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sional leaders.” 12 In addition, from a Christian perspective, leadership (proistamenos,
Rom. 1:28; kubernèseis, 1 Cor. 12:28) can be thought of as a charism, a gift from the
Spirit – or at least as a particular configuration of a number of related ‘motivational’
gifts. 13 And in the context of the Christian community, charisms are entrusted to particular
people. 14 Moreover, the definition implies that there are individuals who have the
leadership capacity to interpret the interactional processes within a Christian community
as contributing to missional leadership, or as being conducive of something else. That
being said, the definition may help prospective missional leaders to correct a possible individualistic
conception of leadership 15 by also drawing attention to groups and to the
community as a whole. Rather than focusing on charismatic leaders, EMC literature
emphasizes building up the local church as a charismatic community of ministry and
mission. 16 The definition attempts to capture this emphasis. 17 Speaking of missional leadership
instead of missional leaders provides a permanent reminder that the solus pastor
mindset – which may still be the default position of many Christians and churches – is
not appropriate. At the same time, the definition does not prescribe the degree to which
an individual leader needs to play a determinative role in the particular phase or cultural
context in which his or her community finds itself. In general, however, it can be said
that more persons need to take on the responsibility of being actively involved in mis-
12
Milfred Minatrea, Shaped by God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2004), 156. In the UK, George Lings argues that he “knows of no mature fresh expression or
emerging church that does not have its own full-time leader.” George Lings, as quoted in Sara Savage and
Eolene Boyd-MacMillan, The Human Face of the Church: A Social Psychology and Pastoral Theology Resource for
Pioneer and Traditional Ministry (London: Canterbury Press, 2007), 78.
13
Bruce E. Winston, “The Romans 12 Gifts: Useful for Person-Job Fit,” Journal of Biblical Perspectives in
Leadership 2, no. 2 (Summer 2009), 114-134.
14
Put somewhat more abstractly, “The Holy Spirit gives the missional church a community of persons who,
in a variety of ways and with a diversity of functional roles and titles, together practice the missional authority
that cultivates within the community the discernment of missional vocation and is intentional about
the practices that embed that vocation in the community’s life.” Lois Y. Barrett, ed., Treasure in Clay Jars:
Patterns in Missional Faithfulness (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), xiv.
15
Australian Denham Grierson was already lamenting some decades ago that “It is to be regretted that
much of the church’s work in theological education implicitly assumes an isolated and singular role function
for ordained Christians.” Denham Grierson, Transforming a People of God (Melbourne: The Joint Board of
Christian Education, 1984), 142.
16
Cf. Israel Galindo, “The idea that congregational leadership is a corporate function seems to be one of the
most challenging concepts for pastors to accept.” Significantly, he adds that, “Likely, this is because most
have been trained with concepts about leadership that focus on the office of the clergy.” Israel Galindo, The
Hidden Lives of Congregations: Discerning Church Dynamics (Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2004), 185. It
is a bit puzzling, however, that Galindo suggests that the leadership function of providing vision falls exclusively
to the pastoral leader. Ibid., 145. Why would this be so? What if a pastor is simply not capable of
doing so? And does this statement not contradict Galindo’s emphasis on leadership as ‘corporate’ and his
insight that “leadership functions may arise from elsewhere in the system other than in the officially designated
leader”? Ibid., 149.
17
Cf. Everist and Nissan on ‘transformative’ leadership: “Transformative leadership is not about the heroic
leadership of the individual but the growing capacity for leadership within the entire faith community.
Transformative leadership is shared leadership, as the gifts of other people are nurtured and celebrated.”
Everist and Nissan, Transformative Leadership, 164.