Second Look: Leadership as Pain-Bearing

by Gary Corwin

Evangelical books and seminars make much of the concept of servant leadership. And well they should. It’s biblical.

Evangelical books and seminars make much of the concept of servant leadership. And well they should. It’s biblical.

After all, our supreme Leader himself said, “I come not to be served, but to serve, and to give myself as a ransom for many.” While we seem to grasp and focus on the first part of that, I don’t think we always fully appreciate that last phrase. It was not for Jesus alone to give himself; it is for all who want to bear the name “servant leader.”

Over the years I have developed a thesis. It goes something like this: You can only exercise and sustain personal leadership to the extent that you can bear pain. If you can only bear your own pain, you can’t really lead. If you can bear and respond only to the pain of your family, your family represents the full scope of your leadership potential. If, however, by God’s grace you can recognize and bear the pain of those around you, the breadth of your leadership potential is limited only by the scope of your burden and capacity.

All this talk about pain-bearing may be putting some of you off. “Isn’t leadership more about vision and the ability to inspire than about pain?” you may be asking. Not really. Oh, there is a kind of leadership that can rouse people to action for a short time. For me, however, the kind that inspires and lasts invariably is built upon the confidence that those I call leaders would sacrifice themselves for the cause we share, and even for me.

Leadership development has begun to catch fire in mission circles in recent years. And with good reason. Nobody seems to have enough good leaders. A number of mission agencies have undertaken leadership development in earnest. The Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association began its LeaderLink training program last September with a full house. A second round scheduled for March looks like it will be equally well attended. Of course, a number of top seminaries, such as the Fuller School of World Mission, have had outstanding missionary leadership programs for a decade or more.

What remains to be seen is how effective any or all of these efforts will ultimately be in overcoming “leadership lethargy,” an apathetic response to the challenge of taking on leadership. At its base, I believe, is the fact that there is no especially good reason for taking on leadership responsibilities in missions—unless you are doing it out of a passionate love for Jesus. In most cases there is no additional pay, and the “pleasures of power” (whatever they may be) are usually more than counterbalanced by the headaches and other assorted pains that come with the position.

What types of pain particularly shadow those involved in missions leadership? There are scores of them, no doubt, but perhaps these half dozen represent some of the most common, or most grievous:

1. Fatigue. When, as is often the case, there is no one else to do a task, it falls to the leader.

2. Being overwhelmed by an avalanche of conflicting duties. Different constituencies sometimes look for different things. When it comes to sorting out the conflicts and setting a course for the future, it falls to the leader.

3. Being the bad guy. When there’s bad news to convey, or someone has to be dismissed, it falls to the leader.

4. Baby-sitting the self-centered. Whether it’s new missionaries, old missionaries, short-termers or visiting experts, there will always be the demanding types. When either they or their problem must be dealt with, it falls to the leader.

5. Bearing the burden of decision-making in times of crisis. When revolution or anarchy emerges and lives are at stake, there’s one sure place where tough decisions must be made—it falls to the leader.

6. Bearing the pain of others. When others are hurting and tears must be wiped, it falls to the leader.

Given all this pain or potential pain, why would sensible people put themselves voluntarily on the receiving end? The only reason that makes any sense is the call to emulate the Savior, “who offered himself a ransom for many.”

Our age does not put ahigh premium on sacrificial service. “Duty” is almost lost to our vocabulary, even among Christians. “Personal peace and affluence,” as Francis Schaeffer used to say, is our controlling passion.

While there are many important things to learn about effective leadership, the most important one comes only by spending lots of time at the feet of Jesus, becoming mesmerized by his heartbeat and captured by his love. To solve the present leadership crisis, we will have to do many things right. But it will all be for nought unless we first win the battle of the heart. Only a heart like Jesus’ can bear the pain.

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EMQ, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 16-17. Copyright © 1998 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMQ.
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