Pragmatic Leadership

One thing that I've learnt from many independant charismatic churches is their pragmatism. Thanks to my involvement in NLRC, and exposure to the big church scene in KL and also Equippers and CLCA in Auckland, I notice one stark difference between them and mainline churches: pragmatic leadership. My personal leadership role in Campus Alive two years ago and involvement with Extreme Life youth group exposed me to many contemporary leadership wisdom, which some proved to be very helpful.

One area of our pragmatism is in the way we treat our visitors. I remember walking into NLRC to be greeted and handshaken by almost 25 people when I first visit the service, and felt immediate warmth of fellowship. Another hometown friend, Joel, while he's in KL starting his studies, got a phone call from a church member of CHC inviting him to attend a cell group. Recently, my friend who had just arrived in Auckland, was brought to sight-see the whole city by one church member from Equippers, though they never met before. Pragmatism makes us take the extra effort to go all out to reach people.

Another area is the area of pastoral care. Good pastoral care ensures that believers and pre-believers are well-taken care of, and are brought into fellowship with a small family group. We do not wait for people asking to join cell groups, but instead we hunt for people to join cell groups. Those who are in contact with a close knitted family are more likely to grow and to be discipled. Recently I just got a birthday card from CLCA, though I just visited them only once last year. Though the church is big, its pragmatism try to ensure that personal touch is not lost, and people are still being cared and being loved in a community.

Thirdly, is in the area of decision making. Pragmatic leaders take risks, and dares to invest their resources on things that can bring result. I remembered making decision to rent the whole McD restaurant for a night to welcome our newcomers in college, spending a large sum of money from my own pocket. NLRC spend great amount of energy and finances to host community events like the recent Christmas carnival. Some other churches invest in good sound system, nice chic ambience, great architecture etc. Though it is good at times, overpragmatism and over dependence on human effort can be quite unbiblical. It can also lead to misguided priorities, for example the neglect for the poor and also for world missions. What we need is a healthy tension between pragmatic leadership and accountability to Biblical standards and the community.

When I compare it with some more mainline churches that I am currently attending, I can see that my church is still weak in reaching their visitors and also bringing people to fellowship with one another. Though the mainline churches that I attend are slightly smaller than the megachurches, I do not see the smaller size being much helpful to form warmer communities. Only after 7months attending the church in Auckland, I was brought to join a cell group. Through my discussion with Hedonese, he felt that our churches need a healthy dose of good pragmatic leadership, and contemporary leadership principles that do not contradict the Bible is worth applying into the way we run ministries.

Though the church that I am currently attending lack pragmatism in certain areas, I like their commitment towards multiculturalism, world missions, race reconciliation and environmentalism.

Well, there is no perfect church-lah. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to be one.