HIS POWER MADE PERFECT

Leadership is probably one of the biggest and most daunting words I have ever come across. It’s only 3 syllables and 10 letters long yet the questions and expectations it raises are numerous. What exactly is leadership? Who is a leader? Do only men lead? What does it entail? What is good leadership? What is bad leadership? How does anyone know how to lead?

It makes sense that leadership requires vision and a courageous determination to bring people to the fulfilment and realisation of that vision. However, when I think about all the big leaders of the world I don’t understand how I could ever match up to their courageous determination, drive, and vision.

Ghandi, Mother Theresa, King David, Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill, Barack Obama, William Wilberforce, Nelson Mandela, Moses... they all seem to have one thing in common which I can’t help but associate with the vision and courage of leadership which we talk about... STRENGTH.

When I think about leadership in the context of an SCA and I try and link that with the perception of the great leaders gone before, a perception which says we must be strong in a “have-it-all-together” kind of way, it’s so easy to see my pit falls. To see the many places where I don’t necessarily measure up to the high bar set through the simple phrase – leadership. You see for me, and I’m sure for most, the word WEAK just doesn’t feature as being a valued characteristic of anybody with good leadership.

But what about Christ?

In Isaiah 53 we read about a leader who was potentially the greatest leader of all time but a leader who none the less was “led like a lamb to the slaughter” who “was despised and rejected by men... and we esteemed him not”. Jesus was not portrayed as the strong charismatic leader we would hope or expect Him to be. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus had amazing vision and courageous determination but what we fail to remember is that in all His glory as God, Jesus was also fully human. Although as God he was strong, stronger than any leader we could imagine, it was in His weakness as a man that His strength becomes most evident. For as Jesus knelt in the garden of Gethsemane and prayed in anguish “Father... take this cup from me” (Luke 22:42) He did not pretend to be anything more than the man He was. Jesus acknowledged His humanity. He acknowledged His weakness and inadequacy and He gave it to God, coming before God just as He was. It was in this place that God’s strength shone through.

As leaders of SCA or CF there is often an assumption that you have to “have-it-all-together” that as the Christian leaders in your school you have to be strong, courageous and determined – that you have to assume a higher level of holiness. Whilst for the most part it is good to be steadfast as you move towards the vision of God it is equally important that you acknowledge your weakness. Acknowledge that at times you don’t have the answer, that you are tired, that you feel inadequate... then present these things to God, together as a committee (Phil 4:6). There is strength in your vulnerability and in your unity.

Leadership may involve strength and courage but it also requires a genuineness and realness about our humanity. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable, to feel you don’t have it all together because God’s “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:8). 

Jane Hoffe

SUSS Volunteer