Theology: The Lifeblood of Leadership
"You can't take anyone somewhere you haven't been yet." I was 23 when a pastor of another church casually gave me a lifetime's worth of wisdom for free. That word has pointed me to both the blessing that's caused a bounce in my step in one moment, as well as the burden that's caused much fear and trembling in the next. Most importantly, that word taught me that theology is the source of legitimate Christian leadership.
Charles Octavius Boothe, in his Plain Theology for Plain People, defines theology as "the knowledge of God." Boothe, born into slavery before becoming a leading black Baptist preacher, raises the bar of theology from the academic study of God to the relational knowledge of God. While the work of the head is an important step, it's only the first step. The work of the head is useless unless it leads to the acquaintance of the heart. Theology is more than knowing about God; it's knowing God.
When I say that legitimate leadership flows out of theology, I’m proposing theology as the lifeblood of leadership. I'll let the late JI Packer tell you why theology is the essence of leadership. Packer says that knowing God "is crucially important in living our lives...we're cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing the God who owns and runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who don't know God. Disregard knowing God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, with no sense of direction, no understanding of what surrounds you."
JI seems to suggest that we derive direction in life from knowing God. I want to push it and suggest that we derive direction in leadership from knowing God. By direction, I'm speaking of the "where" and the "way" of leadership. Let's start with the where.
Paul, in Ephesians 4, implies that one of the finish lines for the people of God is a unified faith and knowledge of God. The leader is leading people into a greater knowledge of God. The leader is leading people into theology. How can we lead people in theology unless we've taken the journey ourselves? How can we lead people into a delightful communion with God unless we've tasted and seen that the Lord is good for ourselves? How can we lead people somewhere we haven't been ourselves? The Christian leader is participating in God's own activity as they lead people into knowing and loving God.
Let's move onto the way. I heard some smart guy at Yale Divinity School say when Christian leaders seek to lead people to love and worship God, they are participating in God's own activity. God is the "where" of Christian leadership and He's leading the way. God Himself is trailblazing the path that His people take towards a greater knowledge of Him. How can the leader lead others down God's path unless they've first followed God down it themselves? It's impossible for us to take someone down the path of theology until we've walked down that path ourselves. The best leaders are followers first.
To lead in the journey of theology we have to have been led on the journey of theology. Can we pause for the cause of recognizing the privilege that it is to lead God's people, a church, community group, your children, someone else's children, a new believer, in this life of theology?
Have you tried leading people into theology without a personal priority of theology? I have, and it's an absolute train-wreck. Leading while lacking in theology is a leadership disease that is detrimental to the life of the leader and the life of the led. Leading while lacking in theology has as many causes as there are people. Busyness, stress, anxiety, the pressure to perform, ambition, trusting leadership gurus more than God, and a whole host of other things have pushed me into seasons of pushing forward in leadership without prioritizing theology. We've all gone through seasons of the sickness that is leading while lacking in theology. What are the symptoms? You might be suffering from leading while lacking in theology if:
You're primarily opening the scripture for sermon preparation and never personal transformation.
You’ve been going to the prayer closet to get God's help for the next thing and never going to the prayer closet to get God Himself.
You’re preaching with manufactured passion and substituting hollow sentences that sound good for the power that comes with speaking of that which you've seen and heard for yourself.
Your decisions are based on chasing trends and not following the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.
Your energy is consumed by the comparison and looking over the green looking grass that other people are standing in instead of giving your energy towards the green pastures that God has for you and your people.
I want to give the gospel to God's leaders. God added humanity onto Himself so that we could know Him. God sits in our innermost being so that we can have intimacy with Him. God expresses Himself through His word that's readily available on our shelves, in our phones, or on our study software. God continually making Himself known is the cure and vaccine for the leadership sickness of lacking in theology. Come and know Him daily in the prayer closet. Come and know Him daily in the Scriptures. The healthy leader is the one who comes and knows Him. It's by coming to know Him that He enables you to go and lead others in knowing Him.
I believe that God's message to the Christian leader is, "Come and know me." To the pastor, group leader, children's teacher, husband, parent, disciple-maker: Come and know Him because knowing Him is the lifeblood of your leadership. Do you want to know where to lead? Come and know Him. Do you want to know the way to lead? Come and know Him.
