Beyond Business As Usual - A Call To Leadership

The reelection of Barack Obama will certainly be 2012's most remembered story - but in my mind, two other events are more indicative of the situations facing both the church and the government in America.

In June and July, several mainline denominations including the Methodists, Episcopals, and Presbyterians held their national conventions. Each devolved into the ugly sort of infighting over hot-button issues that we've grown to expect from such meetings.

Frustrated with "business as usual," a group of participants and online observers (mostly comprised of younger adults) banded together in concurrent movements that became known as "The Mainline Summer." The purpose, as I understood it, was to focus on prayer and Scripture, and to invite the Holy Spirit to move our church bodies beyond the the partisan bickering and into a more hopeful and Spirit-led future.

Six-months later, many of us are feeling that same anger and frustration toward our nation's leaders. The now infamous "Fiscal Cliff" negotiations have not brought us the compromise and pragmatic bi-parisanship they were supposed to. Instead, it's been more "business as usual," featuring the same posturing and brinksmanship that has prevented our nation's fiscal problems from being addressed for years.

It's only been a few hours since the "Fiscal Cliff" dealine passed without a resolution, and many partisan folks are predictably laying all the blame on the other party - but I'm also noticing a current bubbling up that is similar to what produced "The Mainline Summer."

Many people are frustrated with the system as a whole. They understand that the two sides are so consumed with defeating one another that they can't see how they are harming the entire body. They are longing for leaders who can transcend the partisan warfare and can lead the nation into a more hopeful and more unified future.

So as 2013 begins, both the church and the nation find themselves with similar challenges and opportunities. Both find themselves mired in old categories and old partisan struggles, and both need fresh voices, fresh ideas, and fresh methods for dealing with their problems.

With this in mind, I am calling on myself and on my generation to make 2013 a year to step up and step into a new level of leadership, and a new type of leadership. Movements like "The Mainline Summer" are a great start, but we need much more - and we need to be more intentional and more practically-oriented about it.

Over the coming weeks and months, I invite you to join me in a conversation that is more than just talk - but that is action and talk,  where we can share our experiences in seeking this new type of leadership.  Let's work together in leading our church and our nation beyond the "business as usual" that is crippling us.