New Blood in Leadership

 

Bringing New Life

“If a spiritual community only points back to where it has been or if it only digs in its heels where it is now, it is a dead end or a parking lot, not a way.”

Brian D. McLaren

          Birmingham is full of churches—in fact, Alabama must be the church capital of the modern world. According to two sources, there are currently 12,833 churches in this state. Even though all of them have their foundation in the New Testament story of Jesus and his disciples, they range in how that story is interpreted from your basic, primitive, fundamentalist snake-handlers to progressive, all-inclusive, storefront, non-denominational churches open to anyone who believes anything at all. When I first came to Birmingham in 1980, there were very few ways to meet people—go to church, join a country club, or frequent a bar.  I chose church and was a member of a progressive one for almost forty years.

          One of the pitfalls of any spiritual community, churches included, is a power structure that wants nothing to change—"this is the way we do it here” is the motto of many old established institutions. They say this as they watch the backs of their young people going out the doors, never to return. Spiritual communities in which an old guard maintains control of the organization—that is, defines the beliefs, determines the means of operation, and holds all offices of power—is, as Brian McLaren says above, a dead end. Since allowing new blood into leadership would mean diluting their own power, they deny access to anyone who tries to interlope. These intractable powers cause the downfall of the institution they so desperately want to save. It may be a slow bleed, but eventually, it’s lethal.

          A spiritual community, or any other human community, is only viable if it is also bendable, flexible, porous. If we want our institutions to survive, we must find ways to give them new life, and that means change. That means new ideas, new blood in leadership, and new ways of bringing life to the surrounding community. They must be living, breathing, welcoming, thriving organizations that act as magnets for hungry hearts and souls. Any institution that refuses to change over time is simply not viable.

          To continue to be “the way, the truth and the life,” we must be willing to embrace change. Our spiritual communities must shine light in the darkness for everyone, not just the few who agree with us. And, when it’s time to turn over the reins of leadership to a new breed, we in the old guard must let go and trust that Spirit knows what she’s doing.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane