Who does leadership?

I’m putting two gatherings side by side, in my mind, today.

Yesterday I was at our Baptist Union Council gathering and today we have the final Cluster gathering of our Partnership for Missional Church.

Whilst I recognise they are two very different gatherings, both are, on the face of it, engaged in the same business. This was particularly highlighted this week.

BUGB Council agreed we were about ‘growing and nurturing healthy communities of missionary disciples in covenant relationship with one another in order to enable them to participate in the mission of God.’

PMC is about gathering churches to facilitate transition towards becoming missional communities of God’s people.

At both there has been a degree of attention paid upon leadership. One contrast was presented to me first thing this morning. The passage we use during year three of PMC is Acts 6: 1-7, where a leadership team is appointed as a result of conflict (around diversity and resources issues, which both featured at BUGB Council), where there’s attention paid to both movement and establishment, where practical outcomes and spiritual intentionality are found in creative tension.

In one gathering the uppermost question for the leadership appears to be ‘what is God saying and how do we respond to that’?

In the other gathering the uppermost question appears to be ‘what do I want and how can we get in on the group holding the power’?

I confess to one filling me with energy and the other draining it out of me.