What does a church elder do when diversity and inclusion seem too much to handle? In a society where all viewpoints are seen as valid, how does a minister of Christ navigate inclusive leadership while being Spirit-led, Christ-centered, and Biblically-sound? The answer lies within scripture, the focus must be on the Holy Spirit.

Communication is Key

It is interesting that the Church is seen as the body of Christ, and yet, this body is seen as one unit while forgetting that a body itself has many smaller units operating in their own ways, which together, creates an operating body. Think of a foot doctor operating on a heart, or a heart doctor operating on a brain, or a brain doctor working on someone as a chiropractic specialist. It is the highly-defined specialties of a body, interconnected in systems of operation, that make it operate at its highest capacity.

The same is within the Church of Christ, different churches require unique specialties of wisdom and diversity for success. A contextual focus for leadership is essential in this regard. With discipleship being the method of leadership development, spiritual formation is the crux of the Christian leader’s strategy for developing disciples. Understanding one’s own spiritual formation is a fundamental part of Christian ministry (Vos, 2012). People are unique, and thus, the contextualization of leadership needs is essential in their development (Marcus, 2009; Huizing, 2011). A minister’s theology of leadership must incorporate the contextualization of relevant cultures into community discussion if the community wants to keep diversity-of-thought high and unity between members strong.

In a world of globalization, ministers must rely on ministry contextualization for the unity of biblical foundations, global unity, and local community development of Christ’s identity (Song, 2006). Such value of diversity can be found in Pentecost through the Acts of the Apostles speaking in different languages, all while experiencing the same Holy Spirit (c.f. Acts 2-3). Church leaders can meet the needs of local cultures while uniting Christians globally through a commitment to shared principles of canonicty and catholicty to incorporate wisdom from saints of the past into the needs of today (Gunter, 2018). It is the work of the Holy Spirit, the context in which He works, and the obedience to His will which allows communities of Christ-followers to mitigate a globalized church in a community-driven discipleship approach.

Effective leaders are ones who serve and love their followers (Ayers, 2006). The character of the leader is the primary measurement of their success, the measurer being their followers. Thus, every strategy of Christian leadership must incorporate feedback of followers on the leader’s character. Character traits of self-sacrifice, humility, perseverance, and proper use of power show the greatest leadership potential. It is the ethical nature of leadership that will build the foundation of success in follower actions.

Is Inclusion Required?

In Christian leadership development, the disciple must become the one discipling others. Inclusive leadership is essential for the development of disciples in Christian ministry, as well as the development of these disciples into leaders themselves (Randel et al., 2017; Brosius, 2017; Vaccaro & Camba-Kelsay, 2018). For these disciples to become effective leaders, there are certain skills, abilities, and beliefs which the individual must possess for success—humility, cognitive complexity, and pro-diversity beliefs. Such cultural intelligence allows leaders to work well in multinational and domestic contexts within their ministry (Schachner, 2019). Within these multi-ethnic environments, Christian leaders must be encouraged to support social identity development and social belongingness for goal-achievement as a unified body.

Paul wrote letters that were specific to each church community, not to the Body of Believers as a whole. His letter to the Romans was based on what that body of people was experiencing in their communities. Letters to Corinth, Ephesus, and Thessalonica each addressed what these groups of people were personally experiencing together, as different organs of a body.

Research has found that homogeny in thought can increase productivity and efficiency in hyper-focused activities and those which require time sensitivity (Cottrill, Lopez, & Hoffman, 2013). Highly homogenous churches should then theoretically be more effective in multi-ethnic ministerial attempts. As well, diversity can damage retention and wield too much influence, leading to ambiguity if it is the greatest priority of leadership (Asumah, Nagel and Rosengarten, 2016). Homogeny of thought is required for success in competition, and unfortunately, nations are always in competition with each other in our current world-state, fighting for resources and ideologies.

As for diversity in the Church, homogeny of thought is how the Body of Believers work together in a culminative power (Carson, 2012). Seeing creation by the view of every eye allows Christ-followers to nurture our ability to rule Creation well. Seeing God through the eyes of others helps us to know Him better. The beauty of diversity is that we can be different and accept those differences, to be excited about those differences and be joyful in learning more about them, as long as we have a standard of which we can accept as higher than our diversity, a homogeny in faith, thought, and metaphysics.

Navigating Inclusive Leadership

Criteria for what would be a situation “too diverse to reconcile” within a church discussion hangs on the methods from which the New Testament writers described in their writings on leadership. Paul wrote that people had deserted the faith from which they were originally called, following a false gospel (Gal 6:6-10) and unsound doctrines of demons (1 Tim 4:1-4; 2 Tim 4:1-5). He told them to use the scriptures for training (2 Tim 3:16-17), while Peter warned of people twisting Paul’s writings, and others’ work, for their own destruction (2 Pet 3:16).

