A Welcome Signpost
Given the overwhelming number of global and national issues we currently face, our reading this week is a welcome signpost guiding the way. In the introduction to Jesus and the Powers, authors N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird noted the powerful objective that undergirds their book. They write, ”… in an age of ascending autocracies, Jesus is King, and Jesus’ kingdom remains the object of the church’s witness and work.”[1] I appreciate the historical and scriptural insights which encourage the church-at-large to engage the havoc that reigns within our current political climate, the powers that influence it, and for what purpose. I’m reminded of Anabel Beerel’s thoughts on leadership, “The key task of leadership is to identify, frame, and align people to new realities.”[2] Wright and Bird have provided a compact introduction to addressing our current reality. Using Beerel’s framework, here’s what I gleaned from their writing on the challenges and dilemmas the church is called to encounter in our ever-changing and complex world.
Identify: The church needs to respond to the global crises of our day.[3]
Frame: The church holds the tension of the now and not yet kingdom of God, while facing powers both earthly and heavenly.[4]
Align: The church’s vocation is to build for the kingdom of God.[5]
Wright and Bird make a clear point that the Christians of our generation need a realignment to the challenging realities of our socio-political world. This is what they propose, “The Church’s mission is to be ambassadors of reconciliation, speaking the truth to power, and seeing the powers reconciled to God.”[6] I find connection to Matthew Petrusek in Evangelization and Ideology when he referred to the hyper-politicized climate of our nation. He proposed there is an opportunity to make Christ known.[7] Wright and Bird present the Christians with the opportunity to build for the Kingdom of God.
What does building for the kingdom actually look like? Personally, I think it looks like a commitment to prayer, discernment, words, and actions grounded in divine love. Each response nuanced depending on the situation. When done well, living for the Kingdom can be costly and may not appear successful to those observing or questioning. It’s a strange paradox and potential derailer when living for oneself is more successful, productive, and secure than building God’s kingdom. Building for the kingdom is a call to reflect on whose kingdom we are actually building. Are our churches, ministries, vocations, even our personal lives focused on building for the kingdom or for personal success, recognition, power, or something else?
But what about the powers? Citing Walter Wink, JR Woodward in The Scandal of Leadership, noted the powers are good because they were created by God, though fallen, and therefore capable of evil misuse. More importantly, the powers are redeemable.[8] This is, at least in part, what Wright and Bird are getting at with their invitation to the church and individual Christians to actively build for the Kingdom. The call of Christians is to make an impact for the Kingdom in the midst of harmful ideologies and a divisive political climate, and to redeem those powers. The church seems uniquely suited for this task. Jesus proclaimed,
“ The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,” because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” Luke 17:20-21
That is an awesome and nuanced truth requiring careful interpretation. Jesus’ kingdom is here and not yet. How often do we fail to realize the impact we can and do have in our spheres of influence? We live in anticipation, eagerly awaiting God’s kingdom and while we wait, we remind and demonstrate to the world what Jesus’ reconciled kingdom looks like. God’s mission for us is to bring light into the dark spaces of our culture, address wicked problems, and speak to the powers of our world in order to redeem them. By addressing the powers of this world we challenge the powers in the heavenly realms as well.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12
The struggle with the powers impacts leaders. JR Woodward reminds us of why we need each other. He writes, “An emotionally healthy approach to leadership is polycentric. Within such a community we learn to lead and follow, to share our brokenness and victories, and to help each other mature in Christ for his glory and honor.”[9] We are ushering in the kingdom of God as beloved yet imperfect people. It’s overwhelming to take on facets of our culture and the injustices that surround us alone while building for the kingdom. It’s also dangerous as leaders can easily get caught on the wrong side of the struggle.
With regards to my NPO, I see the toll it takes on ministry leaders to attend well to building for the kingdom in spaces where their faith is devalued, principles misunderstood, and the powers particularly challenging. I see the hard won victories, the heartbreaking losses, the exhaustion, the mis-steps, and the burdens leaders carry. I see seasoned ministry leaders with battle scars and unhealed wounds whose stories of addressing the powers need telling and whose wounds need gentle healing. We need to attend to one another and ask: Where does it hurt? How were the victories won and the defeats managed? What were the challenges and how did we make it through? I’m also considering how my project needs to impact next generation leaders who will take up the challenge to build for the kingdom.
