There has been a couple of head pastor elections in my local congregations recently. In the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran church we choose our head pastors by elections, which is based on a nice thought and sound theology, but which also happens to be very out of date practice of choosing a leader. Its a face-election, as the choosing of a leader isnt based on his / her abilities as a leader, but rather on how the candidate gets the elder people smile. But thats old news for most.
What stroke interest in me, was how the most intense battle between the candidates was not fought by the candidates themselves or the electors (members of the congregation), but rather the workers of the congregation. One particular issue rised, as the main competition was held between a kinda celebrity candidate vs. one of the congregation’s own pastors. Namely, some of the workers didn’t want their colleague to rise to a leadership position. Now the reasons for this can be numerous, and I don’t even pretend to know them all, but the thing got me thinking about the age old dilemma of a rise of a leader from ones own peers.
Especially, if people aren’t satisfied with the old leader, they tend to look for a savior from outside. This can be clearly seen on the recent presidential elections in the States. Likewise, if people do like the old leader, they seem to look a bit more favorably on the ingroup when choosing a new leader. The logic is understandable, though not wise in every situation. In any case, its hard to rise as a leader from a group, especially if you haven’t earned the position earlier when you weren’t a leader yet. The dilemma reminds me of Jesus’ words: “No prophet is accepted in his hometown.” (Luke 4:24) While the situation was different, the basic principle is the same.
And it’s not only about the leader, but also about the composition of the group. Church is an organization composed of specialists. They all have their own spiritual views and visions on how to go forward with this whole faith-thing. A church leader is in a tough position, where he / she must try to balance on different interpretations of theologies and different views on how to put faith into practice. Getting all these different views roughly in the same heading can be daunting. So while leaders do rise from inside the organization all the time, its especially hard in specialist organizations. It is much easier to accept a leader from outside that we know nothing of than to accept Joe-the-colleague in that position. Afterall, we know how Joe-the-colleague thinks (at least we think we do) and he might not advance the same spiritual agenda we do. So we project our hopes and dreams to the other leader. “Anything but Bush”
Now ofc there are reasons why outside leaders sometimes are a very good idea and all. I’m not making any judgements here. I’m merely interested in the social dynamics involved. To be able to rise as a leader from the crowd, one needs to stand out a good time before any positions are given. And what’s important, it’s not so much to impress the current boss, but to gain acceptance in the peers. And for that, one cannot simply smile and please the boss – one needs to lead a virtuous worklife. So if you aspire to be a leader someday, start walking the extra mile today.