How should we lead the church?

In this Pneuma Review conversation, Pastor-scholar Tony Richie discusses what having good leadership means for a local church

Introduction

“We’re a good church, but we need a good leader!” The preceding sentence expressed the sentiment of the good people of the John Sevier Church of God in Knoxville, Tennessee, during our interview for the pastorate (December 1997). These words also resonated with my own experience a few years prior when had I entered the Doctor of Ministry program at Asbury Theological Seminary. My Bachelor of Arts degree had been in Philosophy-Religion, with a minor in Biblical Languages, and I had earned a Master of Divinity degree from the premier seminary of my denomination. As I surveyed the various emphases offered by Asbury, I realized that my training in theology, language, hermeneutics, homiletics, and counseling had not practically prepared me specifically for the role of pastoral leadership; nevertheless, as a pastor I was consistently called upon to function not only as a preacher or a counselor but as the leader of my congregation. Accordingly, contrary to my previous approach to education and yet with a deep sense of divine direction, I chose the leadership track for my studies at Asbury.

Tony Richie chairing a panel discussing ecumenism at the 2014 convention of the Society for Pentecostal Studies.

My experiences at John Sevier and Asbury have been echoed in my overall pastoral experience. I have been in the ministry for nearly thirty years, more than twenty-seven of which have been spent serving as a pastor. I have enjoyed relatively successful ministry in each pastorate, yet I have not infrequently felt an absence of confidence concerning my leadership duties and abilities. Slowly, I have come to suspect that the missing sense of certainty may be due, at least in part, to a failure to understand and apply a specific, sound theology of leadership for the pastoral setting, especially in my own ministry context as a Pentecostal Christian and churchman.¹

Discerning Practical Value

The almost incomparable worth of morally and practically competent leadership and the tragedy of evil or inept leadership is a consistent and recurring theme in Scripture. Further, an important element of the leadership challenge includes carefully defining leadership in local church settings.

Incomparable Worth of Competent Leadership

Throughout the biblical record the issue of leadership is noticeably prominent. Very early on the problem of corrupt leadership is latent. Hartley notes that Nimrod was the first empire builder.² An enigma to scholars, he appears to have been regarded in almost godlike terms.³ He was apparently a powerful leader. Nimrod’s rule was centered in the region of Shinar (Gen. 10:8-12). The account of the height of human arrogance and divine displeasure over the tower of Babel is set in Shinar, later known as Babylon (11:1-9). That this “famous city symbolizes commerce, human achievement, and the pursuit of pleasure” appears clear.⁴ The attitude of heaven toward haughty human leadership is underscored in the divine dispersion and division of the human race. Throughout the Scriptures Babylon is often encoded as the enemy of God and of God’s people (e.g., Rev. 17-18).

In complete contrast to the pride and pomp of Nimrod and Babylon stands the piety of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. A comparison of the patriarchal narrative of Scripture with ancient historical evidence strongly suggests the patriarchs lived in a dimorphic society consisting of pastoral nomads and village dwellers, probably early in the second millennium BC. The family units of the patriarchs were basically “autonomous tribal chiefdoms”.⁵ In the culture of the ancient Near East, “the patriarchs themselves were chiefs of seminomadic clans”.⁶ The patriarchs exercised definite leadership influence within the realm of their usually somewhat large family unit and its accompanying assortment of servants, friends, visitors, and, to some extent, neighboring peoples. For instance, Joseph’s timely leadership position and ability is of key import to Israel’s physical and national survival and divine destiny as the people of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 37, 39-50).

Mark L. Cartledge, Practical Theology: Charismatic and Empirical Perspectives (Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Paternoster Press, 2003), 271 + xiv pages.

Theology. Charismatic spirituality. Sociology. Theories of knowledge and truth. Heady topics which Mark Cartledge has successfully integrated into one book, “Practical Theology,” one of the newest volumes in the continuing series “Studies in Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues.” This book is not exactly as easy book to read, but the patient reader will gain an abundance of insight into the relationship between practical theology and charismatic spirituality, which Cartledge presents through an empirical study of a local church in the United Kingdom.

Cartledge begins with a presentation of his methodology—the “how” of his study. He explores how theology relates to the social sciences, specifically to sociology. Since the outworking of our faith occurs primarily in a community setting (i.e., the local church), “theology should be conceived as an empirical discipline in the sense that it would aim to explore, describe and test theological ideas contained within a specific context [i.e., the local church]. The direct object of empirical theology therefore is the faith and practice of people concerned” (p. 14). Empirical theology (or empirical research) is the means; practical theology (or faith-in-practice) is the result.

How does practical theology relate to charismatic spirituality (and Christian spirituality in general)? Cartledge sees this faith-in-practice as having a number of significant components: the doxological belief that God is actively at work in the church and in the world (thus leading to worship), the devotional belief that God answers prayer (thus leading to prayer), and the missiological belief that God desires others to be brought into a personal relationship with him (thus leading to evangelism). All three of these beliefs are acted upon both individually and communally, and an empirical study of these beliefs as evidenced in a church community setting would “contribute to the life of the ecclesial community to which the person belongs. … Thus the process of practical theology becomes itself a mechanism for transformation within the kingdom of God [as both the researcher and the community reviews the results of the research]. Practical theology viewed in this light is theology in the service of the church for the world” (p. 26).