05-30-2019 The Connection

I believe that good leadership comes out of a mature relationship with God and with the follower. If we have not received the true love of God, how can we give the people true love? If we have not led by the grace of God, how can we drive the people to the grace of God?

According to Henri Nouwen’s reflections, we can build up a good spiritual relationship with God through contemplate prayer, listening to the voice of God (pp 42-45). When we know and taste the first love of God such as unconditional and unlimited love (p 38), unlike the second love found in a relationship with others (p 40), such as affection and support, we are able to discover our true identity (God’s beloved children) in God’s first love (p 42). Therefore, for being a good leader of the world, we have to be deeply rooted in God’s first love. And it will make us know who we are and why we are.

So we must ask ourselves these questions:

Am I listening to the voice of God rather than my own voice or another's voice?
If so, how does it affect my life and faith?

When I'm discouraged or frustrated from the dissatisfaction of myself, God always turns my eyes from my weakness to God's strength so that I can discover God's grace and mercy in my weakness. Thus for me, listening to God's voice is significant part of my spiritual life. It always raises me up in the power of God's love.

The most impressive part of this book was about servant leadership: “…ministers and priests are also called to be full members of their communities, are accountable to them and need their affection and support, and are called to minister with their whole being, including their wounded selves” (p 69).

Pastoring the church is not running church business. It is to cultivate a trustful faith community. So I have to work and live for the people and with the people. For that, I need to know who you are to find your needs in pastoral care. Also, I need to let them know who I am. When I am open-minded to people by sharing myself and my life, you also open yourself to me. It should be an interactive relationship.

Sometimes we are afraid of sharing our wounded selves because we may lose our authority and power from people. However, it's not the truth. Good leadership doesn't come from perfectness. It always comes out of the authentic self and authentic relationship. When I'm willing to share how to overcome my weakness and how to handle my failure as a limited human being, I can see that makes people trust me more. By revealing my struggle to the people, I have to show what God has done for me. Through vulnerability, we can find solidarity in a point of sameness.

I also want to ask your status; How’s your soul in God? Are you deeply rooted in God’s love? Are you listening to God’s voice? How much do you open your hearts and lives to the church family? Do you have any small group or people in the church that can share your weakness and brokenness? If not so, how can we make it happen, to love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself? How can we interact well with each other in a limited time, space and chance? When congregants used to sit only with the same people in the pew and in the fellowship hall, how can we have a deeper fellowship with them? Do we know enough each other's life, pain, and joy? How can we spend more quality time with our church family by sharing our life matters? Having a meeting and communal worship can’t be enough quality time. Through small groups, Bible study, visitation, prayer group and so on… we need to listen to each other’s voice.

Intentionally, we have to make something different in our faith community for authentic fellowship. Jesus said to the disciples in John 13:34-35, “³⁴I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have a love for one another."