LEADERSHIP AND MINISTRY

Dennis W. Wiley, Ph.D.

Kelly Miller Smith Institute

Vanderbilt Divinity School
Nashville, Tennessee

Saturday, November 6, 1999

(Outline for a seminar presented at the Kelly Miller Smith Institute on Black Church
Studies, Vanderbilt University on Saturday, November 6, 1999.)
I. WHAT IS LEADERSHIP AND WHAT IS MINSTRY?

A. Leadership Defined

B. Ministry Defined

C. The Biblical Relationship Between Leadership and Ministry?

D. The Seven Principles of Servant Leadership

E. Cultural Differences in Leadership Styles

F. Some Highly Ineffective Leadership Styles

G. Characteristics of an Effective Leader

H. Five Levels of Leadership

II. WHAT CHALLENGES WELL CHURCH LEADERS FACE IN THE 21

ST CENTURY?

A. The Declining Influence of the Institutional Church

1. Major Influences on Children

2. "Baby Boomers" and "Baby Busters"

3. A Multicultural Society

4. Consumerism and the Technological Revolution

5. The Global Village

B. The Church Universal

1. Motivational Fuels

2. Living in EPIC Times

 3. Religious Themes for the 21" Century

C. The Black Church

A unique History

Dialectical Tensions

The Black Church Since the Civil Rights Movement

III. HOW WILL THESE CHALLENGES CHANGE HOW WE "DO"

A. Power M. Economics

B. Diversity N. CommunityDevelopment

C. Structure O. Theology

D. Worship P. Christology

E. Gender Q. Pneumatology

F. Intergenerationalism R. Ecclesiology

G. Class S. Preaching

H. Sexual Orientation T. Teaching

I. Evangelism U. Denominationalism

J. Ecumenism V. Local Church

K. Pluralism W. Persons with Disabilities

L. Politics X. Integrity
(OR "HAVE") CHURCH IN THE 21sT CENTURY? [DIALOGUE]
IV. THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP

[From C. Gene Wilkes, Jesus On Leadership: Becoining A Servant Leader

(Nashiville, Tennessee: LifeWay Press, 1996).]

1. Servant leaders humble themselves and wait for God to exalt them. Luke 14.-
7-11.

2. Servant leaders follow Jesus rather than seek a position. Mark 10:32-40.

3. Servant leaders give up personal rights to find greatness in service to others.

Mark 10:4-1-45.

4. Servant leaders can risk serving others because they trust that God is in
control of their lives. John 13:3.

5. Servant leaders take up Jesus' towel of servanthood to meet the needs of

others. John 13:4-11.

6. Servant leaders share their responsibility and authority with others to meet a
greater need. Acts 6:1-6.

7. Servant leaders multiply their leadership by empowering others to lead.

Exodus 18:17-23.

I AM A LEADER

[From Myles Munroe, Becoming a Leader: Everyone Can Do It-Workbook

(Bakersfield, CA: Pneuma Life Publishing, 1993), p. 59.]

1. I POSSESS A DEEP GUIDING PURPOSE

2. I HAVE A CLEAR VISION

3. I LOVE TO SERVE OTHERS

4. I HAVE ESTABLISHED SPECIFIC GOALS

5. I CULTIVATE MY SPIRITUAL RESERVES

6. I AM TEACHABLE

7. I AM CONSTANTLY REFINING MY SKILLS

8. I AM TOLERANT

9. I AM HONEST AND SINCERE WITH INTEGRITY

10. I COMMUNICATE MY VISION

11. I AM AN AVID READER

12. I MAXIMIZE TIME

13. I AM ENTHUSIASTIC TOWARD LIFE

14. I BELIEVE IN THE WORTH AND VALUE OF OTHERS

15. I KEEP MYSELF IN THE BEST CONDITION POSSIBLE

16. I EMBRACE RESPONSIBILITY CAREFULLY

17. I AM DARING

18. I AM DECISIVE

19. I AM RESULT ORIENTED

20. I AM COMMITTED TO EXCELLENCE

21. I LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES

22. I MEASURE MYSELF AGAINST MYSELF

 FIVE LEVELS OF LEADERSHIP

[From John C. Maxwell, Developing The Leader Within You (Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1"3), p. 12.]

1. POSITION

Rights: People follow because they have to.

Note: Your influence will not extend beyond the lines of your job description.
The longer you stay here, the higher the turnover and the lower the morale.

2. PERMISSION

Relationships: People follow because they want to.

Note: People will follow you beyond your stated authority. This level allows
work to be fun. Caution: Staying too long on this level without rising will
cause highly motivated people to become restless.