Any issue within the Church should be discussed, however, this discussion must be done with intentionality to support constant awareness on the Holy Spirit’s presence ruling and guiding the conversation. As Paul stated, people were disguised as wolves in the Church to create turmoil and strife between Christ’s Body (Rom 16:17-20). Controversial topics on matters of disagreement are profitable to discuss, for a time, if people are seeking wisdom, following scripture, and living in harmony with truth and Holy Spirit.

If the discussion does not turn fruitful or becomes outside of the values of the community’s elders, disagreements can be turned to different points of action, although these should come far later in the deliberating process. Paul mentions giving someone over to Satan so that their spirit can be saved in the later judgment (1 Cor 5:5), that the darkness within a brother must be rebuked, to “not even eat” with a brother who is living in sin (1 Cor 5:11), and to rebuke a person creating unprofitable and useless quarrels, to have nothing more to do with them (Titus 1:9, 3:9-10). James spoke of elders rebuking one another away from their sin and how this rebuke would not only save their lives but countless others (5:20), just as Ezekial spoke of in his writings (3:21).

It is not that Christians should be so inclusive and open that all things reign. However, the minister of Christ must be open to listening to what truths may be misunderstood, ignored, or wrongly assumed. It is the depth Jesus’s knowledge Jesus which allows people to become spiritually strong, having the character of God as Peter stated (2 Peter 1:2-11). Therefore, in this pursuit of knowledge about Yeshua and YHWH (learn why Jesus’s name is actually Yeshua and how there is an eternal battle for His glorious name), one must be open to listening to people’s thoughts but never allowing, obeying, promoting, or excusing evil or evil actions.

The final say comes from the community and its elders.

If the elders and the community differ in thought, then the elders are really not elders of the community at all but merely tyrants with power of them. A community who supports its elders will be following the author of Hebrews’ guidance to submit to the elders in the faith (Heb 13:17), while those who rebel, with a just cause, are not in the wrong. Instead, those rebelling tyrannical elder leadership, clearly not following community needs, are actually following elders of a different kind, those who may or may not be visible to the community they are within. These would be acting as servant leaders.

Thus, it is the certainty found in scripture that guides and guards a community who is seeking God in truth and the Holy Spirit, following their hearts that have been renewed by the blood of Yeshua. The elders of a community of believers must submit to YHWH and become doulos to Yeshua. An inclusive community will be the foundation for a revival towards a Holy future. Amen!

References

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Ayers, M. (2006). Toward a theology of leadership. Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership, 1(1), 3-27.

Brosius, K. M. (2017). Culture and the Church’s Discipleship Strategy. Journal of Ministry & Theology, 21(1), 123-157.

Carson, D. A. (2012). Christ and culture revisited. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Cottrill, K., Denise Lopez, P., & C. Hoffman, C. (2014). How authentic leadership and inclusion benefit organizations. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 33(3), 275-292.

Dean, M. (2009). The contextualization debate: What about leadership? Common Ground Journal, 6(2), 38-46. ISSN: 15479129.

Gunter, N. (2018). The shepherd-leader motif as a pastoral model for a globalizing church. Perichoresis, 16(3), 87-105. doi:10.2478/perc-2018-0018.

Huizing, R. (2011). Bringing Christ to the table of leadership: Moving towards a theology of leadership. Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, 5(2), 58-75.

Randel, A. E., Galvin, B. M., Shore, L. M., Ehrhart, K. H., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., & Kedharnath, U. (2018). Inclusive leadership: Realizing positive outcomes through belongingness and being valued for uniqueness. Human Resource Management Review, 28(2), 190-203.

Schachner, M.K. (2019) From equality and inclusion to cultural pluralism – Evolution and effects of cultural diversity perspectives in schools. European Journal of Developmental Psychologyˆ 16ˆ1), 1-17, DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2017.1326378

Song, M. (2006). Contextualization and discipleship: Closing the gap between theory and practice. Evangelical Review of Theology, 30(3), 249-263.

Vaccaro, A., & Camba-Kelsay. M. J. (2018). Cultural competence and inclusivity in mentoring, coaching, and advising. New Directions for Student Leadership, 2018(158), 87-97. doi:10.1002/yd.20290

Vos, B. (2012). The spiritual disciplines and Christian ministry. Evangelical Review of Theology, 36(2), 100-114.