Disciple: A Biblical Model of Leadership
By Summerlee Walter
In 2016, the Diocese of North Carolina embarked on an 18-month journey to select a new leader, the bishop who would succeed then-Bishop Michael Curry as the next leader of 120 Episcopal worshiping communities.
We solicited resumes from dozens of candidates before asking for even more information in the form of in-person interviews, biblical reflections and introductory videos from a handful more. All of this before we even introduced the slate of candidates to the public in a series of 10 whistle stops and walkabouts. Our diocese can claim, without hyperbole, our electing convention was the best informed in an Episcopal Church that has seen dozens of transitions during the past three years.
Nevertheless, there’s nothing like seeing a new bishop in action to understand what his leadership style is like in practice. And the Rt. Rev. Sam Rodman is ready to share his overarching vision of leadership in our piece of God’s kingdom with the people of our diocese—and, ultimately, the institutional Church.
“If there’s anything I could do in the leadership of the Church that could have a really life-giving, lasting impact, this is it,” Rodman said. “This really matters to me. I believe in shared leadership and shared power. Especially in a hierarchical structure, if you’re not sharing power, the Gospel is being inhibited.”
And so, Rodman and others are embarking on a mission to share leadership widely and deeply using a model of team leadership.
WHAT IS TEAM LEADERSHIP?
“We (as a culture) train people to excel individually but not to function well as a member or leader of a team. It’s largely absent from our framework,” Rodman said, citing an attitude running throughout high schools, colleges and universities, and on into seminaries. Whether it’s a business pinning its hopes on an external turnaround agent instead of its own leadership to increase sales or a congregation praying for a superstar rector to bring young families to worship instead of inviting their own neighbors to church, our society believes in the rock star who can fix an institution’s problems through charisma and savvy.
From Rodman’s perspective, however, this approach has set the church on collision course with modern challenges.
“It’s like a food desert in our education system,” he explained. “Meeting the needs of the church in the 21st century is going to be dependent on a much more sophisticated team leadership approach in order to survive. And we have very little in the pipeline.”
Rodman’s vision for leadership is influenced by the Leadership Development Initiative, part of Episcopal City Mission in the Diocese of Massachusetts, where he previously served as chief of staff. Primarily, though, it’s informed by a biblical model of discipleship.
“Theologically, there is a good biblical precedent in Jesus sending people out in teams, or at least two-by-two,” he said. “The model for who we are called to be as disciples is the Body of Christ, that is a corporal model. Team is in our DNA if we are the body of Christ.”
Three major implementations of team leadership are developing already in the Diocese: Reimagining Curacies, teams to work with vulnerable congregations and discernment for laypeople.
REIMAGINING CURACIES
In October, the Diocese received nearly $1 million from Lilly Endowment, Inc.’s Thriving in Ministry initiative to fund Reimagining Curacies, a program designed to form newly ordained clergy into community-conscious leaders dedicated to the values of Becoming Beloved Community through authentic community and racial reconciliation. In response to the individualistic education offered by seminaries, Reimagining Curacies disrupts the traditional model of newly ordained clergy serving in one cure for two or three years by placing cohorts of three deacons or priests in three vibrant, neighboring congregations for three years, with each serving one year in each congregation. The placements will be geographically proximate to one another but differ in size, liturgical preference, racial and ethnic composition, community context and specialized ministries, and clergy and lay leaders will support each other in addition to receiving support from all three congregations.
While the Rev. Nathan Kirkpatrick wrote the grant proposal and serves as the point person for developing the program content, the leadership of Reimagining Curacies reflects the initiative’s goal of fostering team leadership. Three different teams of people are working on programming; designing the application process for congregations and curates; and handling administration, oversight and reporting. The first cohort of newly ordained clergy will enter their cures in spring 2020.
SUPPORTING VULNERABLE CONGREATIONS
“Historically with vulnerable congregations, we’ve sent consultants,” Rodman explained. “There’s nothing wrong with consultants, but what congregations need is a variety of perspectives.”
To meet this need and encourage congregations to do the difficult work of reflection and discernment, the Rev. Canon David Sellery, canon for congregational mission, will develop a team-based model of congregational support for vulnerable congregations. (It is worth noting in the context of distributed leadership Rodman’s insistence that the diocesan priority of support for vulnerable congregations references only congregations that self-identify as vulnerable. Instead of a top-down declaration from the Diocese, congregations are invited to ask for help if they need it, regardless of size, location or available resources.)
Teams will include a convening regional canon, deacons, retired clergy, area deans and lay people from the wider Diocese who will walk with congregations during a period of discernment and resource identification. Rodman’s vision is to apply the principles and practices of individual spiritual direction to congregations, so support teams will not resource congregations but will instead act as conversation partners and walk with congregations throughout their discernment.
“A good spiritual director, like a good therapist, holds you accountable to the movement of God and the call of the Spirit,” Rodman explained. Clergy and churches, however, aren’t the only group getting their own focused discernment process.
LAY LEADERSHIP
In January 2019, discussions began regarding a system of discernment for lay leaders in the church. While those exploring a call to ordination as a priest or deacon each have their own COM, no similar body or process exists for lay people seeking to explore their own calls as disciples of Christ without an eye toward ordination. Rodman emphasizes the 21st-century church’s need for a robust system of lay leaders and points out the Holy Spirit is already stirring up lay leaders in congregations and on the diocesan level. The need for lay discernment and leadership development is especially stark considering the composition of our Diocese. While approximately 350 parochial, active and retired clergy live within our Diocese, the number of active, baptized lay people recorded on the 2016 parochial report— 49,873—is more than 140 times that.
The impact of team leadership that includes lay people is also apparent within the diocesan staff, where a staff brainstorming task force formed last year has worked to implement new staff care and development programs and is now turning its attention toward improving the onboarding process for new staff members.
Diocesan accountant Maria Gillespie, a key leader on the task force, explains the need for bringing as many voices—lay and ordained—to the table as possible.
“Team leadership is more well-rounded. It’s not doing things just because it’s been done that way before. There’s new approaches that other people can contribute in order to make decisions that benefit more people.”
Summerlee Walter is the communications coordinator for the Diocese of North Carolina.
Tags: Our Bishops / North Carolina Disciple
