Christian Leadership Alliance

Board Dynamics

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Giving the Best I Have

Spiritual transformation has become quite the buzzword in Christian circles lately. The good news is that it speaks to our desire for more in the spiritual life: more than just head knowledge, more than rules that merely govern external behaviors, and more than religious activity loaded onto lives that already feel unmanageable. The language of spiritual transformation holds the promise of intimacy with God and real life-change. It addresses desires so deep that many of us have given up trying to articulate them.

The bad news, or at least the news that makes us a bit uncomfortable, is that many leaders, in seeking to respond to these longings, are trying to lead their organizations into realities they're not experiencing themselves. They lack clarity about what spiritual transformation is and how it unfolds in a person's life. With little experiential knowledge of the practices and processes that open us to spiritual transformation beyond our own human effort, they're still searching for a more fulfilling way of life for themselves and scrambling to put together a strategy that'll make other people's lives work for them.

As one pastor put it, "I'm increasingly unsure about how one is supposed to navigate the time commitments of ministry and one's personal spiritual journey toward growth and wholeness. I find myself wondering if the two aren't mutually exclusive."

These are brave admissions, ones that give way to very productive questions about the nature of leadership. Is it enough to be able to articulate vision, set strategy, develop systems for managing various operations, motivate people and mobilize teams to get things done? What is the most important thing a Christian leader can bring to his or her organization?

Engaging the Process of Spiritual Transformation
The best thing any of us have to bring to leadership is our own transforming self. Why? Because engaging deeply in the process of spiritual transformation and choosing to lead from that place gives us the opportunity to forge a powerful connection between our souls—that place at the center of our being where God's Spirit is at work, loving, transforming and guiding us—and our leadership.

Spiritual transformation is the process in which Christ is formed in us. It's an organic process, going far beyond mere behavioral tweaks to deep fundamental changes at the very core of our being. In the process of spiritual transformation, the Spirit of God moves us from behaviors motivated by fear and self-protection to trust and abandonment to God, from selfishness and self-absorption to freely offering the gifts of our authentic self, from the ego's desperate attempts to control the outcomes of our lives to the ability to do God's will—even when it's foolishness to the world around us.

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