Leadership South: Transformational: Mods to the Theory

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Transformational: Mods to the Theory

Following on from my previous post, my academic supervisor has emphasised that my critique of transformational Christian leadership should propose constructive modifications to current theory. How, therefore, would I modify current theory if I could? High on my list, I think, would be to seek to break the causal link between influencer (the leader) and influenced (the followers), and to restore the direct influence of God on followers (an aspect which is de-emphasised in the literature). In other words, rather than the horizontal relationship between influencer and influenced (which in my view leads to a constellation of serious problems), there would be a triangular relationship between influencer and God on the one hand, and God and influenced on the other. QUESTION: Would this be in keeping with Biblical emphasis? Could leadership realistically function without the purpose of influencing others?

3 comments:

Jenny Hillebrand said...: I know you must have deep thoughts on this, but simply put - can 'leadership realistically function without the purpose of influencing others'?
I probably could answer this by reading your blog more carefully, but - what essentially is the function of leadership?
Nice to have different ideas!; July 21, 2008 at 4:57 PM
Thomas O. Scarborough said...: Thanks Jenny. Your questions are crucial. I have answered them in a simplistic way over on my Ministry blog, and hope I'll have the opportunity to return to them here.; July 23, 2008 at 7:01 PM
Roger Saner said...: Have you come across Pete Rollin's thoughts on leadership as "the leader is the one who makes sure that leadership doesn't happen"? In his latest book, The Fidelity of Betrayal...; November 10, 2008 at 12:04 AM

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Welcome

Again and again I have heard that access to Christian leadership thinking in the Global South is awkward. Not only is it hard to obtain the materials, but they are relatively few, and often they are published in languages other than English. Often, also, seminaries in the Global South will not use home-grown materials, but will import books from the Global North, teaching them in the context of their own Global South ethos. But apart from this, there is a real problem of parochialism in the Global North. If you are a seminary student in the Global North, take a look at your required reading. It is likely that 90-100% originates in the Global North.

I have served in leadership at local, regional, national, and international levels, with varied experience. I recently completed an MTh at the South African Theological Seminary in Johannesburg, and an MA at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California -- both in the fields of Christian leadership. When I started this blog, I considered that, being in the middle of my research, I could share some of the ideas and issues I am working through -- and perhaps engender some discussion.

In my experience, I would consider that the views of this blog are typically Global South. I consider that my colleagues in ministry would share many of these views. However, it stands to reason that this will not be so in every case.

I have used abbreviated references in some posts (e.g. Jinkins M 2002:23), which refers to the author, initial(s), year of publication, and page. In most cases, this should be sufficient for readers to locate the source.