Even more conversations about power

Greetings,

The IEF training in community organizing continues to go well. So far it has mostly been theory, but I have been assured that today we will get to practice some of the techniques they have been alluding to.

The thing that I think that I am starting to understand is that I have to claim the power of my office. Whether I like it or not, whether I am suppicious of having power or not, the fact remains that clergy have power. The more important question is how will I wield the power of my position. To deny it is simply to waste it. To be autocratic is inefficient and anti-biblical. Therefore, what the trainers called informed judgements and relational power, are keys to wielding power with integrity to the values I wish to hold. People are changed by relationships not by readings or sermons. Therefore, producing informed judgements in people is done by building relationships with people. This will in turn allow you to exercise relational power the power of broad based group that wants a change. This helps reduce the temptive forces that seduce a powerful person to curruption. To bring this into Christian language, it is to be a servant leader or spiritual leader instead of an autocratic leader.