Leading in the Fog

I have never been someone who had definite clear messages from the Divine. My INTJ perfectionist personality, especially in my younger years, gave me a sense of what should be (in my opinion!) but not always a clear vision of how to get there.

Those who have such clear visions are both a wonder and somewhat frightening to me. A wonder because in some way I envy them their certainty and their clarity (and perhaps their assumed closeness to God); and frightening because I have no way to know that their vision is any more God's vision than my perfectionist ideals.

It has always been thus, I think. Moses led the people into the wilderness with great boldness hedged with a sense of fog. When they ask him 'Where are you taking us?' he might rightly reply 'I am not sure.' All he can do is describe what it will be like - unknown, flowing with milk and honey, watered by God and follow a pillar of fire and a cloud.

Leading a mainstream Church, especially in Interim times, is a bit like that. I have no clear definitive vision, but some want me to; the path is to the unknown, but many want the comfortable familiar; the future is in the hands of God, but the makeup of the congregation is dominated by those who have lived in a culture of security and certainty created by their own hands.

Politicians, although they would never acknowledge it, are in a similar boat. They really don't know the outcome of their efforts but they succumb to the demand that they lead with unfailing certainty about the future. If you sound like you know what you are doing, and if you play on the fears and idealistic wishes of those you lead, then you must be a great leader.

Jesus said some wise things to his disciples about how they were to operate. Generally when looking at the leadership of the leaders of his day his words to his disciples were 'It shall not be so among you!'

Leadership in this era of the change of generations and the increase in network ideology is different. Whilst 'I have a vision' may rally people, the expectations of each generation about how to turn that vision into reality will vary. That may be the very difficulty that ministers and leaders face today - there is a multiplicity of generational world views with a consequent multitude of ways of thinking in even our western mainstream culture; a multiplicity that has not existed before.

The car world created the pseudo-category called 'cross-over vehicle'; the mainstream tried a similar thing and called it 'blended' or 'inter-generational'. All these terms are slowly fading into history. Now we must deal increasingly with a generation that has whole different process for doing things. Those of us trained by the former culture have to lead into the new culture.

No wonder we feel like people in a fog. Lord give us eyes to see the pillar of fire and the cloud.