The Catechism or Outline of Faith of the Episcopal Church includes the question, “Who are the ministers of the Church?” The answer responds,” The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.”  I believe that leadership formation is a vital and ongoing component of each of the four orders of ministry – the life and mission of the Church relies upon the leadership skills of members within each order for the sustainability of the purpose-driven service of the Church.

Leaders are formed and called within each of the four orders of ministry. However, not all those who are elected/selected/self-injected into leadership roles possess the traits and skills necessary for the required relational and organizational work. Part of the difficulty of addressing leadership issues related to ministerial calling has to do with the (usually) unarticulated assumptions of what constitutes a desirable leader within the dominant culture system of the Church. For example, self-promotional arrogance is often mistaken for competence while humility and vulnerability are frequently deemed to be weaknesses. It’s an old story and a reoccurring theme that I have seen repeated in clergy/bishop search processes as well as in parochial ministries and academic settings. For people of color who are informed by alternative cultural values, navigating the dominant culture assumptions around leadership can be especially frustrating within a vocational discernment or call process.

My understanding and aspirations of leadership are informed by both my Indigenous cultural values and more than thirty years of organizational assessment and development. I find that leadership has an ephemeral quality to it when done well. A leader in harmony with community has a feather-light touch that communicates trust and uplifts others with confidence in their abilities, a quality of love for who others are as people, a commitment to their lifelong development and realization of potential.  Leadership invites diverse people of genuine talent whose joy and imagination is unthreatening to a leader who is secure in who they are. Leaders do not need to manipulate those around them or expect others to protect the leader’s deficiencies or cater to the leader’s ego needs. Leaders do not marginalize dissenting voices but do insist on mutual respect. Leader’s create safe space for all voices, invite the humble, and moderate the entitled. Leaders model vulnerability while standing in great strength. Leaders challenge injustice and never ever fail to speak up for fear of retaliation or cost. Leaders lead for the sake of the lives of others, for the well being and health of the community.  This is the leadership formation I learned in my Indigenous matriarchal culture. I have a preference for these values to what I experience in much of the dominant culture church.

That said, even within dominant culture, there is a common understanding that baptism, ordination, consecration, certifications or academic degrees do not make people leaders; neither do such things assure leadership competencies. Leadership in every sphere of the Church requires a high level of self-awareness, a mature emotional intelligence, a collaborative management approach, and a genuine passion for service that prioritizes the needs of the community over the needs of one’s own ego.

Too often, I have experienced leaders in every order of ministry more focused on establishing their own authority and fiefdoms within the Church than they are actually interested in serving and cultivating others. Once established within the institutional order of things, egocentric leaders can spend the rest of their tenure controlling assets and access to power, assisting only those people willing to facilitate the established rewards system while alienating those unwilling to be codependent to a false loyalty program. It doesn’t take an expert in organizational development to identify leadership dysfunction – usually those most affected are well aware of the issues at hand and only require the supported opportunity to verbalize the emotional exhaustion and pain commonly associated with leadership voids and systems failure.

As one of the best-known and most influential chefs in the world, Gordon Ramsay has developed an intuitive (even if fiery) ability to assess for leadership and organizational dysfunction in every failing hotel or restaurant that he is invited to help turn around. In many instances, Chef Ramsay’s assessment includes the recognition of the loss of passion and vision that originally inspired the operating chef. The capability of leadership and organizational possibilities usually exist, but the instinctive creativity of the chef has become suppressed (even depressed) within systemic/relational dysfunctions. The amazing art of cultivating human encounter through cuisine that shares from the resplendent diversity of human identity to feed the world shares much in common with the mission and challenges of the Church today.

Many of our leaders in each order of ministry are struggling to regather a sense of meaning and creative vision amid the pressures of antiquated (even damaging) ways of being Church. Financial concerns, changes in attendance patterns, unrealistic expectations within limited resources, and aging infrastructure may all be very real issues. However, I believe that the power of adaptive change requires reconnecting with our passion – the original inspiration of our calling as sources of God’s creative and joyful presence in the world.

Leadership at every level and in every order of the Church in every setting needs to stop making excuses for why things aren’t working, take responsibility for our respective ministries, and make the personal and organizational changes necessary to un-hobble God’s next creative endeavor through us. Egocentric leaders need to be challenged or moved out, dysfunctional systems need to be named and changed, and cultural values that do not serve the community need to be replaced by values that do.  The alternative is to admit to ourselves that our passion just isn’t there anymore, we don’t have the necessary skills, and it’s time to close up shop.

There are ways in which I identify with Chef Ramsay’s lack of tolerance and bluntness in the face of poor leadership and systems that fail both employees and those being served. I have had my Ramsay moments in the Church and then worked hard to initiate and lead meaningful change. When working for change within the system hasn’t been effective, I have been willing to name issues publicly. While some may say that’s not a prudent choice to make, I feel sure that our Church is on course to die a prudent death in the absence of truth telling regarding leadership and/or organizational dysfunction. Only with courage can we find the way forward together and discover anew the delight of creating the Church we envision, by realizing the amazing art of cultivating human encounter through Christ that shares from the resplendent diversity of human identity to feed the world.

Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett, WA Mission Statement:

Forming leaders and building community by seeking and serving Christ in all God’s creation.