Four Competencies of Leadership: Step into Spiritual Authority

The Sermon on the Mount found in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew’s Gospel gives us the most complete vision of what it means to live the Christian life. Then Matthew tells us, “When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." (Matthew 7:28-29) Jesus carried an authority in his teaching and preaching and ministry that was self-evident.

At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:18-19) In this passage, Jesus clearly gives us our mission as a church and as a parish to make disciples. But he doesn’t just give us a mission, he gives us the power and authority to accomplish it. Our job is to step into that authority. I love the song Champion and the line in the bridge, “I have the authority Jesus has given me.” (Listen to the song on YouTube)

Stepping into our spiritual authority is the fourth major competency of leadership. This is the area of leadership you won’t find in business books or in other leadership books. Quite frankly, I have not found many books or materials on what it means to be a spiritual leader in the Christian world either.

I define this competency as stepping into spiritual authority because I think most Catholics are pretty reluctant to acknowledge how much authority Jesus has really given them. For generations, the laity were told that the only real authority was in the hands of the clergy and that message has stuck even though Vatican II intended to change it. But my experience is that even priests and clergy do not step into the authority God has given them. Everyone seems to be waiting for someone else with power and authority to step up and do what Jesus gave us the power and authority to do: Go, make disciples. Jesus already said go. Our role is to use the full weight of the spiritual authority Jesus gave us and the full weight of our positional authority to achieve our mission.

Rob Reimer in his book Spiritual Authority: Partnering with God to Release the Kingdom (which I highly recommend) says that our spiritual authority is rooted in our identity, grows in intimacy, and is activated by faith.

Rooted in our identity: Spiritual authority flows out of our identity as beloved sons and daughters of God. We are Christians or little Christs. This means embracing everything the Scriptures say about us, knowing that “greater is the one living inside of us than he who is living in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

Grows in intimacy: As our relationship with God grows, he can trust us with greater spiritual authority and influence.

Activated by faith: You need to take bold steps that rely on God’s power and grace to come through. We will never step into our full spiritual authority if we don’t take actions that require faith and trust in God to come through.

Stepping into spiritual authority means listening to the voice of God personally. Jesus said in John 10 that his sheep hear his voice. I love the example of Father Michael Scanlon, who turned around Franciscan University of Steubenville; he would go into the chapel each day to listen to God for direction on how to lead the university. As spiritual leaders we want to grow in our ability to hear from the Lord and lead out of that relationship.

A Culture of Prayer:

As spiritual leaders, we also want to create a culture of prayer. I admit that I am not a prayer warrior and that encouraging prayer is not my first instinct. However, I have learned over the years that if we want any campaign to go well, it needs to prayer led. That means that when we have done campaigns to raise money, grow small groups, or grow volunteers, we always create a prayer plan to go with it.

Some ways we can build a culture of prayer:

• Begin every meeting with prayer
• Have a time of the week where the staff comes together to simply pray
• Before making a big decision, ask everyone on the team to pray and then share what they hear
• If you get stuck in a meeting, stop and pray about the topic, asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you
• Find intercessors who will pray for your ministry and its success

Spiritual Battle:

The last major area of spiritual authority is recognizing we will have to fight spiritual battles. My impression is that over the last few years there has been a shift toward recognizing that the devil really does get into our affairs and needs to be confronted. For a while it seemed like even many people in church work doubted the existence of the devil or that he ever interfered with our work. There seems to have been a healthy shift to recognizing the reality of the devil and that he actually does have schemes to slow down or even stop the momentum of our parish ministries.

Spiritual battle begins by recognizing the reality of the Enemy and then actually fighting him. Recognizing his existence and schemes is one thing; fighting is another. The reality is that unless you engage in conflict, your parish will never get to the places God wants to bring you. Some parishes can grow groups, raise givers, create a culture that welcomes outsiders, and rebuild their parishes without much conflict; but I think that is the exception rather than the rule.

There will be battles to fight against the forces of darkness. Those battles often occur when people protect their fiefdoms or areas they have controlled. It is the group of ushers who glare at people they think are not dressed appropriately when they come into the church and refuse to greet all people warmly. It is the singer who cannot sing but insists on serving as the cantor. It is the lector who is less than skilled at public speaking. And when we approach them about relinquishing their position for the good of the parish, they react like Golem in The Lord of the Rings and say, “My preciousss.” The reason we don’t want to confront people about their control of ministries is because we are not just arguing with them but contending with evil spirits as well. This is why many pastors ignore such battles and choose instead to just leave things alone.

Leadership in the church recognizes we need to fight those battles and engage in those conflicts. If we don’t fight, we won’t succeed in leading our parishes into the greener pastures. The generation that left Egypt did not make it to the Promised Land because they refused to fight and trust that if God called them into a battle, he would give them the victory.

Take a minute to evaluate yourself as a spiritual leader.

• Knowing your identity
• Growing in intimacy
• Taking bold steps in faith
• Listening to the Lord
• Developing a culture of prayer
• Fighting spiritual battles

What is the next step you can take to step into the spiritual authority Jesus has given you?

Rooting for you,
Tom