servant leadership

Spiritual leadership is the leadership of the Good Shepherd. As Jesus says, good shepherds know their sheep, and their sheep know them (see John 10:14). There must be a true mutuality between shepherds and their sheep. Good leaders know their own, and their own know them. Between them is mutual trust, mutual openness, mutual care, and mutual love. To follow our leaders we cannot be afraid of them, and to lead our followers we need their encouragement and support. ... Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd to show the great intimacy that must exist between leaders and those entrusted to them. Without such intimacy, leadership easily becomes oppressive. Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

So much of Nouwen's writing provokes thought and when reflected on I can find real circumstances where people feel oppressed or walked over or ignored. Often we don't need to change things for things sake. We need to change ourselves for God's sake. As I listened on my trip I found so much which reminded me of this. Christian leadership is not about management but about recognizing who is the owner/leader and being attentive to Him.

Reflections on my UK trip part 1

Sometimes we behave like children in a toy shop. We want this, and that, and then something else. The many options confuse us and create an enormous restlessness in us. When someone says, "Well, what do you want? You can have one thing. Make up your mind," we do not know what to choose. - As long as our hearts keep vacillating among these many wants, we cannot move forward in life with inner peace and joy. That is why we need inner and outer disciplines, to go beyond these wants and discover our mission in life. Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

I'm glad to be home. That seems like a strange statement given that I went home but the paradoxes of my life are exposed. The UK isn't home anymore. It feel distantly familiar and meeting family and friends was good but it isn't home. But here isn't really home either because there is much which isn't familiar and I still don't understand. This perhaps is a new understanding for me of being in and not of the world.

Two thing's struck me on my trip home and coming home. One was the rampant consumerism and hedonism. Every other shop seemed to be a restaurant/pub /coffee shop, and the supermarkets have become an overwhelming wall of choice. The other, a new need for purpose or direction in life, perhaps even identity. I found this walking around looking and listening - all the while reading and thinking about Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell of Mars Hill fame. I suppose I was experiencing the homegenization effect of globalization. We need to sharpen our reading skills especially for our culture.