Leadership on the Line, Chapter 4: Think Politically

Most people I know decry politics in the church and participate heavily in them. How odd is that. I think this chapter helps us to remember that there is no such thing as a church or church system without politics. The word comes from a Greek root which simply means "Citizen." Therefore being political is acting within the rights and responsibilities of a citizen. In Church that would mean acting like a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Oh that this were as easy as I make it sound. The clear problem is that people differ in what the Kingdom of God looks like.

When people have clear differences it is important to try to steer the church toward the leader's vision of God's preferred future. That vision needs to be clearly presented. When people can see what it is it becomes easier for them to follow. However, vision casting is not the final answer. Rather it's the beginning of bringing people on board through that nasty little word known as politics.

I would suggest that most of us hear the word "politics" and assume that a negative form or manipulation is going on. Let me use a metaphor here. Yesterday I went to visit a chiropractor that goes to our church. We were talking about something unrelated to my healthcare but in the midst of our conversation I felt that he wanted me to have comfort in my life. I've been in a car accident many years ago and occassionally feel the pain in my neck. I trusted him to do the techniques he's trained in to manipulate muscle and bone to find comfort. The reality is that it hurt bad last night and I had to take some ibuprofen just to get comfortable, but today it feels real good.

In the example above I came to trust the vision of health that was cast. I allowed the manipulaton because of that trust. The change was uncomfortable at first, but the long term benefit came and I will trust him more in the future.

Can you see the obvious translation into politics. Healthy church politics first builds trust. Once trust is established, the people will allow an amount of manipulation. The change is always uncomfortable at first. However, if that change is God inspired, it will bring great benefits that will result in futher trust in the future.