Challenges of Church Leadership Today
Effective leadership has always been a reality that is never easily definable. Leaders throughout church history have had diverse traits and at times unplanned influence. Many times the best of leaders are those who were the least desirous of leading. There is a somewhat mysterious quality to leadership yet we may discern some essential components active in an environment that is enjoying healthy momentum. Few would debate the need for competent leadership. It is apparent also that we are living in changing times. Robert Dale says, “The times are always changing, and so must we, if we hope to be pacesetters in congregations…our church needs leaders precisely because our world is changing so radically and so swiftly.” Leadership in the twenty-first century has some unique challenges that were unknown to other generations. In just over a century most societies have been caught in the swiftly flowing currents beyond the agricultural into the industrial, technological and informational rivers of life. We have probably entered a new stream which Rolf Jensen defines as the “dream society” where imagination is the major reality that influences people and progress.
The church universal and the locally assembled congregations are very much affected by the times in which we live. Today is the day of population explosion (something like a billion added per decade), globalization, information overload and constant change. Whether churches will be given to fight, flight or faithfulness and fruitfulness will be dependent to a large degree upon the nature of the leadership each congregation is experiencing. In some coming blogs I will draw our attention to six basic challenges I perceive as present realities in leading congregations of believers.