3. PRODUCTION

Results: People follow because of what you have done for the organization.

Note: This is where success is sensed by most people. They like you and what you are
doing. Problems are fixed with very little effort because of momentum.

4. PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT

Reproduction: People follow because of what you have done for them.

Note: This is where long-range growth occurs. Your commitment to developing leaders
will insure ongoing growth to the organization and to people. Do whatever you can to
achieve and stay on this level.

4. PERSONHOOD

Respect: People follow because of who you are and what you represent.

Note: This step is reserved for leaders who have spent years growing people and
organizations. Few make it. Those who do are bigger than life.
 MAJOR INFLUENCES ON CHILDREN

[Excerpts from Jawanza Kunjufu]

1950 (University of Michigan survey from Developing Positive Self-Images &

Discipline in Black Children p. 17.)

(1) home

(2) school

(3) church

(4) peers

(5) television

1980 (University of Michigan survey, ibid.)

(1) home

(2) peers

(3) television

(4) school

(5) Church

1992 (MEE survey from Hip-Hop vs. MAA T: A Psycho/Social Analysis of

Values, p. 81.)

(1) peers

(2) rap
(3) television

(4) home

(5)school

MOTIVATIONAL FUELS

[From Leadership: A Practical Journal for Church Leaders, Fall 1999, Volume
XX, Number 4, p. 31.]

Which of these appeals will energize your people in the next decade?

Compassion:

Sharing, caring, giving, loving, serving

COMMUNITY:

Roots, place, belonging, family, friends

CHALLENGE:

Attain, accomplish, achieve

REASONABILITY:

Data, logic, analysis, good sense

COMMITMENT:

Loyalty, duty, obligation, vow

 Living in EPIC Times

[From Leadership: a Practical Journal for Church Leaders, Fall 1999,

Volume XX, Number 4, p. 33.]

To connect with postmoderns, the church will become

more

Experiential

Participatory

Image-driven

Communal
 RELIGIOUS THEMES FOR THE 21st CENTURY

[Excerpted from Richard Cimino and Don Lattin, Shopping for Faith:
American Religion in the New Millennium (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publishers, 1998).]

From Part One: Searching for Self and Spirit

⎬ In the new millennium, there will be a growing gap between personal

spirituality and religious institutions. (p. 11)

⎬ As denominational doctrine becomes less relevant to many Americans,

the experiential elements of religion and spirituality will become more
important. (p. 18)

⎬ In the new millennium, spiritual seekers ... will continue to turn to the
East for spiritual direction and inspiration ... (p. 22)

⎬ This "pick and choose" approach to faith, the desire to "take from it
what is wonderful and good," will continue in the coming century. (p. 23)

⎬ This tendency to mix elements of different traditions into new hybrid

forms ("syncretistic" spirituality) will continue in the new millennium, as
seekers separated from their religious heritage search out new expressions
of faith. (p. 26)

⎬ In the new millennium, spirituality and the search for "soul" will
continue crossing the border from the religious to the secular side of life.
(p. 28)
⎬ In the new millennium, religious crusades like Promise Keepers may lose
some of their fervor, but gender spirituality will have an even broader
impact as it is integrated into mainstream religion. (p. 33)

⎬ In the coming century, more corporations will try to address the spiritual
and emotional needs of their employees, though concerns about
productivity and religious freedom may get in the way. (p. 36)

⎬ As the entertainment media becomes the primary conveyor of common

culture, it will compete with religious groups as the main bearer of
spiritual and religious insight, no matter how mundane and homogenized
those revelations may be. (p. 38)

⎬ In the new millennium, peace may finally come to science and religion.
Battles will continue to flare, especially over bioethics and the brave new
world of genetic engineering. But the search for spiritual truth and the
quest to understand the cosmos are converging. (p. 42)

⎬ In the new millennium, greater appreciation for the connection between

spirituality and health will inspire and challenge the fields of medicine and
religion. (p. 44)

From Part Two: Searching for Community

⎬ In the new millennium, more and more American congregations will take
[a] market-based approach to find new members and keep the ones they
have. Megachurches, embody the consumerism, eclecticism, and the
conservatism shaping the religious future. They are the evangelical answer
to Home Depot. (p. 56)

⎬ In the new millennium, churches that demand the most from their
members will be the ones most likely to grow. (p. 65)

⎬ [While] the "spiritual supermarket" does not necessarily lead to wild

religious experimentation, in the future, divisions may sharpen between
congregations favoring more traditional forms of ministry and those
promoting contemporary worship. (p. 68)

⎬ In the new millennium, even traditional institutions like Roman Catholic

convents will bend to the dictates of consumerism and the plethora of
spiritualities in the wider culture. At the same time, the most esoteric of
spiritualities will rind institutional expression. (p. 72)

