I read an interesting article today about Vladimir Putin and his war in the Business Insider. I quote:
"Bad news doesn't filter up in autocratic regimes.
Last month, a US official said Putin's top advisors are purposely feeding him bad information about the war, because they are "too afraid to tell him the truth."
When all state power lies in the hands of a single individual, advisors and employees have an outsize incentive to prove their value to the man in charge — even at the expense of accuracy and accountability..."
I’ve also been reflecting on the situation that has blown up with Arise church, apparently New Zealand’s largest mega church. A quote from Newshub:
"The carefully cultivated image Arise Church portrayed to the public masked a culture of mistreatment and greed, former members allege.
John Cameron, the founding pastor of one of the country's biggest churches has resigned.
Cameron said in a statement that he was broken and devastated after students of the Ministry School alleged they were overworked and overwhelmed.
An independent review into the culture of the church will commence after Easter."
I’ve already mentioned in a sermon, I’ve been thinking about the use of power in large organizations including churches. I was somewhat horrified to read about the treatment of some voluntary interns at Arise church, working at all manner of menial tasks for no pay, in fact having to pay $2500 for the privilege of working hard for no pay to prove their worth in the church. Burnout is the inevitable result, as you have to have another separate job to survive financially.
This is also testimony from multiple sources in the organization that bad information, the sort about abuse and inappropriate conduct, is made to go away. Image is everything. Problematic people who don't fit the victorious narrative, appear expendable and receive damage control, rather than care and justice. Already the careful messaging to make this current problem go away has begun.
Leadership is really important, and Jesus is the yardstick for all Christians, and all in Christian leadership. Except that we don’t take seriously enough the upside down, cross-centred manner of Jesus’ leadership. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”(John 18:36)
Yet so often we try and make the church like a human corporation, business or empire. We keep proving that doesn't work, yet still we try and measure our success by the standards of the world. This week we give some consideration to Paul's statement in Ephesians 5:21; 'Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.' We must pay attention to this sort of mutuality and reciprocity if we are to avoid the power imbalances described above. Truth must come, but in the context of the love of Christ.