In the second chapter of their book Follow Me to Freedom, Shane Claiborne and John Perkins discuss the leadership principle of leading in, from and through pain. Pain is unavoidable. Whether it is us as leaders who are in pain, or the people whom we are leading, it is a reality that we all must face to some point. It is not something that we should avoid, however. On page 37, Perkins says, “Most effective leaders are the ones who recognize real pain, lead from within that pain and lead the people out of their own pain. Of course, joy is a wonderful emotion and experience. God created joy, but it is not the starting place. Joy is a result or outcome. Pain is the beginning.”[1] Joy is great, and it is something that we should all strive for, and as leaders it is a place that we want to lead our followers. But the reality is that we often have to go through pain to get ther. We have to go through loss and suffering. This is a very poignant truth, especially given the fact that it is Holy Week and I write this on Good Friday. Jesus knows more than any one of us the truth of pain. As a leader, he did not avoid the issue, nor tell his followers that it would be best for them to avoid it either. No, he willingly took up the cross, suffered, and died for his followers. And he calls us all to do the same.
[1] Shane Claiborne and John Perkins, Follow Me to Freedom: Leading and Following as an Ordinary Radical, (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2009), 37.
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ReplyDeleteI think that Claiborne and Perkins make a lot of sense in this post. While joy is a welcome blessing and gift from the Lord in our lives, it is often through pain that the Lord grows us and teaches us what it means to live a life for Jesus. In our cohort group this year we have talked about how the Lord uses our lives as our very own “case studies.” Because we are ministering to those who are often in painful situations, one of the ways that we learn how to be a blessing to our parishioners is through our own experience with similar struggles. For example, as we struggle financially through Seminary, trying our best to maintain a part-time or full-time job as we pay our student loans, we are learning what it’s like to live without much money. This prepares us to minister to those in our congregations who have lost jobs and are dealing with stressful financial situations. If we have lived amazingly blessed lives, full of ease and peace, we will probably not know how to respond well to those who are encountering struggles in their life.
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