[1] N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, Jesus and the Powers, (Grand Rapids, MI, 2024), xiii.
[2] Annabel Beerel, Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories (London, UK: Routledge, 2021), 286.
[3] Wright and Bird, Jesus and the Powers,7.
[4] Ibid., 51.
[5] Ibid., 7.
[6] Ibid., 73.
[7] Matthew R. Petrusek, Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture (Park Ridge, IL: Word on Fire, 2023), 3.
[8] JR Woodward, The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church (Cody, WY: 100 Movements Publishing, 2023), 83-84.
[9] JR Woodward, Creating a Missional Culture: Equipping the Church for the Sake of the World (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2012), 102.
About the Author
Jenny Dooley
Jenny served as a missionary in Southeast Asia for 28 years. She currently resides in Gig Harbor, Washington, where she works as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Spiritual Director in private practice with her husband, Eric. Jenny loves to listen and behold the image of God in others. She enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her family which include 5 amazing adult children, 3 awesome sons-in-law, a beautiful daughter-in-law, and 8 delightful grandchildren.12 responses to “A Welcome Signpost”
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Hi Jenny,
Wow, this was a great post. I enjoyed here the lessons learned, you shared, from other authors we have read.
I wonder, however, if political theology has distracted me from my “Kingdom work.” This morning I read an article “The Year of Elections Has Been Good for Democracy But the Biggest Test Will Come in America By Francis Fukuyama
September 4, 2024, in Foreign Affairs.
Normally, I would avidly read every word, but today at 0700 I am speaking with a pastor in Kenya to vet a Soccer coach who wants to work with GoodSports.
When I compare these two events I rediscover that my Return to JOY (RARE Leadership) is really in Loving God, Loving Kids, when necessary use sports.
Sigh, I have had a major shift in my priorities since my return from Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary.
The impact that I have on the presidential election is negligible. Despites Fukuyama’s argument that the rise of authoritarian leaders are forcing real democratic debate, I wonder if my energies could best be used elsewhere.
Loving God, Loving kids and using sports when necessary.
Shalom.
Hi Russell,
Thanks for your kind words. This post was a struggle as I’m on grandma duty again for a week. But the return to joy for me was last night when my 10-year old grandson came downstairs because he forgot to say goodnight (at 10pm a little past both our bedtimes). I was doing some edits before I posted and we had a lovely discussion, about school, writing paragraphs, typing skills, the Bible verses I used (which he read aloud to me, and a little bit of leadership. Spending time with children is a quick return to joy for sure! One of my favorite quotes from the book was, “…the Christian faith is meant to be a public faith, for the common good, which compels us to do good, to make good, and to build good in private and public endeavors.” (page 150) No better way to do that then to attend to the needs of children who will one day tackle the worlds problems and injustices (and in the case of the children in Ukraine already are). Thank you for what you do to impact children in a time of war!!
Hi Jenny- I appreciated your post and its synopsis of our reading this week. I really liked how you are working to apply these concepts to your NPO and helping ministry leaders to thrive in this context. I wonder: are there some instances you have seen where the leaders you have worked with have been successful in identifying, framing and aligning to new realities?
Hi Jennifer,
Thank you for your response and the question. I have never heard a leader use those terms but I watched my husband do so in very tough ministry/religious and political situations while overseas. Though everything turned out right and for good in the end. It was costly to him and a challenge to our family. Identify, frame, and align has been in the back of my mind ever since we read Beerel and now coming up as I put together my NPO project. I’m working largely with senior ministry leaders with the hope of supporting next-generation leaders with the official launch. I also just found out that the group I will be working with in October is including next-gen leader. It will be their first time hearing about the project. How about you? Have you noticed leaders using a similar framework? Was it helpful? It may just be more helpful to me. I’m not sure I did all that well with the book!
