Moral Leadership in the Church: A Normative Approach

Moral leadership could be summarized as the visioning, modeling, contending, initiating, teaching, guiding, and reconciling moral influence provided by the pastor in a way that enables people, especially the believer, to live a life of moral excellence in Christ in the church and in the world. Responsible Christian moral leadership envisions the moral life as having its beginning, continuation, and power in the person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in concert with Scriptural teaching. Living the moral life, biblically speaking, begins with the life of conversion to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. It is rooted in relationship with God fundamentally and empowerment by his grace. It is correct to conclude that, practically speaking, moral leadership can be encapsulated as the pastoral function of providing a guiding and reconciling influence on the believer, the church, and the world under God. With regard to the guiding influence, the pastor can use two methods. The first method is eductive guidance in which the pastor tries to draw out of the individual’s own knowledge, experiences, and values, the criteria and resources for the moral life. In modern terms, the pastor would be considered involved in ethical consulting. In ethical consulting, the pastor provides the resources and enables the person to make the moral decisions on sound Christian basis. The second method, which is inductive, “tends to lead the individual to adopt a prior set of values and criteria by which to make his decisions.” In inductive guidance, the pastor can give moral advice and instruction. Perhaps the most familiar modern form of eductive guidance is that commonly known as “client-centered therapy” while inductive guidance classically appeals to the long tradition of Christian moral theology and casuistry. A number of methods are employed in guiding influence. They include preaching, teaching, catechisms, Literatures of Piety, letters of moral and spiritual guidance, counseling, conversations, manuals of advice, and codification of virtues and vices. With regard to reconciling influences, the pastor seeks to enable reestablishment of broken relationships between individuals and between people and God through faith in Christ. There is definitely a horizontal and vertical dimension to this aspect of leadership which has never been separated in authentic Christian ministry. As Clebsch notes, “Reconciling employs two emphatic modes of operation, which we call forgiveness and discipline.” Classically, the mode of forgiveness has included the sacramental or non-sacramental acts of confession and absolution which could be private and /or public. Discipline however has always served as a mode in which the alienated persons are placed in situations in which good relationships and appropriate character and conduct might be re-established. In the reconciling influence, the pastor leads through words of admonition, rebuke, correction, and prayer. In some extreme cases, excommunication, physical penalty, acts of restitution, and denial of Holy Communion have been employed. The aim of both modes, confession/forgiveness and discipline has always been “amendment of life and restoration of right relations with God and neighbour.” It is of great necessity that moral leadership in the congregation be theocentric, christological, soteriological, eschatological, ecclesiological, relational, biblically-centred, worship oriented, spirit-empowered, socially conscious and faithful to Christ. The purpose of moral leadership is to lead God’s people and God’s world to glorify God and enjoy him forever in one’s personal character and conduct as one relates to Christ’s church and Christ’s world in holiness, righteousness, and love. Bondi writes, the Minister as moral leader makes bold to shout from the house tops the goodness of the gospel, and to lead the restless hearts who respond to the story of the love of God revealed in Christ . . . With the love of God and neighbour our destination and our way, we can move on, firmly held in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit that is with us all, even to the end of time. This is inescapable for the minister because “whatever else a minister is, at the heart of her or his vocation is the call to be a moral leader.” Ministers must not shirk from this responsibility because of the current postmodern ethos. Robin Gill’s comment is very enlightening. Postmodernity fragments but it also challenges faith groups and their leaders to be distinctive. Perhaps the challenge is finally to articulate Christian principles which are distinctive but not exclusive. And that, in a postmodern age, is surely a very proper task for church leadership. In moral leadership, it is important for the pastor to remember that it is not an exact science. That is, with all the training, diligence, and discipline of an athlete about to compete in a contest required of the pastor as moral leader, it is important to bear in mind the warning of St. Chrysostom. “Some guesswork must be made” and for that we ask for God’s wisdom, grace, forgiveness, and mercy.