I've been part of many church board meetings, served on a variety of other non-profit boards. In organizations that are spiritual in nature (like churches), I find it
helpful to describe the decision-making group as a "council" rather than a board.
You can argue it's just semantics, but here's how I make the distinction: a spiritual council seeks to discern divine guidance, whereas a board simply relies on the collective input of its members. A council recognizes an outside, transcendent
authority, and they seek to guide the organization in ways that are in alignment with Divine will.
This is where many people struggle. In many settings, this distinction is not made explicit, so people function in these leadership capacities by applying their own best wisdom, or maybe trying to advocate for a sub-group within the organization that they see
themselves as a representative of. And even when it IS made clear that the group is functioning as a council, and the members' goal in making decisions is to seek divine guidance. it's left to the individual members to figure out how to do that, and so the group is confused and timid about its decision-making.
It can be very challenging for groups of people to make decisions when they feel a responsibility to follow divine leading. Most people are not clear about how divine leading works, and even a small handful of people from the same church, who find themselves together on a church leadership board, will likely hold contradictory views about it. My observation is that many -- if not
most -- church boards give up on this altogether and simply rely on their own personal judgment when making decisions. They pray for wisdom at the beginning of the meeting, and at the end, they offer prayers in hopes that their decisions are indeed what God wants them to do.
Some time ago, I read the "Rule of Taize," which is a guidebook for the
spiritual community by that name, originally written in 1954, by Taize's founder, "Brother Roger" Schutz. Over the years this guidebook evolved, as the spiritual community grew and changed. After Schutz's death in 2005, the community published this guidebook, in French and English. The Rule of Taize is short and to the point, and it has several paragraphs about how a Leadership Council should conduct its affairs. These paragraphs are great reminders for any and all spiritual leadership
councils.
"The purpose of the council is to seek all light possible on the will of Christ for the ongoing life of the community. The first step [for each council member] is to establish silence in oneself, so as to be ready to listen to one's Lord."
Of course, this raises the million dollar question: "How DOES someone silence themselves, and instead listen 'to one's Lord'?" I've written about this in previous newsletters, and in fact, I have a whole program devoted to helping people learn to do this.
For me, the key to making this work -- especially for spiritual councils -- is to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit WITHIN each person. The goal of the council members is not to silence their own thinking, so as to hear guidance from some
outside Divine Voice (like the writing on the wall by an invisible hand referred to in I Kings 10). Rather, council members recognize that the Divine Voice is within their own consciousness. There are two poles in their awareness: the old self/small self/ego ... and the New Self/Holy Spirit within.
What the Taize guidebook is
asking its council members to do is to establish an inner silence of the old self; to quiet the nagging voice of the ego (which is characterized by worry, fear, status, personal recognition and advancement ... and is easily offended and bruised). Only in the process of doing this can the members then become aware of the quieter, deeper awareness that is the Divine Wisdom.
"Nothing is more unfavourable to objective judgement than the ties of particular affinity; we may be inclined to support a brother in the perhaps unconscious hope of obtaining his support at some point in return. Nothing is more contrary to the spirit of the council than a search which has not been purified by the sole desire to discern God's will."
This is a reminder that council members are not there to represent any constituencies. They are not trying to curry favor with any person -- in the group or outside of it -- in hopes of having that person favor them in a different setting. In other words, it's not about creating alliances or playing political games. In each and every decision, the person's focus is simply on
these questions:
- "What is the morally right thing to do?"
- "What is best for the organization itself and its members?"
- "What is best for the community around us?"
- "What is most consistent with, and best helps the organization to realize, its mission and vision?"
I hope you can see how these insights can be applied to a variety of settings ... not just church leadership boards. What about staff gatherings? What about
spiritually-minded non-profits? What about spiritually minded entrepreneurs? What if you were to focus your decision-making on applying both wisdom and divine guidance?
I'd love to talk with you more -- or speak to your group -- about these issues. Let me know if you have any reflections or questions.
