Dysfunctional Leadership Cycle in Elitist Ministries

Dysfunctional leadership cycle in elitist ministries

1. Little or no real accountability of senior leadership to followers.

• Much talk about accountability, but usually just followers to leaders – not vice versa.


• Lack of transparency.


• Highly authoritarian leadership model, without space for open discussion or dissent.


• Sin and failure covered up rather than dealt with honestly and openly.


• Promotion based on blind loyalty rather than merit.


• Senior leaders surrounded and protected by ‘yes-men’.

Apparent strengths:

• Rapid growth and execution of projects.


• Lack of open discussion on failures, gives illusion of no failures.


• Rapid growth and illusion of no failure, encourages more to invest time, money and energy in ministry.


• Apparent success fuels even more rapid growth.


• Ministry appears more successful than others and so doesn’t listen.

Weakness

• People who question problems in ministry get unjustly attacked by leadership.


• Eventually dissent is silenced as thinking people are demoted or move away.


• Lots of abused and hurt people leave ministry, but are replaced by others deluded by apparent strengths.


• Leaders all overwork to produce results and under stress treat people very badly.

2. New leaders taught same elitist/abusive Pharisee model of leadership

• Those who question and think are not promoted and so don’t get to senior leadership.


• New leaders are told they are part of an elite within the ministry, which itself is better than other ministries.


• Arrogance and autocracy grows amongst leadership.


• Model is justified by apparently brilliant short-term growth results.

3. Crash

• No one opposes when leader goes off track. Those who do are marginalised.


• Leader goes further and further off track with scandal and abusiveness.


• Eventually leader crashes either because of scandal or chronic abusiveness.

4. Aftermath

• Leader (rather than system) is blamed for crashing.


• System is not questioned.


• New leader(s) take over with same elitist/abusive production oriented style.


• New leader doesn’t know any way to lead except what taught before.


• Organisation merges with another similar group and/or changes name.


• Disassociates with former group.


• A few minor changes in accountability, without addressing core issues.

5. System repeats itself from step 1 again with the next generation of leaders.

Results:

• Lots of disillusioned and hurt Christians


• Lots of highly intelligent promising leaders corrupted with elitist/abusive Pharisee style leadership model.


• Lots of wasted money, time and energy that could have been better invested in God’s kingdom.