⎬ The emergence of the small group movement will be more than a passing
trend because these gatherings are at the fulcrum of forces affecting
religion and society in the United States. (p. 78)

⎬ [The] decentralization of power away from clergy and into the hands of
laypeople will have an impact both inside and outside congregations well
into the new millennium. (p. 83)

⎬ It's hard to imagine a trend that will have more impact on the future of
American religion than the rising numbers of women taking up leadership
in churches, synagogues, and other congregations. Women will change
both the style and the substance of religion, inspiring a faith that is less
rigid and hierarchical. (p. 89)

⎬ In the new millennium, religious denominations will lose influence to

local congregations and new coalitions of believers .... Two words describe
the future of religious denominations-downsized and decentralized. (p. 96)

⎬ New kinds of religious organizations and movements emphasizing

personal spiritual experience will arise in the new millennium, offering
services once provided by traditional religious congregations and
denominations. (p. 103)

⎬ Ministering to the different races and ethnic groups of multicultural

America will be a central concern for religious institutions in the new
millennium. (p. 108)

⎬ Computers are changing many areas of religious life--from management

of finances to denominational publishing. But their most significant effect
in the new millennium will be the way computers and other
communication technologies forge direct links between individual believers
and religious groups, thus creating bonds based on common concerns,
bypassing denominational control, and transcending geography. (p. 113)
⎬ In the new millennium, local congregations and special interest
ministries will replace national church bureaucracies as the major force in
fostering Christian unity. (p. 117)

⎬ In the new millennium, growing religious pluralism will inspire

fellowship, dialogue, and cooperation between Christians, Jews, Buddhists,
Muslims, and other American faiths. (p. 121)

Part Three: Searching for Common Culture

⎬ In the new millennium, religious groups and individuals will become

more self-conscious and forceful about extending their influence in society,
thus forging new links between spirituality and social action. (p. 133)

⎬ Despite its long-standing dispute with secular Republicans, the religious

right will remain an influential force in American politics, especially in
local campaigns. (p. 135)

⎬ Religious liberals and leftists will also seek closer ties to local
congregations and other religious traditions in the future, but they will
remain a relatively small presence in the public square. (p. 139)

⎬ Conflicts arising over moral issues will continue to spark divisive debates
within American religion and society, although there are signs that the
people in the pews are growing tired of polarization over hot-button issues
like abortion, euthanasia, feminism, and gay rights. (p. 145)

⎬ In the new millennium, newspapers will make greater efforts to provide

intelligent and informed coverage of religion-if only because it makes good
business sense. ( p. 148)

⎬ In the new millennium, there will be a renewed effort to find common

ground between religious groups in conflict over abortion, welfare, and
other social controversies. (p. 153)
⎬ In the new millennium, communities of faith will draw on their vast
resources and ancient traditions to become better stewards of the Earth.
(p. 159)

⎬ Cutbacks in federal assistance to the needy and the shift of the welfare
burden to state and local governments will inevitably make religious
groups more involved in community development and helping the poor. (p.
161)

⎬ Growing social diversity and the breakdown of many public school

systems will prompt more parents to choose an educational environment
where morality and religious faith are as important as biology and social
studies. (p. 165)

⎬ In the new millennium, increased religious involvement in welfare, health

care, community development, and education will spark new conflicts
between church and state. (p. 169)

⎬ Religious cults and spiritual sects have flourished throughout American

history, but the decentralization of religious authority and the speed of
modern communications will encourage the growth of new movements in
the coming century. (p. 173)

⎬ Prophecies about the end of time and the beginning of a new dawn will
flourish around the year 2000 as Christians, spiritualists, and secularists
search for meaning in the millennium. (p. 179)

DIALECTICAL TENSIONS WITHIN THE BLACK CHURCH

[From C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, The Black Church it, the
African American Experience (Durham: Duke University Press, 1990), pp.
10-16.]

The dialectic between priestly and prophetic functions.

The dialectic between other-worldly and this-worldly.

The dialectic between universalism and particularism.

The dialectic between the communal and the privatistic.

The dialectic between charismatic versus bureaucratic.

The dialectic between resistance versus accommodation.

HE BLACK CHURCH SINCE THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

The following list is compiled from Robert M. Franklin, Another Day's

Journey (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997), ch. 3.

