Erwin McManus on Leadership and Apostolic Ethos

In his book An Unstoppable Force, McManus, lead pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles, duly notes that leadership can and does mean different things in different organizations and occupations. The trouble in the church lies in its assigning great value to people who can structure and manage a complex environment, rather than in someone who unleashes one that has to be harnessed. He says, "The danger is going beyond an order of worship to a worship of order."

Here are a few highlights from his book:

"There is a critical distinction between managers who maintain organizations and leaders who create community by catalyzing movement."

"We must focus our attention on the creating and shaping of ethos and then on the structures that best nurture and harness its potential."

On empowering people: "A connection environment is a birthplace for dynamic ministry. When people begin to group together, to join together with others who have common passions and gifting, the result is synergistic. Leaders sometimes get frightened when people do not seem to need their help or guidance. But helping people do what God called them to do is like setting fire to a bomb. A leader may begin the process, but people don't need much from the leader after that. And the reward is greater than the risk."

On creating the right ethos in your ministry: "When being a church attendee is not a culturally expected responsibility, a person who attends but does not begin to serve will drop out within a year."

"An apostolic ethos is an eruption of creativity. It becomes the fountainhead of the ideal and the imaginative. Creativity is the natural result of spirituality."

And this little gem on discipleship and the Gerasene demoniac after Jesus sent him back to his town: "Modern discipleship would tell us that this event was improper and, in fact, immoral. Modern discipleship would say that a baby Christian should never be left to fend for himself in a harsh world, that he must first be protected, and that only if he obtained a certain level of maturity should he be sent out. Yet Jesus instructed the former demoniac to go back to his family and city to tell them all the wonderful things God had done for him. So he did. When Jesus returned, the masses awaited him, all the result of the life of one man who was still ignorant and unlearned."