Where Do You Think You Are Going? – Profile for an Effective International Church Leader Part 2

Where Do You Think You Are Going?

What do you think you are doing? Are you sure that you are leading your international church (IC) toward God’s vision for the church? Is your mission well-aligned with, and incorporated into, God’s mission? What is God’s mission for the nation in which the IC is located?

If you are part of a selection committee for a new pastor or another leader, what criteria will you be looking for in recruiting a pastor to work with God in His mission and building up of the church in God’s way?

If you are thinking about becoming the pastor of an IC, how well equipped are you theologically to lead the church towards the same future that God is working towards in His mission?

Which worldview drives how you lead the church? Which worldview will you be promoting? To generalize, is God working to get people converted so that they can escape to heaven with the world/created order being seen pessimistically? Or is God working towards getting people converted, and working in all things in all nations, so that the earth and the nations are suitably prepared for the coming of heaven and the New Jerusalem to be here?

These first four qualities in an effective IC pastor/leader build upon theological foundations grounded in a Christ-centred ecclesiology and missiology shaped by Christ’s Kingdom of God agenda. 

1. A leader who leads with God’s Kingdom vision for the IC, for all His people, and for all creation:

• This Kingdom vision, as it was for Jesus, begins this list of qualities because it shapes and directs all the other qualities listed in the Profile. It is not just one quality amongst many but at the heart of them all.
• Fundamental to Kingdom shaped leadership is vision that stimulates the imagination and the passions, stimulates hope and longing for the future, that inspires and motivates, that gives direction and purpose for God’s people. The Kingdom establishes a missional orientation for all facets of the IC.  Kingdom oriented leadership is essential for each IC to engage with its context, and the future of that context, such that the vision of God for His creation and Kingdom, excites the IC and drives the agenda for discipleship, church life and mission.

How important is inspiring and hope-filled vision for the effective leadership of an IC? 
What is the hope-filled vision that drives your IC leadership?

2. Committed to the missio Dei and the sending of the church into the world with a missio Dei agenda:

• Theologically well grounded in a Biblical Theology of God’s Kingdom promises to the nations (a theology of nationhood) so that the pastor can discern what God is working towards in the IC’s context, and what particular part the IC might have in God’s work. Able to appreciate the holistic integration of Gospel, practical care, social action, etc, in engaging in God’s mission.
• Similarly, within a theology of the nations, a vision for the place of the city and how the IC might be a servant of the city towards God’s vision.
• Appreciate the core value of being sent and sending. Appreciate the sending of the whole IC and its people into the mission of God in the city and nation. Understand the high turnover/mobility of IC people as an opportunity for sending/commissioning people to the mission in a different context.
• Theologically able to see the big picture of God’s Kingdom work so as to help people see how their work, their job description, can be an expression of God’s mission work towards the future.
• Values partnerships with missions, churches, NGOs, and others for mission.
• Understands that an outward missional focus is essential for addressing the inner realities of persons and the church community. Outward vision brings perspective and unity to the fellowship of the church.
• Has a broad understanding of historical patterns and approaches in mission, integrating this with the demands of the contextual realities of the IC’s city and nation.

What do IC pastors, distracted by pastoral demands, need most to stay missionally minded, focussed and committed?
How do you define, describe and do the missio Dei?

3. Leadership strengths based in theological depth and Kingdom vision, together with a capacity to engage and lead well across the mix of cultures in the IC and in the larger context:

• Commitment to theological depth and vision as the driving force that facilitates the best of effective IC leadership.
• Appreciation of just how much leadership is expressed so differently from culture to culture. Therefore, able to be flexible and with a willingness to learn news ways of leading. See # 5 above.
• Functioning with a reconciling spirit/heart driven by a passion for the unity of the body of Christ, and a passion for the witness of reconciliation across the spectrum of fractured relationships to the holistic reconciling work of God in Christ. Leadership driven by a well-developed theology of peace.
• A strong capacity for, and commitment to, team leadership in which the ministry of the whole body of Christ is valued. Understands the necessity of a variety of ministries (Ephesians 4:11-16 and 1 Corinthians 12) for effective church community, ministry and mission. Understands his/her own giftings and seeks out ministry and mission partners with the giftings needed.
• Able to hold together leadership in the missional engagement of the church and the pastoral care of persons within the church: without sacrificing one for the other.

What is at the heart of good IC leadership?
What do you do to grow your leadership strengths as an IC pastor?

4. Sufficient theological depth and maturity to guide the IC through the complexities and challenges of tomorrow’s world; sufficient to build up theological maturity in the IC’s life and mission:

• Mature and substantial capacity to process theological issues across a wide range of concerns. Theological depth and maturity is becoming more important than ever before; especially given the diverse range of theological issues to be faced from content to context. In a world of constant change, and the constant need to address new theological, missional, ethical, and other practical issues, comprehensive theological depth is becoming more important than it ever was in the contexts of the past. 
• Know where and how to access theological resources together with an established habit of doing so.
• Able to blend the strengths of both Biblical and Systematic Theological methods. Theological depth will only develop through an integrated blend of these methodologies, together with a comprehensive understanding of how it all fits together in God’s holistic engagement in human history towards the future He has committed to. 

In Evangelical circles, there is a shift towards a greater focus on Biblical Theology and this is bringing new approaches to how we understand a range of theological, missional and practical issues. IC leaders need to be familiar with the strengths and limitations of both Biblical and Systematic theological disciplines. The strength of one is the weakness of the other. Both are essential for addressing the complex realities of the future which will require mature theological reflection. Both are essential for engaging with the mix of church backgrounds represented in the mix of people in an IC. For a summary of the difference between these two methodologies, see http://micn.org/preaching-towards-mission-theology/ 

• An understanding of the Kingdom of God and how it increases in the world, together with a Kingdom hermeneutic for thinking through the theological issues of life and mission. 
• Appreciates the character and development of contextualized theology within a commitment to the Bible as the final authority on all matters of faith and conduct.
• Understands why the intellectual approaches to knowledge and practice of Modernism and Postmodernism are bringing new theological challenges to the IC leader. Modernism habits of thinking and approaches to theology tend to be compartmentalized, convergent, tend more towards being adversarial (either/or) and therefore dualistic, and much less likely to weigh up cultural and other biases.  Postmodernism focusses on challenging the presuppositions and presumptions we bring to how we think, to the study of Scripture, and the development of theology. 

Postmodern approaches are more divergent, holistic, conciliatory, integrated with a more both/and mind-set. Within Evangelicalism, both have their place, and each needs the corrective role of the other. IC leaders need to be able to work with those of both these approaches to thinking and learning if they are to effectively present theology that enables the church to effectively engage with the world with good works and communication of the Gospel. IC leaders need to appreciate that older generations tend more towards traditional Modernism ways of thinking whereas younger generations are strongly Postmodern. Traditional Modernism approaches to theology and mission make little sense to the skeptical minds of the generations brought up in a Postmodern culture.

What do you think will be the role of theology in equipping IC pastors for leadership in the changing future world?
What do you do to grow in theological depth and expand your vision of the Kingdom of God?

We have noted some of the big-picture challenges of IC leadership. Next, in Part 3, we turn to the more personal, even private, factors that always impact ministry and mission.