Rector’s Reflections Friday 25th April 2025
Christian Leadership in Today’s World
I thought I would start a fresh series of reflections, on the subject of Christian leadership in today’s world. What sort of Christian leadership do we need in our own time and culture?
As I write, many Christians are thinking and praying about the choice of the man to be next Pope. The eligible Cardinals all vary in their experiences, background and personality. They also hold a variety of opinions as to the best way to lead the Catholic Church forward into God’s future. Some belong to the conservative wing when it comes to controversial issues concerning ethics and church structures; others would be considered to be on the liberal wing. I would add at this point that it is good to remember that the adjectives “conservative “and “liberal” can often fail to recognise particular nuances in the positions held, and it is perfectly possible for a candidate to be “conservative” in some areas and “liberal” in others. And who makes the categorisation? A candidate may consider themselves to be “liberal” on matters of doctrine and Christian practice, whereas others may place them firmly in the “conservative” camp.
So what do you think: should Christian Leadership in today’s world be about promoting and enforcing a “conservative” version of Christianity? Or should it be about the promotion of a “liberal” agenda? Or might it be about being both “conservative” and “liberal” at the same time? Which approach will be better for the growth and witness of the Church? Which will give more glory to God? Which will be more faithful to the life and teaching of Jesus Christ?
And of course it’s not only a time when people are thinking and praying about leadership in the Roman Catholic Church. Within our own Anglican Communion, we continue to look for the successor to Archbishop Justin. What sort of leadership does the Church of England require at this stage in its long history? What are your thoughts?
And there is a further complication concerning the role of Archbishop of Canterbury. Traditionally, the Archbishop of Canterbury has also served as head of the world-wide Anglican Communion. In effect, this has meant that one and the same individual has had to carry out two exceptionally demanding roles at the same times, being responsible for running both the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. Most people would recognise this as a completely impossible task. Furthermore, many people would argue that in our post-colonial and globalised world, it is no longer appropriate for an English archbishop to be automatically the leader of Anglicans world-wide. This arrangement smells of the 1950s, if not the 1930s, and the world has moved on since then.
So this raises two furthers questions. The first is this: what sort of leadership do we seek from the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion? The second question is related to the first: are the leadership style and skills required from an Archbishop of Canterbury quite different from the leadership styles and skills required to be an effective leader of the Anglican Communion? If so, does this suggest that the roles should be split?
Interestingly, the same issue arises in the appointment of the next Pope. A Pope is not only a religious leader operating on a global scale. He is also a religious leader operating on very local scale: the Pope is Bishop of Rome, and generally he is also regarded as the lead bishop for the whole of Italy. This makes appointing a Pope very tricky. Should the Pope be primarily focussed on serving Rome and the Italian People? Or should he be primarily focussed on serving the needs of the Roman Catholic Church around the world? The ideal candidate will be equally good at doing both, but God does not always provide the ideal candidate. Life in the Church is often all about compromises.
I suspect that the current exercise in seeking a new Pope and a new Archbishop of Canterbury will be an exercise in Christian compromise. There is nothing wrong in that. Compromises can give great glory to God. But in order to make a good compromise, we need to know the sorts of values and priorities which we should be looking for from our Church leaders. What should Christian leadership look like in the Church of today?
We will be exploring this question further in the days ahead.