Leadership South: Principle or Faith?

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Principle or Faith?

In Courageous Leaders (see photo), James Halcomb, David Hamilton, and Howard Malmstadt state: “Through the Ten Commandments, God the Master Teacher trains His people how to think, ...” (Halcomb J, Hamilton D and Malmstadt H 2000:223). The important thing, they write, is “to train oneself in implicational thinking”. They make no reference to the first four commandments (the so-called “first table”, which deals with humanity’s responsibility to God), but plunge straight into the next six: “Let’s consider the final six commandments ...” They consider that all of these commandments have to do with the principle: “life is valuable” (:223). So, for instance, murder is forbidden because human life is “of immense worth” (:224); theft is forbidden because “objects represent [the investment of] life”; and so on. Yet consider another possibility. Given a faith in the God of the first four commandments, which includes a belief in His sovereign power over human circumstance, there then remains e.g. no need to remove troublesome people through murder, and no need to acquire more than one has through theft, as one is assured that every circumstance of life is under God’s good care. What does this have to do with Christian leadership? Following Halcomb, Hamilton, and Malmstadt, Christian leadership is about “implicational” principles which “drive every courageous leader” (:228). Following the second option, Christian leadership is about trust in a sovereign God. QUESTION: Should the Christian leader be driven by “implicational” principles, or by faith in a sovereign God? Does faith generate behaviour as suggested? Might the principle “life is valuable” be a mere “idol” in the presence of God Himself?

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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.