A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples of the flock" (1 Pet. 5:2-3), The functional structure of leadership may vary according to gifts and cultural context, but the pos- ture is always to be that of a servant. 224 HOW SHALL WE THEN BE LED? The Current Leadership Crisis The traditional leadership style functioned well for the first eighty years of Mennonite Brethren history, though not with- out occasional tension. The authority for leadership was an- chored in mutuality. Leaders were chosen not because they were trained specialists, but because they were recognized as gifted by God to offer leadership within the household of faith. They had demonstrated superior competence at the ordinary tasks of life and had displayed good judgment in matters con- cerning the welfare of the group as a whole. Their own ability and sanctity granted them a large measure of personal authori- ty. They understood themselves as servants of God and of the church. The fact that some leaders received modest financial support did not imply greater rank or authority. New patterns of leadership began to emerge in Mennonite Brethren churches in the 1940s in the United States and the 1960s in Canada. In the midst of convulsive social and cultur- al change, the church struggled to keep pace. A migrant gen- eration in search of self-identity found itself incapable of fol- lowing a process of thoughtful discernment in questions of spiritual formation. Instead it simply conformed to the mod- els of mainline Protestantism. The new "one man" style of pastoral leadership lacked a base of authority for directive leadership. In multiple leader- ship, which Mennonite Brethren had considered biblical, au- thority was authenticated by the trust of the community of be- lievers. By adopting the single-pastor model the church dislo- cated the base of authority without which a New Testament ministry becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible. Other Protestant churches tended to function as an institu- tion, not as an interdependent organism which Mennonite Brethren perceived the local church and the larger conference to be. In an institution, leadership is delegated to those with special training, those who "know" (theologians), but these may lack the authority that is rooted in a mutual relationship 225 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH of experiential commonality. Pastors in this scheme assume the assignment of managing the program of the congregation. They mi