What if our submission is actually designed to be in spite of poor leadership. The concept of submission should have a healthy dose of reality - that the need to submit, like the need to be content, comes precisely because the curcumstances make it difficult to do so.
Over the years of being under different leadership paradigms as well being a leader in different capacities, it has become clear that leaders are as broken and in need of grace (if not more) as anyone else. The brokenness a leader manifests comes through their leadership and how they treat and manage the people and responsibilities they've been entrusted with. Without their responsibility to lead, they still have the same problems, though they may be in latent form. Leadership just brings out what is already there - insecurity, lust, fear, anger, bitterness, laziness, etc. George Verwer, my mentor, once said that if you took a picture of a leader at the right (or wrong) time, all of them would be disqualified at some point. They are going to mess up regardless of what position they are given to lead in. How then do people under their leadership navigate the brokenness of their leader? How do they continue supporting and undergirding their leader while at same time keeping the brokenness of the leader in view? The answer is submission.
I'd like to "submit" a definition of biblical submission...so here goes,
"Submission is the awareness and acceptance of a leader's brokenness balanced with the decision to entrust oneself to them for the sake of Christ."
That balance requires much of the one submitting. Submission - true submission - requires as much character as true leadership does.
Submission is a human dynamic, not a religious one, so here it goes for a more generic understanding of submission,
"Submission is the awareness and acceptance of a leader's brokenness balanced with the decision to entrust oneself to them for the sake of whatever purpose holds them together."
I understand that submission is also necessary to make the ship run. You need a captain and a 1st and 2nd mate with a deck crew and an engine room to make the ship run smoothly and to avoid all out anarchy. Our present discussion is dealing with leaders who are called to lead people on more than just a practical level, but also at the level of their heart, their character and to honor the God-given dignity of each person in the process of working towards something together.
So does it work? I know that for me the choice to submit doesn't even feel like submission when the leader is someone who accepts their own brokenness before you have to and also understands that they lead with a limp, but lead nonetheless.
Over the years of being under different leadership paradigms as well being a leader in different capacities, it has become clear that leaders are as broken and in need of grace (if not more) as anyone else. The brokenness a leader manifests comes through their leadership and how they treat and manage the people and responsibilities they've been entrusted with. Without their responsibility to lead, they still have the same problems, though they may be in latent form. Leadership just brings out what is already there - insecurity, lust, fear, anger, bitterness, laziness, etc. George Verwer, my mentor, once said that if you took a picture of a leader at the right (or wrong) time, all of them would be disqualified at some point. They are going to mess up regardless of what position they are given to lead in. How then do people under their leadership navigate the brokenness of their leader? How do they continue supporting and undergirding their leader while at same time keeping the brokenness of the leader in view? The answer is submission.
I'd like to "submit" a definition of biblical submission...so here goes,
"Submission is the awareness and acceptance of a leader's brokenness balanced with the decision to entrust oneself to them for the sake of Christ."
That balance requires much of the one submitting. Submission - true submission - requires as much character as true leadership does.
Submission is a human dynamic, not a religious one, so here it goes for a more generic understanding of submission,
"Submission is the awareness and acceptance of a leader's brokenness balanced with the decision to entrust oneself to them for the sake of whatever purpose holds them together."
I understand that submission is also necessary to make the ship run. You need a captain and a 1st and 2nd mate with a deck crew and an engine room to make the ship run smoothly and to avoid all out anarchy. Our present discussion is dealing with leaders who are called to lead people on more than just a practical level, but also at the level of their heart, their character and to honor the God-given dignity of each person in the process of working towards something together.
So does it work? I know that for me the choice to submit doesn't even feel like submission when the leader is someone who accepts their own brokenness before you have to and also understands that they lead with a limp, but lead nonetheless.
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