the words of John Michael Talbot, “an empty canvas” ready to bear the image of our Lord.

But leaders sometimes locate their leadership orientation and behavior in hostile competition with others–the thinking goes something like this: that we construct our own credibility and leadership position by discrediting the person and character of others. In our increasing virtual world it has become so easy to cast doubt on others’ orthodoxy and credibility, all under the cloak of cyber, anonymous commentary. How do we change this obvious tendency to act in pride? I am increasingly convinced that authentic Christian leadership only makes sense in true community where we transform our “natural” hostility towards others into Gospel hospitality.

Maybe the first step in this process of transformation is to change our perception and understanding of community and thus leadership. No true transformation happens without a repentant surrender to the Cross of Jesus. This is where we find true community and truth. I am reminded of an old 17th Century Puritan prayer that says it best:

“Lord Jesus, it is my chief design to bring my heart back to You.

Convince me that I cannot be my own god, nor make myself happy,
nor my own Christ to restore my joy, nor my own Spirit to teach, guide, rule me.

Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy appetite, lustful heart.

Show me that none of these things can heal a wounded conscience,
or support a tottering frame, or uphold a departing spirit.

Then take me to the cross and leave me there.

Amen.”

May we move away from ego-affirming, competitive approaches in leadership to the Christian call to consider others “better than ourselves” (Philippians 2:1-4). For me, this also means accepting those who find themselves in this kind of competitive orientation towards us in true Christian hospitality and to act towards them always in love ensuring our hearts and actions are devoid of “selfish ambition or conceit.”

Why do we desire to lead? Hint: it is not always because we are humble or want to change the world. Sometimes our desires for fame, fortunate and power drive our aspirations for leadership. I would maintain that authentic Biblical leadership starts with an examination of the “passions” and desires that underlie our desire to lead.

Evagrius Ponticus (349–399 AD), a monastic theologian in Egypt, is believed to be the first writer to record and systematize certain teachings of the predominately illiterate Desert Fathers. A prominent feature of his research was a list of eight evil “passions” (desires). While he did not create the list from scratch, he is credited with refining and developing it. His list of “passions” included, in order of increasing seriousness: gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. Acedia (from the Greek “akedia,” or “not to care”) denoted “spiritual sloth.” Evagrius intended for this list to be used for diagnostic purposes. One cannot resist temptation without being aware of how it operates. What is interesting is that his list starts with gluttony. For Evagrius, sin starts with our surrender to our uncontrolled appetites. This is echoed in the Scriptures, when the Apostle Paul writes: “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19).

The age-old discipline of fasting, or the curbing of our appetites, might be the first step in the purification of our desires. The philokalia records that Abba John the Short, advising the young brothers to love fasting, told them frequently: “The good soldier, undertaking to capture a strongly fortified, enemy city, blockades food and water. In this way the resistance of the enemy is weakened and he finally surrenders. Something similar happens with carnal impulses, which severely war against a person in his youth. Blessed fasting subdues the passions and the demons and ultimately removes them far from the combatant.”

“The powerful lion,” he told them another time, “frequently falls into a snare because of his gluttony, and all of his strength and might disappear.”

May we have the courage to reexamine our desires for leadership – this might have to start in the determined control of our appetites – including our desire for power over others.

Loose lips sink ships. This old saying that warns about the destructive power of uncontrolled words remains true in our day. This warning is of particular worth to leaders. We are inundated with news stories of leaders in all spheres in society that have reacted too quickly, shared too much, spoke too harshly, and in doing so, did great harm to themselves and their organizations. How should leaders control their tongues? Christian leaders from all generations counsel us that the discipline of silence is pivotal in the quest to tame our loose lips.

The scriptural witness is clear: Silence is an important part of worship, devotion and prayer. The Psalmist instructs us to “be still, and know” that He is God (Psalm 46, 10, ESV). Jeremiah counsels us to respond to the discipline of the Lord with silence when he writes, “it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:2, ESV). Even Job, at the end of all his struggles and God’s revealing of Himself, understood that the wisest response to suffering and God is often to lay our hands over our mouths (Job 40:4-5). Jesus warned about the misguided belief that many words make good prayers: “and when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7, ESV) .The Apostle John described a period of appropriate silence in Heaven in response to the final judgment of God on the world (Revelation 8:1).

The Christian witness of the ages gives echo to the scriptural call to wait for God in silence (see Psalm 62:1). The early Christian Desert Father, Diadochos of Photiki  (fifth century AD) gave the following advice concerning prayer and silence: “spiritual knowledge comes through prayer, deep stillness, and complete detachment, while wisdom comes through humble meditation on Holy Scripture and above all, through grace given by God.” The Byzantine Christian leader, Simeon the New Theologian (949-1022 AD) instructed his followers to “sit down alone and in silence” when they pray. The famous missionary to India, Mother Teresa (1910-1997 AD) valued silence as necessary to hear the voice of God. She wrote: “silence gives us a new outlook on everything. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say but what God says to us and through us. Jesus is always waiting for us in silence. In that silence, He will listen to us; there He will speak to our soul, and there we will hear His voice.” The wealth of Church history attests to the importance and value of silence in prayer.

