Leadership in Faith Communities

Friends,

This is my first attempt into the "blogosphere." I have thought about, read about, prayed about, practiced, and even written about local church transformation for years. At Faith Christian Church in Omaha, Nebraska, we have been engaged in a church transformation for nearly a decade now. Many things have been done well, such as a governance restructure. Many things have not gone as well: the controversy over hiring a new staff person.

What has become crystal clear to me is that the transformation of an organization such as a church will not take place without

1. primarily, the good work of God's Spirit;
2. secondarily, the good work of leaders who follow that Spirit and who offer good leadership attitudes that are consistent with Biblical principles (think, for example, gifts of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23) and with Ronald Heifetz' characterization of the good leader as one who can show the way toward adaptive change (see Leadership Without Easy Answers and Leadership On the Line).

What we seek, now, is wisdom from church tradition, present excellent practices, and the current best secular thinking (such as Harvard Business Review) on what makes a good transforming leader--a leader who can show the way toward personal and organizational transformation. This focus will be the central theme of this blog.

So, I begin by positing what for me is the first requirement of transforming leaders: they are grounded in the spiritual practices of their faith community so that they can stay centered on the most vital aspects of transformation. For me, I am constantly practicing a variety of spiritual disciplines: daily prayer, daily Bible reading, Lectio Divina, weekly sabbath, weekly worship, sacrificial giving, remembering God as source for all through a constant "Thanksgiving" daily, praying to all three members of the trinity, memorizing Scripture, taking an extra day off per month for a prayer sabbath, taking an extra 3 days off per year for a prayer sabbath, etc.

I try to add a new discipline occasionally as appropriate. And, I let go (thanks to the wisdom of Dallas Willard) of a discipline as I sense the Spirit guides me. One thing is clear to me: I practice these spiritual disciplines NOT because I am good, but because I am NOT. I need to stay centered in God and not get lost in myself!

What are your disciplines? What helps you stay centered?

Thank you for reading ... and for posting.

Peace, Doug