‘Nettle’ of abusive leadership grasped

The abuse of power and position by some in Christian leadership was the subject of Living Leadership’s most recent Ministry Masterclass.

Entitled ‘Powerful Leaders?’, Marcus Honeysett, Executive Director of the charity, tackled this challenging topic and outlined the warning signs leaders can be aware of in their own lives and ministries.

Ministry Masterclasses are the latest training initiative launched this Spring by Living Leadership, a Christian charity devoted to help leaders live joyfully and serve faithfully. These occasional online events facilitate experienced leaders in sharing their wisdom on challenges and opportunities facing the church right now. In this recent session, Marcus led 22 attendees through a framework detailing how leaders move away from legitimate exercises of power to illegitimate (and oftentimes abusive) uses of power.

‘The use of power is a vitally important topic for all leaders to give careful consideration to,’ comments Marcus. ‘All of us who are in positions of leadership have the potential to misuse the power we have, none of us are immune to this danger. It is important that we make ourselves aware of the signs so we might spot them in ourselves, and even others, before we do damage to other people or churches, or bring the gospel into disrepute.’

Regarding the session, one participant remarked it was a ‘wonderful morning, well spent. Hosted well and great input from Marcus. I’m so glad this issue is being tackled. Well done for grasping the nettle’. Other participants described the session as ‘full of Biblical wisdom’ and ‘much food for thought’.

Living Leadership has made a recording of this and an earlier Masterclass available as premium resources on their website for anyone who missed out, and they plan to tackle other important topics for leaders through future Ministry Masterclasses and training courses. ‘At Living Leadership we are committed to training leaders in the character, knowledge, wisdom and skills involved in leading well,’ comments Paul Coulter, Head of Ministry Operations. ‘As well as the “Powerful Leaders?” Masterclass, we have expanded training in pastoral care by taking our popular Gospel-Shaped Pastoral Care Course fully online and focusing our first Masterclass on the issue of Pastoral Supervision. We are looking forward to tackling more pressing issues in the coming months and are always open to suggestions of topics people would like us to cover, so we might serve the church well. We would love any leaders who are seeking training or support on any issue to reach out to us.’