This Thing Called "Shared Leadership"

This Thing Called Shared Leadership

 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Amen.  
(2 Corinthians 13:14)

When you think of leadership you often wonder, “Who’s the boss?” or “Where does the buck stop?” At Lookout we are on a journey of discovery, sensing that God is urging us to a new paradigm of leadership. It is marked by collaboration, sharing the responsibilities, and empowering one another so that people lead and serve in their calling. It is new and refreshing for us. We hope this short paper captures what we envision by “shared leadership.”

TWO PICTURES

A jazz trio jamming together is a mysterious and beautiful thing as the musicians use notes to create a harmony - where the music resonates with our inner being and the whole is greater than its individual parts. Just as musicians move together, taking the lead as they feel the music lead, we who are called to shared leadership defer, cooperate, and mold to each other as Jesus leads.

Or imagine geese flying in a “V” formation, each one taking a turn flying at the point of the “V,” and then retreating to a position towards the rear and deferring to another’s lead. Collectively, they are able to do something they could never do alone. Shared leadership is like this: a revolving sense of authority – at any one moment a person, called and gifted for a particular task, steps up and leads the community forward. Such a model encourages different leaders at various times and strategic moments.

OUR FOUNDATION

The foundation of shared leadership is the beginning point of relationship with God: The Trinity. God created mankind to reflect His image: “And let US make man in Our own image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule . . .” (Genesis 1:26). From the very beginning, mankind was to rule, or lead, collaboratively – reflecting the image of the Trinitarian Creator. To consider a shared leadership model one must ponder deeply the Trinity - a picture of collaboration, mutual deference, interdependence, and revolving leadership. We believe this is part of bearing the image of our Creator.

OUR COVENANT COMMUNITY

This approach to leadership requires deep relationships –dare we say intimacy ¬– at the core. For fallen people of faith, it requires that each of us continually examine his or her inner world. It demands a willingness to give an honest assessment of self and of each other. Shared leadership can be and often is messy – and it is also glorious.

The vision for shared leadership is to maximize each other’s strengths and recognize and embrace each other’s unique gifting – yet always being willing to jump into areas of weakness, because we are called to be servants to reflect Jesus, who emptied Himself for the sake of others (cf. Philippians 2:5-8).

As a church community at LMCC, shared leadership is an expression of the covenant commitment we have made with each other. This covenant is captured in four phrases:

• Mutuality – shared vision, mutual submission, deference, joint responsibility

• Authenticity – Relationships which are grace oriented, appropriately disclosing, gentle, challenging, and “real” in the fullest sense of the word

• Purposefulness – the focus being on Christ and His Kingdom coming

• Story telling – this is our vernacular, of listening to God as He speaks in and through our lives together

This covenant community then becomes self-correcting in a very real sense. Leaders would need to step in if or when the covenant is violated, or if a person or the organization starts to drift from our God-given vision and purpose. Doing leadership this way is hard work – and it is a beautiful expression of what Paul said in his letters to the churches:

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-8)

OUR COMMITMENT

We have covenanted together on this path of shared leadership NOT because it is the only way or “right” way to lead a church. Nor do we make this commitment because of our history as a local church or because it is popular. We commit to shared leadership because we believe God is calling us to it, even though we do not have it all figured out. We commit ourselves first to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and then to each other as leaders called to serve the body of Christ at Lookout.