Pride and Christian Leadership

Personal pride and Christian leadership are fundamentally incompatible with one another. 

Signs of pride are easy to spot:

• Loving the praise we get from others
• Name dropping - we are on the in with the big shots
• Letting others know how big and successful our ministries are
• Not listening to others - we have the answers
• Letting others know we are in charge
• Taking credit for success
• Blaming others for failure
• Ignoring our shadow side
• Narcissism (there is a lot of it in Christian leadership) 
• Elevating ourselves
• Defensiveness (pride central)
• Putting others down

Think about this: Pride elevates self but we are to elevate Jesus. Pride says "I accomplished this" when in reality anything of spiritual significance was accomplished by God's power. Pride says, "I made something of myself" when in fact God gave us our skills and wiring as a gift to be used for Him. Pride thinks that our success is a reflection of our greatness when in effect, it is simply a gift from God.

If anyone had a right to pride it was Jesus but where do you see it? He claimed to speak the words of the Father, do the will of the Father and gave all the glory to the Father. He lived for the Father's glory rather than His own. When His disciples vied for position and glory He rebuked them saying that they were living by the world's values not kingdom values. 

The life of Jesus was one of humble dependence and servant leadership. Paul had the same mindset committed to boasting about one thing only - the cross of Christ. He took no credit for his accomplishments, great as they were but gave all the credit to God. He knew that "when he was weak, then he was strong," because it was all about God's power, not his wisdom or power. 

Why is there so much pride, so many egos and may I say it, narcissism among Christian leaders? It does not square with the life of Jesus or the life of Paul or the teaching of Scripture. We are nothing without God. My ability to write blogs and books is simply a gift I have been given. The leadership skills I have were also a gift from God to be used in trust for Him. What do I have to boast about except that God was gracious to me? And if I do take the credit am I not stealing credit from the One who rightly deserves all of it?

It is no wonder that many Christian leaders have major blow ups in their lives and ministries. Pride elevates self and minimizes Jesus and the greater the elevation of ourselves and the minimization of Jesus the more dangerous territory we are in. Narcissism is the ultimate elevation of self and rejection of Him. Once it becomes about us we have lost all ability to lead on His behalf. It is not that God abandons us, we have abandoned Him for all practical purposes.

It was pride that caused Satan to rebel against God. It was pride that prompted Adam and Eve to eat of the tree. It is pride that causes us to elevate ourselves but to the extent we do we are minimizing God. And that is a dangerous path to walk. Our hearts are indeed deceitful above all things. Guarding our hearts against pride is job one of anyone in Christian leadership. 

Bride over Brand

This week I had a remarkable set of meetings with 20 movement leaders in Africa. All of them represented different denominations and countries and all of them were together for a week to discuss how they could work synergistically together to send missionaries, see church planters trained and to reach those parts of Africa where the gospel has not penetrated.

What is remarkable is that they were placing the Bride (the church of Jesus) over their particular brand (denomination). 

Bride over Brand is a mindset that should pervade all of our efforts to spread the Gospel. This does not mean that we must give up the distinctives of our brand. It does mean that we are willing to actively cooperate with others for a higher goal of seeing the Bride expand, knowing that our brand is one small expression of the Bride that Jesus died for.

This takes a mindset that "we will cooperate rather than compete." It is a humble posture that knows that no one of us can do this by ourselves and that we have a lot to learn from others. It is a kingdom rather than a provincial mindset that places the Bride in its proper perspective. It is a Jesus mindset above all that values what He values - that all men might come to believe. 

I long for the day when this kind of mindset prevails across Christianity. When it does, we will see the Gospel spread in ways that we cannot imagine. Until it does, we will continue to do our own thing, not realizing that we are better together than separate. 

What is your mindset? What are you doing about it?

Sustaining vision for the long run

We all know that vision leaks - which is why many ministries that thought they had a common vision wake up one day and discover that it is no longer true. 


