Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 16 August 2017 "Leading Ideas: The Qualities of Competent Intercultural Leadership | An Annual Meeting as a Celebration of Faithfulness"

Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 16 August 2017 "Leading Ideas: The Qualities of Competent Intercultural Leadership | An Annual Meeting as a Celebration of Faithfulness"
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
 
From the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
The Qualities of Competent Intercultural Leadership by Brian Leander
As multiculturalism takes hold in U.S. churches, there is a greater need for competent intercultural leaders, says Brian Leander of Adelphi University. He says “culturally intelligent” leaders in diversity-oriented churches are highly interested in experiences with other cultures and interactions with people from other cultures. They articulate a vision for diversity and share their vision and values with other leaders.
The U.S. Church is at a critical juncture where its future could depend on leaders’ ability to reconcile historical patterns of incongruence between the Church, the Biblical message of reconciliation, and the socially integrated lives of people in a growing number of communities. The movement towards diversity-oriented churches is being influenced by individuals whose Christian identity has been reoriented towards diversity and who are attempting to reorient the trajectory of the Church in the United States away from historical homogeneity.
Leaders of diversity-oriented churches must practice and preach what they believe about diversity in keeping with the mission of Christ.
As multiculturalism takes hold, there will be a greater need for leaders with intercultural competency. Intercultural competency is a set of skills, knowledge, attributes, behaviors, and attitudes necessary for successful interaction with people from different cultures. Intercultural competence is behavior that promotes shared understanding between people with different values, experiences, and perspectives. Intercultural leaders are able to reconcile cultural dilemmas and conflicts within their organizations. But how do successful leaders develop these and other related competencies?
Cultural Intelligence
Cultural intelligence is being recognized as a necessary competency for leaders who want to lead in diversity-oriented churches. Cultural intelligence is defined as “an individual’s capability to function and manage effectively in culturally diverse settings.” Cultural intelligence requires people to switch national contexts and learn new behaviors. In other words, to become an effective leader of a diversity-oriented church, a person must confront his or her own ethnocentrism, prejudice, and bias. The culturally intelligent leader is able to suspend personal judgments that lead to ethnocentrism, prejudice, and bias, thereby understanding, relating to, and motivating people from diverse social groups towards organizational goals, thereby mitigating some of the challenges of intercultural social integration.
Cultural Intelligence and Effective Church Leadership
As it relates to intercultural leadership, the leadership practices of senior pastors in diversity-oriented churches embody values for diversity within the church on visible factors (race, age, gender, ethnicity) along with culture, ability, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic class at every level of the organization. Leaders of diversity-oriented churches are more likely to engage with these issues through the lens of reconciliation and justice. Leaders of homogeneous churches, on the other hand, might try to avoid them altogether.
In a recent empirical study of 65 senior pastors and 92 top-management team members in the United States, I discovered several findings that relate cultural intelligence to effective leadership in diversity-oriented churches.
  1. Senior pastors in diversity-oriented churches demonstrated significantly higher interest in experiencing other cultures and interacting with people from different cultures than senior pastors of homogeneous churches.
  2. In diversity-oriented churches, as the senior pastor’s cultural intelligence increased, so did the top-management team’s openness to diversity. Therefore, the senior pastor’s cultural intelligence was positively related to the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the ministry team.
  3. Senior pastors in diversity-oriented churches influenced the organizational diversity climate by articulating a vision for diversity and aligning it with inclusive leadership practices.
As multiculturalism takes hold in the Church in the United States, there will be a greater need for competent intercultural leaders. As with many other examples of effective leadership, leaders of diversity-oriented churches must practice and preach what they believe about diversity in keeping with the mission of Christ. The good news about intercultural leadership competencies is that they are attainable through continual self-reflection, personal reconciliation, and intentional intimate relationships with a variety of people.
This article is adapted from Dr. Leander’s paper on “Intercultural Leadership in Diversity-Oriented Churches.” Used by permission. Learn more about his work at abrianleander.com.
Related Resources:
An Annual Meeting as a Celebration of Faithfulness by Tom Tumblin
How can you turn a routine, boring business meeting into something more celebratory and faith-filled? Tom Tumblin describes how the awarding of an annual servant leadership award turned a congregation's annual meeting into an inspiring reminder of how the hand of God is at work in their faith community.One of my favorite memories from a church where I served was the annual church conference. Most pastors will recoil at the idea of enjoying the annual meeting, but our staff had reengineered what had often been a boring business meeting into a high celebration of faithfulness in the congregation. We still held the necessary votes for new leaders and staff salaries, but those items were limited to ten minutes or so in the agenda. The bulk of our energy was focused on a “This is Your Life” experience in a pleasant dinner setting. Ministry area leaders were invited to identify one individual in their area who exemplified the mission and values of the congregation. That person was then nominated for a servant leadership award that became highly coveted because only those who excelled at loving Christ and serving others qualified for consideration.
