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St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

215 N. 7th, Terre Haute, Indiana

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Leadership

The Rector's Blog · August 23, 2023

Disciples, Apostles, and Saints!

Perhaps the most common way we conceive of leadership is in the singular. There is a leader. They do things, say things, and otherwise have responsibility to at least one other person or some group of people. In this vision, there is a leader and followers.

This narrow vision of leadership is confounded by all the other things we know about leadership and community-building. Such as the participation of the community, the development of leadership with in the group, and the sharing of authority throughout the group.  In other words, if we merely define leadership as the act of one and the following of the rest, we aren’t describing leadership; we’re describing authoritarianism.

The style of leadership that Jesus cultivates is entirely different. He describes the quality of leadership by the fruits which spring from it. So, how many leaders are grown? How many people are encouraged? And how capable is the group to handle itself without the leader?

We seem to be going through a moment today in which we expect more from our leaders. Not to make us better leaders, but to “show up” and tell us what to do. Which is another way of saying be conspicuously effective. This, however, tells me far less about our leaders than it does about our institutions and ourselves.

We are awfully comfortable blaming our leaders or the inadequacy of our institutions. But we, however, struggle to see it as having anything to do with us.

With love,
Drew

Filed Under: The Rector's Blog Tagged With: discipleship, leadership, What's Going On

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CONTACT

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
215 N. 7th St
Terre Haute, IN 47807

812-232-5165

officeadmin@ststephensth.org

ABOUT

St. Stephen’s is a sacramental community following Jesus’s Way of Love.

We worship on Sundays at 8 & 10.

AFFILIATIONS

St. Stephen’s is a member of The Episcopal Church and congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis.

St. Stephen’s is a member of the Homeless Council of the Wabash Valley

PARKING

St. Stephen’s is across from Indiana State University. Nearby parking lots are run by ISU and are free after 5pm weekdays and are free all weekend long. 

Five marked spots in the lot directly behind the church are available during the week.

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