Leader or Manager?

One of the very fortunate things about being a Cadet in the Australia Southern Territory is that you have access to one of the world’s greatest leaders – General Eva Burrows.  General Burrows was a significant leader not just for The Salvation Army, but her influence was used worldwide – not in spite of her being a woman – but because she was a woman.  I know many non-Salvationists, and indeed non-Christians who admire General Burrows and the way in which she was able to achieve for Women and as a woman.

General Burrows ran our Christian Leadership A class last week at College.  I took copious notes, and will gladly share those if you email me or ask me for them.  But I want to focus on one thing that she talked about, which challenged, affirmed and inspired me in my leadership.

She quoted a retiring Admiral from the American Navy who said:

“The Trouble with the American Navy is there are too many managers and not enough leaders.”

General Burrows stated that the difference between a leader and a manager is that a leader sets a vision and inspires and influences people to follow that vision, whereas a manager aims to maintain and control.  She said that Stephen Covey states that:

“Managers are people who do things right, Leaders are people who do the right things.”

That got me thinking – I have served under many Officers who are “managers” in The Salvation Army.  Even some who felt as though they were setting a vision, were in fact actually just managing their team to an outcome.  True spiritual leaders have been harder to come by.

True leaders are servant-hearted.  They look to Jesus for an example of how to lead, and find that Jesus in modelling leadership to His disciples, got down on His knees and washed the feet of His followers.  Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. To be a true leader, we need to follow Jesus. We need to pray, we need to humble ourselves and serve others.  And we need to trust that God who places a vision in our heart will equip us to bear fruit through that vision.  

I believe, that the trouble with The Salvation Army today is that there are too many managers and not enough leaders.  But I truly believe that is changing.  I believe there is a renewal of spirit in the Army and that God is refreshing the vision for The Salvation Army. 

I believe our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. 

I believe that the Emergent view – that focus not on God being found in the Corps building, but in serving our community with the love of God, actively spreading the Good News (not to grow our Corps Sunday meetings, but to grow the Kingdom of God )– is going to bring about a  new revolution in The Army that takes us back to the numbers of transformations seen in early days. 

Why do I believe this? Because each day I am in community with 25 other Ambassadors of Holiness and a Training College filled with staff who are challenged, challenging and inspired to bring about God’s Kingdom on earth – and the early vision of The Salvation Army – To Win The World For Jesus! 

37 people have come to know Christ as a direct result of Ambassadors of Holiness & College Staff being motivated by that vision, and following Jesus’ model for leadership since we started College this year.  But we’re believing for more.

Are you going to be a leader? Will you buy into this vision? Or are you happy to continue managing?

Is it time to call a spade a spade?

We’re currently doing the Hands that Heal training in sex-traffiking in preparation for the Brothel Chaplaincy ministry some of us female Cadets are about to take up.

Perri (our dear friend, and great trainer!) was talking about how we need to call these things for what they are. So instead of saying Sex-worker, we need to say Prostituted Person or Victim (thanks to Estelle & Captain Steve Court for pointing out the difference between prostitute and prostituted person). Instead of saying “client” we need to call them “Perpetrator”. This goes against a lot of my social work training – where we’re taught to use “politically correct terms”. It’s a challenge for me, but I have been thinking a lot about this, and I honestly think it’s important to do this.

The terms we use today have totally “normalized” what sex-work is. IT’s made it as though what is happening is okay – and whilst at no point would I EVER judge a woman who has wound up in prostitution, I do think that by normalizing it, we make out that it’s okay that there are people who are willing to pay for sex – who are willing to devalue the life of another for their own personal gratitude.

Just after I started thinking this through, I caught the last 5 minutes of a TV show called ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl’. It’s essentially about a call girl and her life. It seemed to have quite a “positive” message at the end of this show – that the decisions this girl had made, cost her greatly in relationships – that she was unable to keep a relationship as a result of her line of work.

So, thinking I might actually be able to use this to strengthen my prep work for this ministry, I jumped online and watched a few episodes of the show – and it really really upset me! For one thing, it not only normalizes prostitution and the men who pay for sex – it actually GLAMOURIZES it! I am quite concerned about this being seen as a “good option” for people who want to make good money. The danger of “normalizing” prostitution is that it:
(a) devalues those who are forced into this work – either because they are traffiked, or they feel it is their worth, or they have addiction problems etc.
and
(b) it makes it okay for men to exploit women for sex – for them to commit adultery with another woman (because surely it’s not adultery if they pay for it – WHAT?!?!)

One of the lines the character said at the beginning of the first episode was that she didn’t get into it because she was “touched” by some relative or something along those lines.

