Leaders in many organisations, including churches, carry a wide range of responsibilities. And these often start to feel like burdens or pressures. I think this is common across institutions and fields. There are pressures. Leadership creates a challenge in how to express that. And Christian leadership, with Jesus’ call to integrity and truthfulness, faces this acutely.
On the one hand, if leaders don’t share any of that weakness or pressure, the rising burdens can crush them. It can also give their team an unrealistic expectation of what handling responsibility and pressure looks like. The mask of calm competence can end up crushing everyone under unrealistic burdens.
On the other hand, if a leader is constantly expressing their weakness and pressure, that can inhibit team members from coming with problems that need addressing. “The boss is under too much pressure to add this today.” At its worst, this can be used manipulatively by bosses to push all the pressure down onto those under them- constant “humble weakness” actually means failing to serve the team well. But even where there is no manipulation, good leaders should be safe for team members to come to with problems and concerns, and over expressing vulnerability and burden stops that happening.
So what should leaders do? I think some level of openness with team is good. That means mentioning the good weeks as well as the bad. It doesn’t mean constantly talking about the burden or pressure you are under. But when there is a tough patch, it is probably helpful for the team to be aware of that, while not feeling they should avoid raising problems as they come up. Jesus himself tells his disciples he needs some time away, and wants some of his friends with him as he prays facing his death.
But the need to be people our teams can come to with their pressures and problems probably means leaders need one or two other friends outside the situation who they can be honest with when the pressures are great. Sometimes it is helpful to have a mentor from the profession, who can guide a leader through the uncertainty of different options. But other times it may be simply having people we are not responsible for that we can tell “I’m facing a lot of pressure at work, and please pray.”
And for Christian leaders, the answer probably includes praying more than we do. God is the one ultimately able to handle all the pressure and burdens we bring to him. He already upholds the entire cosmos! We can be totally honest with him. We can trust him to keep loving us and we can expect his wisdom to help us. Christian leaders may face particular tensions because of the need for integrity (about weakness) as well as being safe for people to come to with their problems. But we also have a unique resource- God himself is for us and listening to us and helping us.
Jots and Scribbles 