Ruth Haley Barton has an excellent article (which may not be reproduced without her permission) on this theme. Quoting a former contestant on the reality show Survivor who said, “I didn’t want to be the leader because the leader always gets voted off the island,” Barton examines the inevitability of pain and unpopularity in Christian leadership. She says the Scriptures are ‘unflinchingly honest’ about this, but it had passed me by until I quickly started finding myself in the crossfire within weeks, if not days, of beginning in the ministry. She argues that the recipé for spiritual sustenance is the discipline of solitude – being alone with God, away from the ego-feeding busyness of ministry.
Technorati Tags: RuthHaleyBarton, leadership, ministry, solitude
Big Circumstance 
Hi Dave, thanks for this link. I would not survive in ministry leadership without times of solitude and reflection.
A new book on leadership has just been released today that I would highly recommend to pastors/ministers. Authored by Dr John Jackson, “Leveraging Your Leadership Style” will help leaders lead in the way they have been “wired” to lead rather than by being someone they are not.
“Leveraging Your Leadership Style” is now available at Amazon.com. You can read a brief excerpt from the Introduction at Ra’ah (http://australianpastors.blogspot.com/)
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Wayne,
Thanks for the book recommendation. I note from Amazon.co.uk that it’s due for publication here in September and is currently advertised for the princely sum of £5.46. I’ve put it in my wish list. I think the issue of leading according to the way you are ‘wired’ is a critical issue, especially when popular traditional expectations of the minister unconcsiously centre on the traits of extravert character. Two examples: (1) I was berated by one couple for not being like another minister they knew, who had put on a sports event for children and then invited the parents. This minister went round and spoke to every parent who came – allegedly, about a hundred. (2) Our ‘Pastoralia’ tutor at college told us that every afternoon we had to visit at least five people (and if you called on someone who wasn’t in, they didn’t count towards your five). Both these models assume extraversion. As an introvert who makes a small number of deep friendships rather than a lot, both these approaches are deeply unhelpful to me. If Jackson’s book develops the positives of introvert leadership I shall lap it up!
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