On-going dialog: Is the church called to focus it’s energies and resources on raising up leaders or making disciples?

There has been a lot of usage of the term ‘narrative’. It seems to be less threatening than the concepts found in the ideas of tradition.  Narrative is the story.  The meta-narrative being the overarching story of history and the purposes of God. You probably have heard this stuff from the likes of Erwin McManus and Donald Miller.

But if I could use that term to apply to discipleship and leadership I believe it helps reveal the distinctions.  Discipleship is the impartation and incarnation of the Christian narrative.  Discipleship embodies the narrative.  Leadership is different. It is not a self-contained story.  It is not a narrative.  It is an act of deployment.  Leadership can be connected to any narrative.  It can be connected to the narrative of Delta Airlines, Starbucks, a school district… Anything.  It is not the narrative. It is not Christian nor is it anti-Christian.  It needs a vision or a narrative to define it.

I think the problem we are seeing is the attempt to make leadership not only a narrative but to make it the meta-narrative.  In churches we are using people with leadership skills who possess the wrong or no narrative.  In other instances we are supplanting the Christian narrative with that of corporate America.  Our leadership criteria is no longer humility, godliness, compassion (elements of the Christ narrative).  We use words like sharp, articulate, affluent, innovative.  Leadership is no longer double helixed around the discipleship narrative.

The problem is that it works!  It builds better driven churches.  But more and more the average parishioner can not communicate or incarnate the Christ narrative.  Leaders become the masters of Tweet-verse instead of Biblical verse.

This must change or we will lose the next generation.  The unbelieving baby boomer at least knew the images of the Christian narrative (cross, manger..). This next generation has no narrative.  Leadership alone will not and can not give it to them.