A seminary student told me recently that he wants to go to law school after he graduates. He wants eventually to go into politics, specifically to be a mayor, ideally in his hometown. “But Melissa,” he said, “the church will always come first. I promise you that.”
I believe him, even though sometimes, gifted young would-be pastors like this man, feel an obligation to tell his elders this. After all, the foundation I work for supports their preparation as pastors. If they choose work in other full-time congregational ministry, they worry that we have to move a hash mark from the “got one” to the “lost one” column. In truth, we don’t have a “lost one” column.
If you have been watching Brick City, a five-part documentary about Newark, New Jersey, you have seen a picture of the tenacity, wits, sophistication and heart of civic leaders who are working with a community for transformation. I don’t know the religions of these Newark leaders, but they are holding a vision for peace in a place where there is little peace and working very, very hard to make it a reality. If my young friend -- an African-American man like Newark mayor Cory Booker -- hears God’s call to serve the people of his hometown of Memphis, TN (like Newark, a city of tremendous need) I will celebrate it and be grateful for all those who helped him begin with a theological education.
I will challenge him by asking him to be very clear about in whose wake he follows. “Whose wake are you in?” was the question about leadership that Walter Brueggemann posed at the FTE Calling Congregations Conference, Awaken Young Lives to the Call. Elijah was the great leader who was most remembered and revered by the people of Israel. Elisha, in his wake needed a double portion of Elijah’s spirit to do what must be done (II Kings 2:9). Elisha was clear whose leadership paradigm shaped him and he acted accordingly, literally under the mantle of Elijah. We get into trouble when we don’t know, or don’t claim, or don’t examine the leadership models by which we think, respond, choose and act.
In whose wake would you have our aspiring young pastor-politicians follow? Whose mantle would you have them wear? Who are the leaders who keep their grounding in the church and serve the public good?
Melissa Wiginton is Vice President for Ministry Programs and Planning at the Fund for Theological Education.
