Crisis of Forgiveness

There has been much discussion in the Global North over the “crisis of leadership”. Walter C. Wright (Relational Leadership) considers: “The crisis of leadership, I believe, is a crisis of forgiveness. Leaders are expected to lead without mistakes” (Wright W C 2000:202). Supposing for a moment that Wright is correct, I would understand it like this. Leaders may be condemned by the law -- or leaders may be redeemed by grace. It is by the law that their mistakes are revealed -- it is by grace that the unmerited acts of God through them are cherished. QUESTION: Why are leaders being “condemned by the law”? What lies at the root of this?

Definition of the Call/Calling

Dr. George N. Malek must be one of South Africa's most abstruse theologians. Among his many publications is a fourteen-page booklet titled The Calling to the Priesthood. A common view of calling is that it is to see what will be, i.e. it is synonymous with vision. It is "a vision from the Lord" (Halcomb J, Hamilton D and Malmstadt H 2000:65). In contrast, Malek considers that the calling is to see what is not -- in fact, to see what cannot be through human agency. He introduces "the nature of the calling" with the well known passage Isaiah 6:3-8. This includes Isaiah's words: "Woe is me! For I am lost ..." Malek writes: "The nature of the calling begins not by 'hearing a call from God', but by seeing, perceiving the condition of man without God" (Malek G N 1997:1). This includes the condition of ministry without God. He warns of the call that departs from this, and "turns into ethics" (:11). The calling is about "the point of banishment" (:9) -- again, to see what is not, and cannot be through human agency -- and therefore the calling has to be "involved in the reality of God" (:8). "A call is the total poverty of man in the hands of Almighty God" (:7). QUESTION: How is such theology applied?

Model of Despair?

Leighton Ford (Transforming Leadership) asks: "Given our all-too-human feelings of inadequacy, in what sense can Jesus be taken as our leadership model? ... If we are not what he is, then is his leadership model not a model of despair?" Ford offers eight possible answers (Ford L 1991:30). Personally, I don't find any one of them really speaks to the point -- but it's a vital question. QUESTION: Is not "Jesus the model" essentially the same as "Moses the lawgiver" -- only that much more exacting? How would the Christian leader lead through grace rather than law?