Almost every ministry leader has vision - and believes that everyone in his/her organization know that vision. But ask around and in many cases what the leader thinks others know is not so. Or, they may tell you, it is the leader's vision, not theirs. Shared vision is evident when everyone in the organization can tell you where the ministry is headed.


Every ministry faces the question, "How do we sustain our vision for the long run?" 


It starts with having a God sized and God given vision in the first place. People are not captivated by small dreams but God sized dreams. When we have a vision that is larger than us and which can only be accomplished through God's power, and which significantly contributes to His purposes, it is a powerful thing.


There are many pseudo visions in ministry that have more to do with buildings and expansion and personal success than they do with reaching people for Jesus or true life transformation. Here, vision is used to achieve the ends of a leader rather than to serve the cause of Christ. Real vision has everything to do with the expansion of God's Kingdom on earth (Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven), not the expansion of our kingdom on earth. When vision is about Him it motivates. When vision is about us, it manipulates.


Real vision is a shared vision. It makes sense to the group who will carry it out and as a group they are committed to seeing it happen. It may start with a leader (Nehemiah) but it must become shared by the entire organization. 


Vision must be able to be communicated clearly and concisely in ways that everyone can get it. Memorability of vision matters a lot. Long vision documents are never remembered but simple, understandable vision that is repeated time and again will be.


Every vision needs an evangelist who not only deeply believes in what God is calling their organization to do but is constantly communicating that call. You cannot over communicate vision but the fact that most organizations don't have a common vision is proof that you can under communicate. All leaders in the organization should be evangelists for where God is calling the ministry. If they are not, you don't have a shared vision.


Prayer around one's vision is a critical factor because if the vision is from God, spending time in His presence, asking for his empowerment to make the vision a reality changes our hearts and gives us a resolve and commitment that comes from Him.


Vision means nothing without results. Communicating those results encourages people to keep pressing forward. Vision without tangible results creates cynicism, as it rightly should. Celebrate the wins as they come. And, organize your time, energy and resources so that they are all contributing to seeing the accomplishment of your vision.


As you think about the vision of your organization, compare it to these markers of sustaining vision for the long run. How are you doing?

Ministry pay scales

In my work with churches and Christian organizations I am often privy to their pay scales. And to be honest, they often bother me - specifically three observations.


1. There is far too great a differential between the senior staff and those who are in the next level down. Boards appropriately ensure that their senior staff are well paid in most cases. However, they are less careful to ensure that the rest of the pay scale is pulled up so that there is not an undue gap between the top and the next levels down.


I rarely quibble with the senior staff salaries I see. In my circles they are moderate and not extravagant. Often they do not reflect the scope of responsibility that these leaders have. But, the gap between their fair pay and the next levels down I often have a quarrel with. Which leads me to a second observation.


2. We often do not pay our lowest staff a fair wage but as little as we can legally pay. This includes building engineers, clerical, and administrative assistant level folks. My question is why? If our pay scales are appreciably lower than what the market pays why would we be OK with paying salaries that are not comparable with the market? If a pastor is worth his wages (and we can quote the scripture on that one) why are not others? 


I give honor to the many underpaid workers in Christian settings but I am sad that we of all people do not treat our staff with the dignity due them. Is this what we want to be known by? 


3. It amazes me but I still see differentials at times between what men are paid and women for the same or similar positions. As a society we have gotten beyond that in most good workplaces. We need to get beyond that in our ministry settings.


I have several suggestions.
First, look at the differential between your top paid staff and the next levels down and ask if it is fair and appropriate. 


Second, take some time to look at all salaried positions and ask if there are any that look odd to you - too high or too low.


Third, spend a few dollars or go to any number of free sites to get comparables for like positions in the marketplace to see where you sit.


Fourth, where adjustments should be made, come up with a plan to make them over a period of months or years and review your salary structure every three to four years.


