Rector’s Reflections
Tuesday 28th April 2025
Christian Leadership in Today’s World
In the previous reflection, I introduced the subject of the current series of reflections and asked the question: what sort of Christian leadership do we need in today’s world?
Many different answers can be given to this question, but here are some of my own thoughts.
To begin with, I think contemporary Christian leadership needs to start by being compassionate. We need to show compassion on all. This is not an easy thing to do in practice. It is easy to show compassion on people we like and people who are easy to engage with. It is harder to show compassion on our enemies, or on people we feel have brought their troubles on themselves.
In Victorian times, if not before, there has been a concept of the “deserving poor” – a frank recognition of the fact that human nature seems to lead us to restrict our sympathies to those who “deserve” our support and compassion. But on what grounds do we distinguish the “deserving” poor from those who are considered to be “underserving” ? It might or might not be effective as a way of controlling what we consider to be socially unacceptable behaviour, but is it anything to do with showing compassion to those in need? A homeless family is still a homeless family, even if we consider that they have bought their homelessness upon themselves.
Personally, I think we should show compassion on all, even on those who we feel have brought their problems on themselves. Which one of us has always acted in a rational and prudent manner? All of us make mistakes and from time to time all of us do silly things. The key thing is to try to learn from the mistakes we have made, and to try not to make the same mistake again.
I should also add that sometimes it can be hardest to show compassion on ourselves. Many people hold themselves to an impossibly high standard of behaviour or achievement. They feel that they are never quite good enough, and get annoyed when they make mistakes or things don’t quite turn out as hoped. Sometimes this is because of our experiences as we grow up and attend school. We can feel that we are never quite good enough for our parents or our teachers, and this sense of being a failure can linger long into our adult years. The origins of this sense of inadequacy are complex. I am sure that that the vast majority of parents and teachers bend over backwards to be loving and supportive and non-judgmental. And yet many adults, and many children, still feel a sense of inadequacy. We need to be compassionate on ourselves and realise that being good enough is actually pretty good. God isn’t looking for some unobtainable level of perfection. He loves us as we are, warts and all.
The value of compassion was also something which Jesus modelled in his own life, and in his way of relating to others. When Jesus was being crucified, one might have expected that he would have been angry at the Roman soldiers. But according to Luke’s gospel, Jesus voiced compassion rather than anger: “ Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23, verse 34).
It also seems to have been Jesus’ sense of compassion which led him to work so many miracles of healing. In the words of Matthew’s gospel: “ Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9 verses 35 and 36).
We live in a needy world. We need our leaders to follow Christ’s example, and show compassion. What this will mean in any particular situation will vary according to the circumstances. But we need to start from a spirit of compassion. And whatever we do in response to a situation of need, we need to do in a compassionate manner. There will be times when we will need to say “no”. But it is possible to say “no” with compassion.