What Makes a Good Leader? Maybe Not What You Think.

This weekend is a pretty special one for the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio. We will join together for our annual Diocesan Convention.
Yeah, sounds exciting, right? Kinda like watching paint dry.
But, it is important. We will set the agenda for the coming year as well as elect officers for various committees and such. It is truly like a big corporate meeting of stockholders.

This year, however, we will also be electing a new Bishop. Our current Bishop, The Right Reverend Mark Hollingsworth, Jr., is retiring in 2023. We will be choosing the person who will lead our diocese into the next chapter of our life together. And, in a way, we will also be actually choosing the direction of that next chapter. The person chosen will imprint her own life and character on who we are and where we go as a diocesan community.

Oh, did I mention that there are three candidates? And, they’re all women?

Not that it should matter, but in a highly patriarchal culture, electing women to the highest authority is both noteworthy and long overdue.

But, that’s not what I wanted to write about today. There are lots of others who are carrying that load.

This morning in prayer, I reflected on the choice we will make this Saturday. We’re fortunate in that all of the candidates are eminently qualified. So, in a way, we cannot lose. Whomever is elected will do an outstanding job as we move forward together.
We’re also fortunate that we have clear choices. We will not be simply choosing who our favorite is out of 3 clones. They each have different character, temperament, strengths, and opinions.

So, who to choose? If all three are great choices, does it really matter who gets the nod?

Yeah, I kinda think it does.
Let me explain…

Throughout my life following Jesus, I have been lead by men, (it’s always men, amirite?), who were alpha males and authoritarian control-freaks. They ran our church(es) with iron hands and would not entertain any questions to their decisions. After all, wasn’t Jesus the Lord over His disciples? Didn’t Paul and Peter and James hold the early church to strict adherence to their rule? These men made sure that their idea of what being a christian was enforced as the ‘Only Way to be a True Christian.’ Any deviation was met with swift rebuke.

However, for the last few years I’ve experienced a different sort of leadership. I’ve been blessed to work with a person who seems to trust God with much of what we do. He has been a pastor and shepherd, to be sure. But, he hasn’t told us how we sheep should chew our grass. For the first time in my life in Jesus, I think that I’m experiencing what some call Servant Leadership. While he knows clearly and accepts his position and responsibility, he also seems to understand, when the people are doing well and are happy, so is the church. And, so is his job, I’m sure.

The reason I mention this at all is because that is the choice we have this weekend. While all three candidates are good ones, only one has revealed a Servant’s heart. The other two will certainly be good. Much will get done in the diocese. Many very good things.
But, only one, I think, will bring life to the position. Life that she will share with all of us who live and work in our churches.

I, for one, know where my choice lies.