We do not serve a cheap but a generous God. Let's be generous with our staff whom we say are the heart of our ministry!

When the true us shows up!

Who is the real me and the real you? Sometimes we are not who people think we are as there is a public persona of who we hope people see us as and the real us that is not always in alignment with that persona.

The real us does pop out from time to time and it comes in interesting ways: when we face a deep crisis, when we are unjustly accused, when we are confronted over an issue in our life or when we lose our jobs. All of these situations (and I am sure more) bring to the surface that which is most deeply hidden in our hearts. Here is where the true test of character lies - for better for worse.

Most of us pay too little attention to the words of Jesus that what comes out of a man is what is actually in a man. Most of us can manage our emotions and actions well enough in public forgetting that the most authentic version of us is being forged deep in our hearts in quiet times and hidden places that others do not see. This is where our deepest convictions are forged, our most authentic faith is developed and our character is hammered out. 

When crisis comes it is those convictions, that faith and that character that emerges in all of its depth or shallowness. Because it is in these times that we don't manage our emotions and responses well. Rather what is there is what emerges for all to see. Often it is not pretty. Sometimes is it amazingly Christ-like. The difference is what was forged in the deepest places of our lives. 

When faith, patience, trust in God's sovereignty and kindness toward others, even our accusers shows up in a crisis situation you know that it comes from a core of spiritual health. When bitterness, anger, accusations,  and self serving actions and attitudes show up in crisis you know that it comes from a core of spiritual dishealth.
For what is forged on the inside is what will surface in difficult times.

Who is the real you? The authentic you? Are you forging in deep places and quiet ways the faith, character and convictions that will show up unexpectedly when hard times come - as they inevitably do? The test of our true self is not how we act on a good day but how we handle ourselves on a truly bad and awful day.

Are you an evangelical functional deist?

This blog is likely to make some uncomfortable. My observation is that many who call themselves followers of Jesus, at least in the west, are functional deists - they don't believe in their heart of hearts that Jesus breaks into our lives or our situations personally to do the unexpected, the miraculous or speak to us personally. It is as if there is a God in heaven who does not break in and work in our lives personally.

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most famous diests among the founding fathers. He actually modified his Bible by taking out all references to the miraculous. His god was a small god who set the world in motion and let it move along according to the natural laws of nature and no natural law of nature had room for the miraculous. We would never modify our Bibles but do we harbor doubts in our mind just as Jefferson that our God does not do the unexpected and miraculous today?

Well, God is a God of surprises who loves to challenge our thinking. Here is a great example from a member of ReachGlobal's staff in Africa - in his words

"The day was fresh.  New.  My heart was still and waiting.  As I sat quietly on the upper floor balcony of my house overlooking the hills of the city, I just praised the Lord for this new day.  I spent some time reading and listening . . . and then began a time of rested listening prayer.  I enjoy these kinds of times many mornings where I just want to SOAK with Jesus.  Just rest in His presence and not have to accomplish anything.  I want to hear His voice.  I often ask for that one simple thing:  “Jesus, I just want to hear Your voice.  Speak to me.  Tell me what you want me to do.” 

"As I sat there in my wicker rattan chair, legs crossed and arms folded, I heard something that surprised me.   I just heard these simple words:  “Go to the hospital and pray for Clarice.  Ask me for her complete recovery.  Try me and I will do it.”  Our dear national friends who are part of our church family had just been married in the last two years and had been expecting TWINS!  At the birth of the children, Clarice suffered a massive stroke.  A young Cameroonian mother . . . having just birthed a beautiful boy and a beautiful girl . . . experiencing a life-altering, life-threatening, life-scrambling STROKE.  Our hearts just ached.  We felt sorrow and we wondered what God would do.

