The closer you are to the center of power as a leader, the greater your need to be shaped and led by voices on the periphery. The margins are where you make camp to preserve your integrity and amplify the voice of God. (thread) +

As a Christian, power is never to be stockpiled but stewarded for acts of love and justice. One way to discern whether a leader is trustworthy is simply to observe how much time he or she spends with “unimportant” people in the throes of suffering. +

How & where leaders spend their time reveals the ‘grid’ by which they understand the authority they possess. +

Christian leadership has nothing to do with rights bestowed by title, status, or success. Rather, it’s the responsibility to bear witness to people’s lives in community, to tend to their sorrows in light of a grander story, and to see to their flourishing as image bearers. +

Counterfeit leaders in the church have a low tolerance for being with people who are not useful to them or their ambitions. At best this is spiritual adolescence perhaps masked by charisma. At worst, it perpetuates abusive systems. +

We know that wolves prey on the weak (Mt. 7:15) so mere proximity to vulnerable people or justice causes is not enough to verify integrity. But it is important—and easily overlooked in a culture enamored by savvy leadership models. +

There are too many “visionary” leaders who strategize their way out of serving or shepherding anyone. They bear little resemblance to Jesus, yet somehow their prominence remains one of biggest tricks played on the people of God. (end)