Father Henri Nouwen taught for 20 years at Harvard, Notre Dame, and Yale but began to feel his own spiritual death
developing (what many Christian leaders may identify as burnout). So he prayed a simple–but very brave–prayer: “Lord, show me where you want me to go and I will follow you, but please be clear and unambiguous about it!” And God called him away from a prestigious teaching career to l’Arche Daybreak-–a community in Ontario where people with and without intellectual communities live together in homes and do life together. Henri suddenly found himself in a place where only his “vulnerable self” was valued (not his degrees, books, and accomplishments). Henri derived In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership from a series of speeches that he gave on what he saw as the future of Christian leadership. Warning: this is not an easy feel-good devotional style book–it is gut-wrenching in its challenge to Christians.In the book he uses Christ’s temptation to address three temptations that the Christian leader must reject:
1. The temptation to be relevant
2. The temptation to be spectacular
3. The temptation to be powerful
Practically, this means leaders must choose love over power, the cross over control, and being led over being a leader. Leaders must seek a path toward downward mobility–becoming less and less and more and more in love with God. Henri asserts that the primary way leaders can do this is through contemplative prayer which shifts a Christian’s from the moral to the mystic. He doesn’t get into what contemplative prayers means beyond that it is union with God in prayer (a phrase that is also the original meaning of the word theology). Ultimately this pursuit will lead the believer to a cherishing of God’s first love (i.e., Jesus–”because he first loved us). This pursuit will also better enable Christian to answer the call to "love one another"--something that Henri shares is primary done through confession and forgiveness--this isn't a notion that would likely occurs to most leaders. That Jesus-focused relationship–a deep and intimate one must be the primary pursuit of the future Christian leader.
Looking for book ideas? Check out our 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 reading lists!
3. The temptation to be powerful
Practically, this means leaders must choose love over power, the cross over control, and being led over being a leader. Leaders must seek a path toward downward mobility–becoming less and less and more and more in love with God. Henri asserts that the primary way leaders can do this is through contemplative prayer which shifts a Christian’s from the moral to the mystic. He doesn’t get into what contemplative prayers means beyond that it is union with God in prayer (a phrase that is also the original meaning of the word theology). Ultimately this pursuit will lead the believer to a cherishing of God’s first love (i.e., Jesus–”because he first loved us). This pursuit will also better enable Christian to answer the call to "love one another"--something that Henri shares is primary done through confession and forgiveness--this isn't a notion that would likely occurs to most leaders. That Jesus-focused relationship–a deep and intimate one must be the primary pursuit of the future Christian leader.
Looking for book ideas? Check out our 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 reading lists!
Kruse's Notes:
10 Ask yourself: “has becoming older brought me closer to Jesus?”
11 “Burnout” = convenient psychological translation for a spiritual death
11 “Lord, show me where you want me to go and I will follow you, but please be clear and unambiguous about it!”
17 the future christian leader is called to be completely irrelevant with only his vulnerable self to offer.
Idea of God’s first love
23-24 After rising from the dead, Jesus asks Peter quite simply–do you love me?
25 Knowing the heart of God means knowing his “first love”--”Let us love, because he first
loved us.” 1 John 4:19. All other love is conditional and broken–he calls this “second Love”.
28 contemplative prayer = dwelling in the God’s presence. It reinforces our place and our worth and our value in a world that seeks to distract. It’s answering God’s continual question: Do you love me?
30 Theology–original meaning was “union with God in prayer”
31 Discipline of contemplative prayer leads to a permanent, intimate relationship with Jesus which yields words, advice, and guidance needed by leaders.
31 Dealing with the ‘burning issues’ of the day without being rooted in a relationship with Jesus can lead to divisiveness.
32 Fruitful Christan leader leadership requires a movement from the moral to the mystical.
17-18 Temptation to be “relevant” (i.e., turn stones into bread)
38 Temptation to be spectacular (i.e., throw yourself down and let the angels catch you)
55 Temptation to be powerful (i.e., Satan will give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world)
56 letting go of power and allowing yourself to be led
40 We are sent out two by two–called to share the gospel together
45 biblical leadership is squarely servant-leadership
46 Confession (our own brokenness) and forgiveness are the primary concrete ways that we, as Christians, love each other
59 “power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love…easier to be God than to love God.
60 Choose love over power, the cross over control, and being led over being a leader
60 Leaders often choose power instead of intimacy in relationships
62 Christian leaders are called to downward mobility
62 Jesus’ definition of maturity as willingness to be led where you don’t want to go.
73 Praying leader, vulnerable leader, trusting leader
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