"Now, here I am sitting on my balcony and God simply says in a quiet, clear voice:  “Go and pray.  Ask me.  Try me and I will do it.”  My eyebrows went up.  I shook my head.  I literally said OUTLOUD, “You’ve got to be KIDDING!?!”  And then I prayed:  “Lord, that was YOU, wasn’t it?”  I knew it was.  It was a direct answer to my prayer:  “Jesus, I want to hear Your Voice.  Speak to me.  I will do what you want me to do.”  And I remembered the prayer months earlier that my teammate, Arthur Ellison, had prayed over me in one of our team meetings, that I would pray for people’s physical healing as God might prompt me.

"Well, after wrestling with this for three days and then repenting from a lack of faith and wondering if God was really serious, I decided to take HIM seriously.  My wife and I and our national pastor and his wife got in the car and did exactly what God asked me to do.  As I stood over her bed, wearing a mask and gown—one visitor allowed at a time . . . I simply told Clarice what I felt God had asked me to do and prayed over her and anointed her with oil.  She received . . . eyes bulged open, not herself in the slightest.  She worked to speak at all . . . and said . . . “Thank . . . . . you.” 

"My wife went in, my pastor went in, then our pastor’s wife spent a few minutes with her—only to tell us on the way home from the hospital that night this unbelievable report:  “Clarice told me that she had a vision just three days ago, that God came and told her that YOU needed to come and pray over her for healing.  She has been waiting here three days knowing that you would come.  And . . . that God would heal her.” 

"I could hardly believe what I was hearing.  The same day He spoke to me, He spoke to her.  What a confirmation that God is clearly, actively wanting to do extraordinary things IN and THROUGH US!  We need to expect!!  WE need to yearn and hunger for His miraculous and simple voice to show up each day.  Then, we need to just yield and do as He asks. 

"Clarice was told she’d never walk.  She would most likely never speak and may be bed-ridden the rest of her life.  Well, all praise to God—she not only walks, she runs.  She not only speaks.  She speaks French and English and her mother tongue as well!  She sings.  She smiles.  She testifies and evangelizes.  She shares with everyone what God has done for her!  She is a happy and proud mother of two beautiful kids.  Her husband Claude never doubted for a moment that God would bring his wife back to her original self.  And . . . by God’s great grace, He has done JUST THAT!

Humbled and honored,  Jeff Brown"

As one who has experienced the miraculous myself, I am no functional deist. Not only do I believe in the power of God to break in but I would not be alive today if He had not.

Invite Him into your situation, or the situation of someone who needs it. He may surprise you.

Cheap can be costlier than you think

One of my frustrations in working with ministry organizations is their propensity to choose cheap over whatever it takes to do a job well. It is as if cheap is close to God's heart and anything else is extravagance and a waste of money. 

There is another guide that is neither cheap or extravagant. It merely asks the question, "What will it cost to solve this problem so that our needs are met well and we have stability in this area?" Doing it the cheapest way will usually neither meet needs or give stability. Paying more than we need to may be cutting edge but is often beyond what we need. 

Take a ministry that has struggled with technology for years. A solution would not be expensive as they are small but the lack of stability, connectedness and right software has cost them dearly in lost productivity and staff frustration! That lost productivity is far more expensive than if they had spent the money necessary to maintain a stable system. The difference is that the cost of an unstable system is hidden and can easily be overlooked.

Cheap also translates over to how we often do staffing in ministry. In our desire to save money we frequently hire at the lowest possible salary level and often (not always) get what we are willing to pay for in terms of experience and professionalism. What if we reversed that trend by paying competitive rates, hiring the very best and staffing lean? We would get a higher caliber of help, with greater capacity and need fewer people. Instead, when we hire at the lowest wage level possible we often end up needing more people.

Cheap is often far more costly than people realize. The shadow side of cheap is that it can get you the wrong people, solutions that don't work and hidden expenses that you cannot quantify but are surely there. And since when is cheap some kind of Biblical value? 

Instead of cheap, ask this question: "What will it cost to solve this problem so that our needs are met well and we have stability in this area?"