There are many reasons why the prayer of silence is of importance to our prayer life. Here are a few Biblical reminders of the purpose of this God-given exercise of stillness:

1. Silence provides us with perspective and balance. When we are silent, we provide God with an opportunity to help us see the bigger picture. One of the best examples of the power of this God-drenched silence is found in the advice that David gives for when things do not go our way: “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent” (Psalm 4:4, ESV).
2. Silence allows us to place our complete trust in God.  When the children of Israel faced certain destruction with the uncrossable Red Sea in front of them and the armies of Pharaoh behind them, Moses encouraged them that “the Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Exodus 14:14, ESV). There is nothing more powerful than a firm, silent stand on God’s promise to save.
3. Silence can be a form of intercession. When words fail us, we can stand before God in silence knowing that He knows and that He is intimately involved in the unfolding of this world. The Old Testament prophet Amos, when experiencing the ultimate betrayal of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, declared: “he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time” (Amos 5:13, ESV).
4. Silence is at times the appropriate response to the presence of God. I have often experienced this kind of “holy silence” when a sacred, hushed presence of the Lord is manifested in a worshipping congregation. This act of standing, kneeling, sitting in silence reminds us of the wonderful exhortation in the Old Testament book of Zephaniah: “Be silent all flesh, before the Lord, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling” (Zephaniah 2:13, ESV).

How does one practice the prayer of silence? As always, the sacred Scriptures point the way:

1. Find a secluded place where you will not be disturbed. Like Jesus, you might need to rise early: “and rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35, ESV).
2. Settle in a relaxed posture that will help you stay in silence. For most of us, this will simply mean, as Isaiah puts it, to “sit in silence” (Isaiah 47:5, ESV).
3. Place all your cares on Him and rest in His love. It is precisely because of His great concern and love that we can find true peace and calm: “He will quiet you by His love” (Zephaniah 3:17, ESV).
4. Listen for His voice. Like Elijah, we will learn that He often speaks with the “sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12, ESV). Make the firm decision to obey His voice.
5. Offer your silence as worship to Him. As Habakkuk declares, “the Lord is in His holy temple;
   let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20, ESV).

The prayer of silence does not replace all the other forms of Biblical prayer. But in times of trouble, this form of silent trust is one of the most powerful ways that leaders can find perspective, control their tongues and regain their strength. May we once again heed the Word of God: “in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15, ESV).

Church History is not often on most Christians’ list of favorite topics. As I travel the world, I remain surprised by Christian leaders’ vocal disinterest and sometimes even avid aversion to explore the history of God’s involvement in and through His Church. So why should we study it? Here are ten reasons why the study of Church History remains important for the development and growth of authentic and Biblical Christianity and leadership.

1. To be obedient: We study the history of God’s people as a simple act of obedience to the Word of God. The Scriptures repeatedly instructs the faithful to explore and search out the historical accounts of those who have gone before us. The Book of Job (8:8-10, NIV) offers this advice for the ones seeking wisdom and understanding in their own day: “Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?”
2. To understand God: The study of Church History is not only the study of the historical Church but also the exploration of God’s active involvement with His own people in our world. Knowing the acts and ways of God in working with His people throughout history provides us with a better understanding of God Himself. As the psalmist (Psalm 44:1, NIV) declares, “We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.”
3. To develop humility: Our current generation suffers from pride-filled attitudes when we declare that we are the greatest generation of believers in the history of the world. Reading about the courageous commitment to serve Jesus unto death in the letters of the Church Father, Ignatius of Antioch (35-108 AD) places our own efforts in perspective. The words of Ignatius to the church in Rome, about his willingness to die as a martyr, should humble us in light of the “easy-living” approach we see in Christianity today: “I am writing to all the Churches, and I enjoin all, that I am dying willingly for God’s sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you; do not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching to God. I am God’s wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ.”
4. To keep us from error: Not knowing about the many errors in the history of the Church dooms us to repeat those failures again. Many of the heresies of the first few centuries of the Church have surfaced once again in our time. Knowledge of those early heresies will help us to remain on the clear path of Biblical truth.
5. To be renewed: The Scriptures declare that our God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Understanding His ways of renewal and revival in the past, prepares us to receive His work of grace and liberty in our own midst, today.
6. To be communal: Church History reminds us that we are part of a larger, eternal community of believers. The Scriptures describe these saints of old as cheering us on from heaven (Hebrews 12:1). These saints are not dead in Christ, they remain alive in Jesus.
7. To be encouraged: The good example of  believers who have gone before us encourages us to imitate them as they have imitated Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1). They remind us that it is possible to not only serve God well in this life, but to endure until the end.
8. To understand our own time: Church History helps us to understand our own time better. The author of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes once wrote that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). History, in very real and concrete ways, moves in circles and cycles. A fuller understanding of our past helps us to understand how we have arrived at this point in history. It helps us to see today from God’s perspective.
9. To boldly step into the future: We are only able to move with confidence into the future if we understand our past. One can use the example of a swing or pendulum to explain this principle of truth. In order to “swing” into the future, we must first “pull” back by studying our history – in doing so we will have enough momentum to move beyond the struggles and challenges of our own time and embrace God’s purposes and blessings for our future. The apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 10:11, NIV) offers further clarification on how the study of history prepares us for tomorrow: “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.”
10.  To give glory to God: The ultimate and most important reason to study Church History is that it facilitates true and extravagant worship. Our hearts are filled with awe and wonder when we explore the mighty acts of God in the past. The apostle John (Revelation 4:8, NIV) recorded that in heaven, four living creatures, surrounding a throne, do not stop day or night declaring the glory and holiness of God, “who was, and is, and is to come.”

