Over the past few years it’s been painful to see leader after leader called out for their actions. Thank you to those who have been brave enough to do so. These are national leaders from the churches I’ve grown up in, many of whom have been personal heroes and I have their books on my shelf. The story is the same for many of us, and our ecclesiology, theology and leadership styles, are being utterly rocked. And rightly so. Let’s not let this horrendous season pass without letting God shape us, free us and lovingly create a different culture in us.
The bravery of those standing up to power, reaches into the dark places of our hearts and shines a light on the places where power has been wielded unfairly and unjustly in our lives, either by ourselves or by others over us. Personally, this has painfully opened my eyes to discover where I have been harmfully impacted by controlling Church cultures. It’s like coming out of a long movie at the cinema on a sunny day. You’ve been comfy in the darkness and as you leave, daylight painfully burns your eyes making you feel uncomfortable and out of place for a moment as reality settles in. When you’re right in the middle of a harmful situation, you don’t always know what’s going on, you’re in the cinema, and then you leave it and God opens your eyes, daylight. It unearths deep pains, and reveals habits that you’ve adopted because of the culture you were once in. It helpfully, highlights where you once were not free and uncomfortably forces you to face reality. I had no idea how painful freedom can be. If this speaks to you, please take the time to seek God and to seek help from those who are trained to counsel you well. Please be aware that this is unearthing a lot of damage in our church cultures, and that those who have been directly hurt, or who are discovering how this impacts them, may be in your community.
Over the last couple of decades I’ve witnessed many charismatic evangelical leaders called out of larger urban church environments into rural mission, and we will have inadvertently bought some of the harmful culture with us. In particular there’s been a culture of hero worship, where people’s ministry becomes the focus of our attention rather than God. Perhaps Paul knew a thing or two about this when he called out the church in Corinth for siding with different teachers. The church in Corinth liked other teachers more than Paul because they were more eloquent, we have liked different leaders because they are charismatic, or telling incredible spiritual stories or able to expound the scriptures in a captivating manner. Our love for our leaders has given them a high profile that has enabled an unhealthy culture. It’s essentially man over God. We need to ask ourselves how have we aided this culture, and bring ourselves to God’s table for repentance and forgiveness. We need to walk with our brothers and sisters to create a different culture of humility, accountability and every person ministry. Much of the pioneering world already tries to do this, but I am beginning to see the same names pop up everywhere. Let’s be careful not to repeat history and keep inviting other inspiring voices into the conversation. Let’s not be about who’s in the room, let’s be about Jesus.
I want to write a poetic conclusion, but just can’t find the words to finish this article without sounding glib and contrite. This is not a moment for that, so I end with a simple prayer:
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
Jo Allen
Director: South West