MAJOR THEMES REFLECTING CHANGE AND CONTINUITY

I. DECLINING SIGNIFICANCE OF DENOMINATIONALISM.

II. CHURCH AND COMMUNITY CONFLICTS

III. THE AFROCENTRIC AESTHETIC

IV. EXPOSING GENDER TENSIONS

A. Four Dimensions of the Struggle

1. Moral

2. Political

3. Economic

4. Cultural

B. Four Factors Supporting Women's Struggle

1. The success of women in ministry

2. The publication of an impressive literature analyzing gender roles in the

church

3. The conversion and supportive advocacy of prominent male ministers

4. The example set by some black denominations

V. THE DECLINE OF BLACK FOLK PREACHING

VI. THE RISE OF WORD CHURCHES AND THE TEACHING

SERMON

A. Four Observations About "Word Churches"

1. They represent an alternative to conventional black Christianity.

2. They are not monolithic.

3. Those that proselytize aggressively may attract large numbers of

members who seek a more engaged, demanding form of Christian faith.

4. Those that proclaim the gospel of health, wealth, and success through
personal acts of heroic faith may be guilty of distorting the explicit
message of the Christian tradition.

B. Three Errors Noted Among Some of the Movement's Leaders and

Churches

1. An imbalanced biblical hermeneutic that focuses on individual

faithfulness at the expense of social justice

2. Inhospitality toward other Christians and deep suspicion toward

anything ecumenical

3. Indifference toward the history and living legacy of the black Christian
liberation struggle

VII. INNOVATIONS IN CONGREGATIONAL CULTURE

A. Change in the worship culture of the new black church

B. Innovations in traditional weekly Bible study sessions

C. Specialized ministries for various life cycle and interest groups

D. Increased use of media (both to disseminate information and to nurture

spiritual growth and faith development)

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITES

⎬ THE UNCHURCHED

⎬ NON-CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS

⎬ AFRICAN AMERICAN CATHOLICS

NEW BLACK CLERGY AND

THEIR MORAL AGENDA

⎬ SEXUALITY

⎬ POLITICS

⎬ ECONOMICS

⎬ HEALTH

⎬ RACE RELATIONS
 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barna, George. The Index of Leading Spiritual Indicators: Trends in

Morality, Beliefs, Lifestyles, Religious and Spiritual Thought, Behavior, and
Church Involvement. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1996.

Caldwell, Kirbyjon H. The Gospel of Good Success: A Road Map to

Spiritual, Emotional, and Financial Wholeness. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1999.

Chapman, Mark L. Christianity on Trial: African-American Religious

Thought Before and After Black Power. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis
Books, 1996.

Cimino, Richard and Lattin, Don. Shopping for Faith: American Religion
in the New Millennium. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998.

Douglas, Kelly Brown. Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist

Perspective Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1999.

Franklin, Robert M. Another Day's Journey. Minneapolis: Fortress Press,

1997.

Keener, Craig S. and Usry, Glenn. Defending Black Faith: Answers to

Tough Questions About African-American Christianity. Downers Grove,
Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

Kunjufu, Jawanza. Adam! Where Are You? Why Most Black Men Don't Go
to Church. Chicago: African American Images, 1994.

Leadership: A Practical Journalfor Church Leaders, Fall 1999, Vol. XX, No.
4.

Lincoln, C. Eric and Mamiya, Lawrence H. The Black Church in the

African American Experience. Durham: Duke University Press, 1990.
Maxwell, John C. Developing the Leader Within You. Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Publishers, 1993.

McKenzie, Vashti M. Not Without a Struggle: Leadership Development for

African American Women in Ministy. Cleveland, Ohio: United Church
Press, 1996.

Munroe, Myles. Becoming a Leader: Everyone Can Do It (Book and

Workbook). Bakersfield, CA: Pneuma Life Publishing, 1993.

Pinn, Anthony B. Varieties of African American Religious Experience.

Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998.

Roberts, J. DeOtis. The Prophethood of Black Believers: An African

American Political Theology for Ministry. Louisville, Kentucky:
Westminister/John Knox Press, 1994.

Ulmer, Kenneth C., Ph.D. A New Thing: A Theological and Personal Look
at the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. Tulsa, Oklahoma: Vincom,
inc., 1995.

Usry, Glenn and Keener, Craig S. Black Man's Religion: Can Christianity
Be Afrocentric? Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Washington, James Melvin. Frustrated Fellowship: The Black Baptist Quest

for Social Power. Macon, Georgia: mercer university Press, 1986.

Wilkes, C. Gene. Jesus On Leadership: Becoming A Servant Leader.

Nashville, Tennessee: LifeWay Press, 1996.

Williams, Delores S. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist

God-Talk Maryknoll, New York, 1993.

Wimberly, Anne Streaty, ed. Honoring African American Elders: A

Ministry in the Soul Community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers,
1997.