We are a people of history, a history of God’s passionate and loving involvement in our world. May we once again commit to study and learn from the great work of God in and through His people in ages past.

Are there discernible seasons in the life of a spiritual community? We all experience differing stages of growth in our own lives and witness the changing seasons of nature. Can we in similar ways trace stages or eras over the life span of a community of faith?

The history of God’s Church clearly shows that there are seasons in the life of both the global and local church. History testifies of times of renewal and revival where the Spirit of God drew groups of people to the Gospel. These renewals have served to counter the sin-filled entropy of the current age and secured an increase in experiential holiness and devotion to Christ.

One example was recorded by the Medieval Franciscan biographer Thomas of Celano (1200-1265 A.D.), in describing the thirteenth century movement of the Spirit surrounding the life and ministry of Francis and Clare of Assisi. Thomas writes:

“The aging world was almost oppressed by the weight of years: the vision of faith faltering in the darkness, the footing of morals slipping away, the strength of virile deeds waning: Yes indeed, the dregs of the times were following those of vice.  When God, the Lover of Humanity, raising from the treasures of His kindness a newness of consecrated ones, provided through them both a support of the faith and a discipline for renewing morals.

 These modern leaders, and their sincere followers were lights of the world, leaders of the way, teachers of life. In them: the brightness of noonday dawned on a world at evening, so that one who walks in the darkness might see the light.”

Can we discern these Godly acts of “raising a newness of consecrated ones” in our own church community? Are there ways that we can also learn how to flow with the actions of God’s Holy Spirit in these stages?

The Scriptures use various metaphors to describe the nature and growth of the Church (translated from the Greek word “ekklesia” meaning to “call out”):

• a building of a heavenly city (1 Peter 2:4, Revelation 21:2),
• a betrothal and marriage of a bride (John3:29, Ephesians 5:22-23),
• the complex inner workings of a body (Romans 7:24-25, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23)

Each of these metaphors used to describe God’s “called out” ones suggest stages that include particular challenges and opportunities for growth: the building of a heavenly city (foundation, building, maintenance, and renovation), marriage of a bride (courting, betrothal, marriage, and renewal), and as the body of Christ (childhood, teenager, adult and senior). With each new era or stage comes new adjustments and a realignment to God’s purposes for His Church, His fullness that fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23).

Another way to consider the unique stages of the Church is to reconsider the primary function of the community of faith. Psalms 95 declares that worship is the primary call of God’s Bride: “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand” (Psalm 95:6-7 ESV). The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646 A.D.) echoes this Biblical truth when it answers the question of what the “chief end” of man is: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

If the Church’s ultimate vocation is to praise her Lord and Savior, then the Book of Psalms is her hymnal. The Book of Psalms contains a wide variety of songs, ranging from gut-wrenching despair to seraphic high praise.

The church father Basil the Great (329-379 A.D.), in his commentary on the first Psalm, summarizes the fullness of experience of the life of faith contained in this Biblical book: “But the Book of Psalms contains everything useful that the others have. It predicts the future, it recalls the past, it gives directions for living, it suggests the right behavior to adopt. It is, in short, a jewel case in which have been collected all the valid teachings in such a way that individuals find remedies just right for their cases.”

We are able to discern seasons of faith in the life of the faithful from a closer reading of the expressions in this book.

The Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann, an expert on the Book of Psalms, identifies three kinds of psalms: songs of praise (hymns), songs of lament, and songs of thanksgiving. I believe these categories of psalms testify of four possible stages in the life of the community of faith and point towards our required response in that stage:

1. Times of Stability: Songs of Praise (compare Psalms 8, 19, 23, 33, etc.). The community experiences times of peace and growth and are settled in what might be termed an “old orientation.”
2. Times of Crisis: Songs of Lament (compare Psalms 3, 5, 7, 13, etc.). The community is faced with a new crisis that leads to “disorientation.” The community cries out to God.
3. Times of Change: Songs of Thanksgiving (compare Psalms 18, 20, 32, 34, etc.). The community receives new direction and experiences a “reorientation” towards God’s call and purpose.
4. Times of New Stability: Songs of Praise (compare Psalms 135, 136, 139, 145-150, etc.). The community settles into a time of renewed stability and peace and experiences a “new orientation.”

As with the other metaphors and stages used to describe the life of faith in the Bible, our primary response to these changes should be to direct all our concerns, fears, desires, dreams and hopes to God.

We are comforted with the words of Christ that the future of His Church and us belong with Him: “…and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18 ESV).

No matter what season we find ourselves or faith community in, we can trust Christ to protect, lead and guide us all into His everlasting arms of love.