Why Aspirational Leadership is not Enough

Even some relatively large churches have negligible influence on decision-making at the top-tier level within their cities.

We wonder why we have no voice when policy-makers and culture-shapers attempt to meddle with marriage and other fundamental cornerstones of the Christian worldview.

It is partly because we focus only on the short-term focus of aspirational leadership and neglect the more long-haul emphasis of strategic leadership.

Cultural impact may not sound very 'sexy' to postmodern Christian ears, but it is vital to supporting the work of proclamation; it is part of evangelism. The same Jesus who commanded us to go into all the world, preaching and making disciples, commanded us to behave as salt and light in the world.

Jesus likened his church to a 'city on a hill' - that is, a microcosm of what the city could be if it lived under the values he espoused.

The further a culture's ideals and values move away from the teaching of scripture, the harder we must work to bring even small groups of people into a relationship with Christ.

Hence the oft-repeated scriptural emphasis on sowing as the precursor to reaping. If the soil is not properly prepared and the seed is not nurtured, the seed will not take root and there will be no crop - no matter how skilful the reaper.

Jesus intended us to see that this is as axiomatic for entire cultures and communities as it is for individual hearts.

Sowing must be as well planned and deliberate as the reaping process. Yet aspirational leadership is focused almost entirely on the latter; only strategic thinking gives a practical basis for better sowing.

There is no such thing as pre-evangelism. There is only evangelism - and sowing is as much a part of it as reaping, albeit one that is now chronically underfunded.

Only strategic leadership, inspired by the Holy Spirit, can get a church out of an instant-results-only mentality into a more lasting culture-impacting form of outlook and action.

Strategic leadership, because it focuses on addressing long-term needs, produces the type of commitment and action that turns a local church into a hub of hope, ideas and activism for the city as a whole.

Aspirational leadership, because it focuses or relies largely upon the charisma of an individual leader, usually produces change over a relatively small area.

Some will argue that the power of media such as TV and the internet has changed this, allowing charismatic leaders to have influence way beyond their own locality.