The Devious and Compromised Leader

I was reflecting on some of my experience of leaders in the church recently and was struck by thinking how common two characteristics have been: deviousness and compromise. This has been my experience of leaders in a mixed mainline denomination, but it has also been my experience of theologically conservative evangelical leaders. In fact, I recognise the temptations and failures in my own leadership with these characteristics.

Deviousness

As we've read through Luke's Gospel as a church, I've been struck again by the deviousness of much of the leadership of Israel. For example, we read of their attempts to question Jesus' authority (Luke 20:1-8) or the attempts to spy on and trap Jesus (Luke 20:20-26), all to find a way to kill him (Luke 19:47-48).

I'm also reminded of Paul's approach to ministry "renounc[ing] disgraceful, underhanded ways" (2 Corinthians 4:2).

The complex thing here is found in another passage in Luke, where Jesus encourages his disciples to have what might be called a "worldly wisdom" for the kingdom in the parable of the dishonest/shrewd manager (Luke 16:1-9).

When we might want to claim we're being shrewd, but are actually being devious, I think two reflections are helpful. First, our motives are often wrong. We might not be out to kill the Saviour as the leaders of Israel were, but we are all too often not out for the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of ourselves. How often have I watched denominational leaders skilfully undermine a church or a church leader, or a church leader manipulate a meeting, or sow a gossipy seed of doubt to achieve their purposes.

Second, our methods are wrong. We are disgraceful and underhanded. Perhaps we are hypocrites. We do what it takes to get the money or the position we need, even if the truth or a colleague is a casualty.

How easy it is for us to tip over from being shrewd into being devious. In this sense, I've had many conversations with evangelicals telling me how clever they are being, perhaps with liberal denominational authorities, perhaps in their own church, who have left me feeling that the last thing I would want is to be led by them!

Compromise

It is easy to compromise on the things that matter and yet it is disastrous - especially for church leaders. I've been deeply affected by the teaching of 2 John 8-11 over the last few years. I think much leadership compromise begins with an unwillingness to set real distance between ourselves and a false teacher and John reminds us that when we fail on this we "take part in his wicked works."

Again, it's complex though. We know that we need to prioritise unity from, for example, Jesus prayer (John 17:20-21), although I wonder if too often we forget that this needs to be unity in truth (John 17:17-19). We also know that we shouldn't separate from people over everything. We need to have an attitude of grace over many issues, even if we see them as important (we have to reflect on Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 for example).

But in reality, grace tips over into compromise. We will stay silent about key truths, we will worship with and meet with those who deny key truths and we will betray those who try to speak up. I've seen this in both a mixed denomination and a conservative evangelical context. Maybe it's a desire not to rock the boat or cause offense. Other times it's to avoid saying something that would cause problems, prevent progression or undermine personal ministry plans.

Again each time I've seen someone do this I learned a key lesson about them. I wouldn't want to be led by you!

One of the things leadership books often get you to do is imagine the eulogy at the your funeral. It's a way of getting your priorities in order so you live life for the right things. Christians might be better to imagine standing before their God! Either way, I'm pretty sure most of us wouldn't wanted to be characterised as devious and compromising! Wise and gracious maybe, but how easy it is to tip over from supposed wisdom and graciousness into wholly ungodly and unlikeable characteristics!