As the people of God, we are called to applaud the goodness of God when it shows up through God’s people.
The pastor opened the evening with an inspiring reminder of our covenant as coworkers in the kingdom of God, dependent on the Holy Spirit and one another for the ministry God had given us. Then, one by one, ministry area leaders would first describe, and then name, the recipient of the annual award for their area. As the description was read, the audience would begin to quietly guess who was to be honored. They would look around the room, trying to identify the person being named. Often recipients’ eyes would begin to well up as they realized they were to receive the award. Once the ministry area leader announced the name, the crowd would join in wonderful applause and thanksgiving for the nominee. The annual celebrations of God’s graciousness through those honored stoked the faith of everyone in the room.
It’s no accident that a portion of the tithe designated in the early Israelite worship, passed down to us, includes the party. God knows we need to celebrate. We are designed to revel in the goodness of our creating and sustaining Lord. As the people of God, we mark God’s character with worship and thanksgiving, honoring the One who redeems us and allows us to participate in eternal purpose. In the same way, we are called to applaud the goodness of God when it shows up through God’s people.
How will the congregation “provoke one another to love and good deeds” according to Hebrews 10:24 (NRSV)? Where will there be occasions for encouraging one another in faithfulness? How will the people be able to watch and see the hand of God at work around the faith community?
Create openings for honoring committed paid and unpaid staff who embrace the call of God. In public and private ways, build up the saints for the work of the ministry. Slow down enough to bask in the wonders of the Spirit’s handiwork, thereby planting seeds of hope and confidence in God’s future.
This article is taken from Thomas F. Tumblin’s AdMinistry: The Nuts and Bolts of Church Administration (Abingdon Press, 2017.) The book is available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Related Resources:
Read more.
The Right Question:
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
While metrics are critical for leadership, there is always debate about whether we are measuring the right things. Intel CEO Andy Grove used two questions to determine what his company should measure.
  1. Where do I want to go?
  2. How will I know I'm getting there? 
Want more Right Questions? Read Right Questions for Church Leaders.
Watch "Why Community Engagement Matters"
The most vital congregations always do two things: connect people with God and connect with their communities. Learn about the latter in this five-minute video from Lovett H. Weems, Jr., as he provides an overview of the importance of community engagement to your church.
Watch now free.
Apply Today for Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership at Wesley
Wesley Theological Seminary and the Lewis Center together offer a Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership Excellence. With this track, clergy will receive the enhanced knowledge, skills, and motivation to increase congregational and denominational service, vitality, and growth. The next cohort begins in May 2018 in Washington, DC.
Learn more and apply today.
Quotable Leadership:
The best way to develop leaders is to help them lead. The best way to learn to lead is to accept that help in the here and now. [Jennifer Petriglieri and Gianpiero Petriglieri]
Adult Education Study: "Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense"
This ten-session video-based congregational study featuring biblical scholar and Anglican bishop N. T. Wright addresses questions of the reasonableness of the Christian faith in the modern world. Simply Christian is an excellent course for both established believers and seekers and is ideal for your congregation's small groups, adult Bible studies, and Sunday School classes.
Learn more now.
Reaching a new generation requires a new conversation.
Congregations say they want to reach new and younger people, many of whom are simply turned off by church. The big idea is that congregations must be willing to embrace radical ways to connect with new generations. Re-thinking old assumptions is a starting place but more is needed. To really connect congregations have to move beyond and start doing new things that are out of their comfort zones.
These authors give ten ways to help you move from just saying what you intend to actually doing it. This book provides tools to help churches re-frame the Good News in non-traditional ways and study questions for church leadership teams.Congregations say they want to reach new and younger people. In Not Safe for Church: Ten Commandments for Reaching New Generations, Lewis Center Director Doug Powe and Pastor Jasmine Smothers give ten ways to help churches move from just saying what they intend to actually doing it. This book provides tools to help congregations reframe the Good News in nontraditional ways plus study questions for church leadership teams.
Learn more and order now.
Connect with the Lewis Center:
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Avenue North West
Washington, D.C. 20016, United States
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