9. The Leaders God Uses
Iam typing this chapter in a special place on the west coast of Wales, called the Hookses. This is where one of the great Christian leaders of the twentieth century—Dr. John Stott—did a lot of his writing. He became a close friend, and his books to this day have global influence. It’s sad that, especially in the US, if you mention John’s name some people will bring up how he denied the existence of hell (particularly eternal punishment), which is not true at all. He believed people outside of Christ were lost. I spoke to him personally about it. In one of his books, written especially to answer the tough questions that some liberal theologians were asking, he touched on the possibility of some kind of annihilation and we also spoke with each other about this. Many great men and women of God have struggled with exactly what hell is like. I remember Billy Graham saying it was mainly separation from God.
I have tried to live my entire life since my conversion in the light of this truth, which I still don’t fully understand. I have been helped by meditating on the justice of God. Universalism is more popular than ever, but John Stott did not go down that road, and I am sure it’s one of the reasons he was so committed to global missions. I heard him say in a missions message that one of the great battles of the church in our day was the exclusiveness of the gospel. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father but by Him (John 14:6).
That leads me to the main thrust of this chapter. Consider the wide range of people God uses in leadership, both men and women. Can you imagine the number of leaders I have met and in whose churches I have spoken? Add to this all the different kinds of leaders I have known in missions agencies and other organizations. Yes, it’s in the thousands, and yes I have listened to thousands of messages. This doesn’t even count the leadership messages from the Bible!
We have a huge range of books on leadership and endless autobiographies and biographies of men and women of God right back to the beginning of time. They are now coming at us faster than ever and one of the most important parts of my own ministry is speaking to leaders and also distributing outstanding leadership materials. My two top books at present are Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders and Leading with Love by Alex Strauch.
I have expressed some of my views strongly in Grace Awakened Leadership, which in fact is two key chapters taken from my book Out of the Comfort Zone.
Again, if you don’t embrace what I call messiology you will probably not agree with what I am trying to share here. I am strongly convinced that God works mightily through a wide range of different leaders and different leadership styles.
Some books and teachers have very high ideals for leadership and some are so dogmatic that styles different from their own are condemned or looked down upon. I try to warn people about what I call destructive idealism, which leaves out the radical grace factor and eventually leaves people discouraged, confused, or even wiped out completely.
History proves otherwise. All kinds of leaders and leadership teams have been mightily used to bless, disciple, and teach His people as well as bring tens of millions to the Lord Jesus around the globe. We are key distributors of Chua Wee Hian’s book Servant Leadership, but also for decades watched how he led a key church that he founded in London after being the international leader of the whole of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students movement. Put that with David Lundy’s book Servant Leadership for Slow Learners and you have a unique combination. I have noticed that many leaders who have actually accomplished the most have not followed that style. They often have been more autocratic and some get accused of being dictatorial or even abusive. I read a book about abusive leadership in which, as far as I could see, almost every dynamic leader who tries to persuade people with some passion and emotion to serve and love Jesus with heart, mind, soul, and strength, will be considered abusive. Some people, when they come under that kind of person, do not want to accept the strong message and will try to find weakness in the person giving the message. If we are honest, there are some verses that seem to be a tad harsh like: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15–16). And then Luke 14:33: In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
We really need a lot of wisdom on how we use that strong word “abusive.” I remember someone on one of our teams years ago who I thought was rushing into marriage. When I suggested caution, this person turned on me and accused me of being a control freak. After that hurtful conversation, I stood with them and even attended their wedding and reception only to see the marriage come to an end a few years later.
One thing for sure that I must say after sixty years in leadership is that, at its best, it is very difficult. All of us as leaders are imperfect and have our weaknesses that sometimes lead to clear-cut sin. All the people we try to lead and help also have weaknesses leading sometimes to sin, so the result will often be one big mess! Hurt people, broken hearts, and disappointments. So many who come under our leadership today have already been hurt so much, sometimes even sexually abused, that it’s extremely hard to lead and help them. Most leaders are busy and overcommitted, and often it’s because they are trying to love and serve Jesus and His people. Add to that an effort to evangelize and have many non-Christian friends and you are looking at the impossible. Things will go wrong. People will be hurt. That is why, without the burning reality of 1 Corinthians 13 flowing in our hearts and the humility and brokenness that go with it, it often becomes impossible to move forward. I have seen and read of hundreds of leaders who have fallen out with each other. I have seen a number two leader try to a pull a coup and overthrow the so-called number one.
It takes a high level of spiritual maturity for leaders to work together.
Is God still at work even in the midst of our broken churches filled with broken people? Two thousand years of church history show that God is doing great things and saving multitudes of people in the midst of sinful, messy situations.
Let’s beware of being too narrow in terms of the way we feel God works through people. We can have our convictions on how we should lead, but be slow to criticize people who have a different style. Different churches have all kinds of leadership styles. Yes, I personally believe some are better than others, but these things are much harder to measure than I once assumed. There is hardly a single church or Christian mission or organization that has not had its messes and its problems and yes, its sinful behavior. In some cases I make a firm decision to pull back and stay away. But I cannot tell the living God to stay away. He will continue to amaze us with the way He uses all kinds of leaders in all kinds of situations, including the very messy ones. Yes, it’s messiology on a grand scale.