"He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Micah 7:19 NKJV

Dear Friends in Christ,

I have been thinking, praying and speaking a lot lately about leadership in the Church by both clergy and laity.  I have just returned from a three week series of AAC Clergy Leadership Training Institutes (CLTI) from North Carolina to Ft. Worth to the Pacific Northwest.  We reached 80-90 clergy, which by my reckoning represents between 5-10% of the total clergy in ACNA!  We are working on a new series of CLTI's in the Southeast (Anglican Dioceses of the South and Gulf Atlantic), in Texas and in California.

At the same time, we have launched a design team of lay leaders from the American Anglican Council who are forming, among other things, a Lay Leadership Training Institute and an Anglican college campus ministry that will identify and disciple future church planters and leaders for our Anglican movement in North America.  I find myself rejoicing with excitement over the Holy Spirit anointing I am witnessing over all these developments.

This week, my attention was drawn immediately to an article published by Leadership Network - "The Secret of Great Leaders" - an interview with Mark Miller, Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness for Chick-fil-a.  His latest resource is a field guide and workbook for The Secret of Teams, available absolutely free here. For this particular presentation, Miller talked about the five keys to creating a leadership culture.  As I reviewed the synopsis of his five points, I recognized the same five points in what we are doing through the Clergy Leadership Training Institute in creating a leadership culture in our Anglican world (which is at the heart of our mission to develop faithful leaders):

Define it - "Does your organization have an agreed upon definition of leadership?" asks Miller. "If not, that's the starting point."

In our CLTI's, we assume the biblical definition of servant leadership:  Like Jesus, coming not to BE served but TO serve others as He did - sacrificially giving his life as a ransom for others (Mark 10:45).  Leaders lead others to Christ and to opening the door of His Kingdom - the range of his effective will, as Dallas Willard writes, "where what God wants done is done."  Through the CLTI, we encourage clergy to do what Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 4:15 - to preach not "themselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and [themselves] as your servants for Jesus sake."  When church leaders do this, their churches grow, the church changes lives, saves families and transforms whole communities.  What could be more strategic than that?

But in our CLTI's, we also teach that the art of leadership has to do with pace:  "Learning how to disappoint people in the church at a pace they can tolerate."  We do that by presenting what a "well-defined " leader does and doesn't do in the midst of conflict.  We define the dynamics of church conflict as an opportunity to grow for both leaders and the people they serve.

Train it - "Having a definition is critical but insufficient alone," says Miller. "Can your leaders deliver on your definition?"  Are we training emerging leaders in the skills they will need to lead the church - skills that are often not innate?

The answer is YES.  In our CLTI's, our second gathering is focused entirely on "The Competency of the Leader" - skill development.  Our participants have been encouraged and equipped by leaders like David Roseberry+, Don Roberts+, the Rev. Dr. Doug McGlynn, Bishops Trevor Walters and Kevin Allen - all of whom come with many years experience in local church leadership.  We have equipped clergy with skills ranging from "how to interview the search committee that may be calling you" to "how to leave a church gracefully and in a healthy state for your successor."  We have shared about how to organize the ministry areas of your church, how to manage your time and e-mail, how to set and maintain appropriate boundaries, integrity in finances, mediation, and skills for transforming leadership through conflict.

In addition, we ask each CLTI participant to commit to meeting with a small group of their peers once every 4-6 weeks between each gathering around Bible studies on Christian leadership that were produced by EQUIP Ministries.  These Bible studies focus on specific skills needed by leaders to lead their church, and are currently being used by EQUIP to disciple over a million church leaders in 54 different countries globally.

Practice it - "Do you give emerging leaders the opportunity to lead?" says Miller.  "Give them the chance to practice by actually letting them lead."

Again, the answer is YES.  Currently, five of our CLTI alumni are undergoing training to

CLTI Session 3 graduates and speakers

become coaches of clergy and leadership teams in the local church, equipping them through our Sure Foundation curriculum to grow their churches in evangelism, discipleship, local outreach to the community, global mission and church planting.  As we continue holding CLTI's throughout North America, I expect that in the future our first "class" of CLTI alums will be among those who help in the one-on-one prayer walks with participants - personally listening, coaching and providing the same depth of spiritual direction that they received when they first participated.  Some of our alums will be speakers - sharing from their own growth experiences in leadership.

And this is in addition to the commitment we ask of each CLTI participant to PRACTICE leadership by taking their clergy small group Bible study back to their own local church, identifying and inviting 10-12 potential lay leaders to meet around that same Bible study, and discipling THEM into leadership!

Measure it - "This can take many forms," says Miller, "Performance reviews; 360 feedback; etc..."

This is an area for improvement - and we will be working to develop more outcome-based measurements for those who participate in our CLTI's, as well as for those who participate in the developing Lay Leadership Training Institutes and Anglican campus ministries.  But in the meantime, we have evaluations from the very first "class" or cohort group that has finished all three CLTI sessions.  The results are very promising and you can find their comments here.

Model it - "If your existing leaders are not showing people what great leadership looks like in your organization," says Miller, "if they aren't working diligently to demonstrate the attributes outlined in your definition of leadership, none of the previous ideas will have much impact."

Toward the end of our third and last CLTI gathering at The Cove (The Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, NC), David Roseberry challenged our first class to continue meeting as a covenant group for lifelong sharing, mutual accountability, encouragement and learning.  He encouraged them to follow the example of other leaders, like himself, who have met together as a covenant group annually for over 20 years.

That kind of commitment is an objective witness of healthy leadership in the church - showing people what great leadership looks like.  I'm so pleased that the majority of our first class took up that challenge and will be meeting as a covenant group well beyond the CLTI, and in addition to their monthly small groups.

I see the tremendous gifts these leaders bring to our movement!  They are emerging leaders, serving as church planters, rectors and assistants, and Canons to the Ordinary from Virginia to Texas to California and the Pacific Northwest.  All over the ACNA they will be modeling great leadership, recruiting emerging leaders for our CLTI's, and discipling leaders in their local churches.  I thank God for the privilege and joy of being a witness to this great work of the Holy Spirit!

Yours in Christ,
Phil+

The Rev. Canon Phil Ashey
Chief Operating and Development Officer, American Anglican Council