ARE WE A PEOPLE AT HALF TIME? - Leadership Network

Leadership is about being and doing
and cannot be separated from
authenticity. Effective leaders are
authentic leaders.
Two such leaders — Mike Foss and
Reggie McNeal — write in this issue
about authenticity and the importance
of authentic leadership in today's
culture. Also included are excerpts
from The Ascent of a Leader, the newest
book in the Leadership Network
imprint series of resources for
21st Century leaders.
table of contents
3 Getting Real…Is it Important
5 The Ascent of a Leader
6 Interview: Bruce McNicol,
Leadership Catalyst
7 LN Recommends
8 Large Church
N E T W O R K S
9 Young Leader
N E T W O R K S
10 Church Champions
N E T W O R K
11 Leadership Training
N E T W O R K
VOLUME 5, NUMBER 4 OCTOBER • NOVEMBER • DECEMBER 1999
Authentic
Leadership
and the
Call of God
FROM LEADERSHIP NETWORK
by Mike Foss
For many years, we in the United States
have labored within a model for
ministry that can be described as “the
pastor as professional.” This model was
an attempt at elevating the role of the
clergy to that of a peer among other
professionals — engineers, doctors,
lawyers, etc. The problem with the
model is that it moved the spirit of
ministry to the externals of the pastoral
office. The ministry was a role or
function that was not necessarily
connected to the spirituality (faith
practice) of the pastor.
This social and educational separation
of the role of ministry from the person
of the minister has led to an inner crisis
in ministry. The facts that as many as
seven out of ten senior pastors are
longing to leave their ministries, and
the percent of clergy families torn apart
through divorce now approaches
that of the culture at large, are but signs
of this crisis.
There is, however, an emerging hunger
within both pastors and the culture at
large for spiritual authenticity in
leadership. We are entering a time like
that of the prophet Hosea when the Word
of God must, once again, be first a word
to the pastor in order for it to be heard
as a word through the pastor. We are
entering an age of upheaval...an age of “call."
Authentic leadership is first about the call
of God. This is the word to the leader.
The call of God is always an invitation to
a real faith that works in real life. That is,
the pastor is called to practice his or her
spirituality. Grounding the call of God to
our relationship with God is fundamental
— but it is contrary to many of the
practices of ministry. The call is often
placed in a past experience or a present
context. But the past runs out of steam
and the present changes constantly. When
my call is established on my personal daily
reading of Scripture and prayer, the
connection between what I do in ministry
to who I am is clear. Being precedes doing
in authentic ministry. Being a child of
God is the soil from which doing my
particular calling springs.
(continued on page 2)
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