The Emotionally Healthy Church, Expanded Edition by Peter Scazzero & Warren Bird

Author:Peter Scazzero & Warren Bird [Scazzero, Peter L. & Bird, Warren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2019-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

It Rippled through the Leadership

One of the exceptional qualities of New Life is that leaders, on all levels, share their weaknesses freely and speak often of God’s mercy. As one of our pastors recently said, “It’s really hard to get fired off staff unless you refuse to be broken and humble.” An expectation exists to be teachable, correctable, and willing to do ongoing work on your own issues. There are no Christian heroes here. Just people.

Worship, ministry, and small group leaders are encouraged to tell their stories of weakness and brokenness as they lead others. It is perhaps the one indispensable quality for successful service at New Life.

Adam is a young, gifted leader who moved to New York City a couple of years ago. The following is his account, in his own words, of his cultural clash and journey.

I had life all figured out. Ministry? I had it all figured out too. I was young, I was confident, I was invincible. I had been a Christian for a little over a decade, and in my mind, there was no question too complex or circumstance too deflating to knock me from the top of Christendom. I was told that I had lots of gifts, a number of natural leadership abilities, and a knack for influence.

As a result, I was a defensive, feisty, and often unteachable Christian who masqueraded as the humble hero. I would listen to people, but not really listen. I was often impatient with others, and I tended to give advice to anyone and everyone, just because I thought that was my duty and “gift” to them. I valued strength more than weakness, dogma more than grace, perfection more than brokenness. I was confident in the abilities God had given me.

I lived out my parents’ advice to me as a young boy: “You can be messy, but just don’t show it to others.”

Coming to New Life and hearing about vulnerability and brokenness was shattering. It seemed too risky — nice enough to sound good and idealistic, but at the same time a little too dangerous and improbable. To be honest, it was a bit terrifying.

But it was liberating. It gave me a fresher, newer way of seeing the gospel, of understanding grace, and of appreciating and worshiping the humble King as I never had before. I learned to trust him even when I didn’t have the answer to everything, and I learned to listen. I learned to say “I don’t know” when really, I didn’t know. I learned to see people through a new lens, a lens of grace and sympathy, a lens of compassion and humility.

I learned that leadership is not always being the strong one; instead, it is being the weak one who is made strong by God alone. I have come to realize that oftentimes, I could learn a lot from other people if I wasn’t so insistent on being right.

In a nutshell, I learned that I was not as whole as I thought I was.

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