I was waiting for someone to bring up a Walter Wink reference and you win the prize. I’m not extremely familiar with his work but I was honestly expecting more interaction with him when I originally started reading Jesus and the Powers.
You end your post by hinting at your own doctoral project. If you have had time to consider, I would love to hear more about how the ideas in this book are informing your project.
Hi Kim, My reading of Walter Wink is limited to JR Woodward books and others who quote him. I should read his work firsthand! I don’t know that I have a very clear idea just the awareness that as Christian leaders the powers we encounter take a toll and having safe spaces to talk about it all is needed. In certain countries there are big challenges with political and religious authorities. Knowing that setbacks and defeats do not mean failure is an important truth. The concept of disobeying governing authorities is not culturally normative in many cases and very nuanced. Many Christian leaders continue ministering regardless of the painful impact personally. Some younger Christian leaders may not realize the sacrifices senior leaders have made and therefore unprepared for challenges. I’m not sure that answers your question but the challenge to live in cultures where the Christian faith is not normative brings many opportunities to impact powers. I’m thinking support and preparation could help.
What a helpful and insightful post, Jenny. Good work. My big take away was the reminder of Anabel Beerel’s leadership construct of “identify, frame, and align.”
I needed that reminder, especially as I head into 2025 budget meetings, staff alignment, role delineation, etc.
That’s such a good 3 step process.
Thanks, John!
I’m not the most politically minded person so this book was helpful and a good introduction that pieced a few things together for me. I feel that I have a more lived experience than a highly thought out theo-political view. I hope your 2025 meetings go well. I’d love to hear how “Identify, Frame, and Align” worked for you.
Hi Jenny!
Your post is highly insightful and thoughtfully incorporates perspectives from several sources. I also appreciate how you connected this week’s reading to your NPO. You’ve skillfully identified the strong link between the reading and your project, which focuses on supporting ministry leaders as they bear the heavy burdens of ministry while simultaneously dealing with their own inner struggles that need resolution.
I have questions, how do the long-term challenges experienced by ministry leaders affect their mental and spiritual health, and how overcome those conditions?
What are the most effective methods for preparing future leaders to tackle similar challenges, while preserving the core principles of their faith and mission of their ministry?
Hi Dinka,
Thank you for your kind words and the questions. I hope I’m at least in part addressing your questions with my NPO project. I have witnessed long-term challenges experienced by ministry leaders impact their spiritual and mental health. It often starts with isolation, not having safe people to talk to about their struggles, poor self-care and coping skills, and doing for God rather than being with God. I’ve seen burnout, addictions, illness, moral failure, and loss of faith result. I think isolation and not caring for one’s self emotionally, socially, spiritually, and physically needs to be addressed to combat these conditions. Anything that attends to those that brings balance will support a leader. I think for future leaders being honest and creating safe spaces and connections with other more senior leaders would help tremendously. I have heard leaders say they weren’t prepared for the attacks and challenges that being in ministry presented. These are just some of my own thoughts and observations. What are you noticing among ministry leaders?
“When done well, living for the Kingdom can be costly and may not appear successful to those observing or questioning.”
What a great statement Jenny, I think about this all the time. Kingdom living from the outside can seem weak, idealistic, and counterproductive in a world that prizes competition, ambition, power, success, money, etc. Forgiveness, service, compassion, love, and humility all sound nice on pillows and cards at Hobby Lobby but its a hard sell for human nature and institutions. However, when lived out it is transformational and life giving for everyone. Great post Jenny!
Hi Adam,
I thought your statement was well put, “Kingdom living from the outside can seem weak, idealistic, and counterproductive in a world that prizes competition, ambition, power, success, money, etc.” So true that forgiveness, service, compassion, love, and humility are a hard sell but so transformational. Christians living out these powerful attributes are a force in the world and should be speaking to the powers. I keep thinking about our conversation about Tom Holland’s book, Dominion, (which I will soon read) and how we all are influenced by Christian principles whether we acknowledge them or not. It gets down to choosing to do what we know is hard, but in the end for the common good.