The thing is – I’ve met and become friends with a fair few prostitutes in my time. Not ONE of them started working because it was a “good” option. Every one I have met is an abuse victim – either sexual or physical – and prostitution is either what they think they are worth (their worth is in offering sex to men) or it’s a way of regaining power – they own their body.

One of the social workers I worked with in the past was a “madam” in a brothel, and she told me that every girl she ever worked with had some form of abuse in her life. That “normal” girls don’t “choose” that line of work – because it is often degrading and lonely work.

I’m not saying that 100% of girls who become prostitutes are abuse victims – but this show makes out like it’s “normal” for a girl to choose to work as a prostitute for money – and those girls are the minority not the majority.

So whilst this TV show does attempt to show some of the “darker” sides of prostitution – it still normalizes it – it still says that it’s okay – and the fact of the matter is that it’s not. It’s not ok to degrade someone by paying them for sex. You are a perpetrator, not a “client”. It is not okay to think your worth is to sell yourself for sex. You are worth so very much more than this.

I’m working on my language – but the truth of the matter is this – God loves each and every one of the women that we are about to start ministering to. He longs for them to know their worth, that He created them for a greater purpose and that He longs to bring them to a fullness in themselves. There’s no condemnation in Christ’s eyes, only love and a desire for so much more for their lives. So as we go in to these brothels, the message I’ll bring is “You are beautiful with God’s beauty, beautiful inside and out. God is with you” (Luke 1:28 – The Message).

So from here on in – I’m going to call a spade a spade. I’m going to de-normalize prostitution. Not out of judgement of the women involved – but out of pure concern that society thinks that this is okay – which I’m fairly sure grieves the heart of God.

What’s in a Name anyway?

 

So I’m sitting in theology at the moment, we’re talking about the different names of God.  (I’m not on the internet, I have this really handy thing called Windows Live Writer – download it, it’s live blogging at it’s best!) It’s an interesting one, because in our limited language skills we would never be able to fully and adequately describe all of who God is.

 

When talking to Abraham, God names Himself YHWH (or Yahweh), which translated means “I am” (or “I am who I am”).  We are learning that Jewish people do not mention the name YHWH, because it is the holiest of holy names.  Wow! Imagine having something SO holy you couldn’t even mention it! They got around this by talking about Jireh (God who provides), Rohi (The Lord is my Shepherd), Shalom (The Lord is peace). 

Also, in Bible times, the Jewish people would use the word “El”, the common word of the day that was used to describe the gods.  So God becomes El-Shaddai (God of the mountains – or the Almighty God), El-Roi (the God who sees), El-Olam (God of eternity or the eternal God). 

 

Each of these names have a story to them.  For example, Jireh – God who provides – was the name that Abraham used for God after He spared Isaac from being sacrificed (Genesis 22), God is a God who provides.  Or El-Roi – was the name Hagar used when she was sent away by Abraham & Sarah after the birth of Ishmael – and she cried out to God who saw her – thus – the God who sees.

We were challenged to think about what words we would use to describe God.  For me, I guess it would be most in-line with Hagar – to me, God sees me, for what I am, who I am – but beyond that – God loves who He sees.

What would be the names you would use to describe God – who is God for you? Is He the God who cares? The God who sees? The God who challenges? If you had to name God – what would the name be that you would choose?

Black Saturday

Well it’s been a while since I wrote.  Partly it’s because I’ve known what I’ve wanted to cover, but not really known how to say it.

The tragic events of Black Saturday are at the forefront of so many people’s minds, even now, over a month after they happened. It’s hard to find someone in Victoria who hasn’t either lost a loved one, or know of someone who has.  I guess that’s what happens when at least 210 people lose their lives and over 7,000 people are left displaced.

The Salvation Army Training College sent us Cadets out to serve in the various Relief Centres around Victoria.  This was an absolute privilege and the frustrating thing was how limited we were in the help we could offer.

That brings me though to what I want to write about.  The most frustrating thing of all of it for me, was how many times I heard various volunteers say “I did this” or “I did that” or “I got to…” like there is some badge of honour for the work that was being done.  The flip side of this was the people who would complain “I was only folding clothes” or “I didn’t even meet a survivor of the fires, I was stuck cleaning all day!” 

We should not put our hands up to help at these things if at the end of the day it is about me feeling like a good person.  It’s not a matter of glamour people – or something to write home about – something to brag about.  Naturally everyone wants to help in times of crisis, but at the end of the day – it’s not about you. 

God calls us to love and serve.  Sometimes that service will involve folding clothes, other times it will involve sitting with a survivor who is struggling to make sense of what has just happened. 

Let’s remember, at the end of the day – it’s not about us – it’s about loving and serving those who lost everything – no matter how “glamorous” our part in that was.