Suddenly Canada finds herself in a leadership crisis. The pillar of one political party is suddenly shaken, while the opposition struggles to identify not only a party leader, but a leader who might win a spring election. Clichés and opinions about leadership abound, and in Canadian politics many of them are about to be put to the acid test.

The need for leaders in the church is self evident. Not so self evident is the profile of leadership among the people of God. Because we all want to be good leaders, pastors have, of late, been snatching up leadership books as fast as they tumble from the press. And this is good, for we need help in skill building as well as clarity in concepts. I wonder if you notice, however, that most of the books have to do with leadership from one particular sector of society – business. This has strengths, for there is a part of the church that has a business profile, and there are other parts where analogies from business are productive and potentially serendipitous. However, you will perhaps agree that leadership of God’s people, while containing earthly dimensions, requires a supernatural ability and that this divine element must be present and must be sensed by the congregation in leaders of the flock.

The scriptures use one central image to capture this transcendent dimension of spiritual leadership; the image of oil being poured on the head. We see this picture as far back as Aaron, although no doubt it preceded him. It appears in the odd story of the young David being anointed secretly and from the Psalms the image grew into a title: The Anointed One.

I think that because Christ, the Anointed One, became the title for our Saviour, church leaders after him were not literally anointed with oil but had hands laid on them as a sign of the anointing, of the coming of the Holy Spirit with power and gifts for the fulfillment of the task.

Consequently, in the history of the church, this laying on of hands to launch a leader has been treated with profound respect by all the communities of the Lord in all lands. Granted, perhaps in some times and places it has been treated with way too much respect, for anointing in itself does not bring holiness.

While that is true, we might consider if the pendulum has not swung to the opposite side. Because we see respect as distance and because we desire accessibility, many of us have adopted a variety of strategies that are designed to create openness and approachability. Our fathers in ministry were on this page early when they stopped using special clothes that signified them as clergy, and it was later followed by an informalization of address, even in print, from Reverend Smith to Pastor Smith, from Pastor Smith to Pastor Bob, from Pastor Bob to Bob. And I am not here to criticize that, just to point it out.

Well, alright, maybe I do want to criticize it just a wee little bit. Not so much the title thing but the attitude that is growing out of this fertile ground in our churches. The only way I can describe it is to say that I sense an attitude oblivious to the charisma of the Holy Spirit that sets certain people apart and that the manifestations of this anointing are to be given profound respect. I will go this far: the degrading of respect is not only a sign; it is an active cause of the loss of glory and thanksgiving being given to Christ for supplying his church with anointed leaders.

A loss of respect can be sensed in counseling where solid advice is not taken, in rebuking where pastors are bluntly told to mind their own business, in church discipline where congregations are aghast at the very idea that the pastor speaks of boundaries, and in the attitude with which people listen to sermons – listening to them as opinion rather than as God’s word for me today.

Am I calling for us to go back to deferential titles, special discounts, reserved parking spots? No, not at all. The respect should be for what God has given, namely, anointing for leadership. The leadership, as I hope to write to you from time to time, shows itself in different ways in different pastors; that is, it emerges openly in some, and through other gifts such as teaching or administration in others. But we need to turn back to respect, because this is not something the spiritual leader has chosen, or taken on, or been trained or developed for, it is something that has been done by God himself.

Is anything to be done? Well, I certainly do not advise preaching to the people that they need to show more respect. May I make one simple suggestion? I think we should begin by respecting the anointing that we ourselves carry – not respecting ourselves, but respecting the anointing. Remember that Jesus said that none of us, by thinking hard, can add a cubit to our stature. So it was not by anything we did that we were called to have these holy drops of heavenly oil splashed on our soul. But splashed they were, and we, perhaps above all others, need to honour and respect the fact that Christ has chosen, in this time and place, among these people, to inhabit the leadership of his church in us. We need to be the first to thank and give glory to Christ that he has raised up leaders, and be humbly grateful that we ourselves are among them.

Your very real friend,

Franklin Pyles

President,
The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada