Reader's Picks: Best of 'Leadership Journal' 2013

Who doesn’t like to peek over a friend’s shoulder to see what they’re reading? Well, here’s your chance to see what your peers were reading at Leadership Journal this year.

The stand out trend of 2013 was sexuality—four out of our top ten dealt with tensions of sexual identity and culture (little surprise given our full issue on the topic). A runner up was money, with 2 pieces in the top ten. The remaining four? Well, you’ll see, but each is certainly a classic Leadership piece—story-forward, practical, and full of earned wisdom from the local church.

Be sure to compare the list to our Editor’s Retrospective (written before we pulled the year-end numbers) to see which pieces made both lists!

Which article from the past year has had the most impact on your ministry? Please let us know in the comments—even if you don’t see it on this list of 2013’s “Greatest Hits.”

10: Going to Church Alone – Jason Johansen

“We are not meant to go to church alone. When we refuse our responsibility for those next to us, our gatherings become hollow rituals. But when, in Jesus name, we lay down our lives for one another, we become a powerful witness of God’s love. So different from our consumer culture that uses people up and then excludes those no longer useful.

This will not be easy, nor popular, nor comfortable. The tide of culture is against us. What it will be is a revolution—a baptizing, praying, reconciling revolution. The quiet revolution of a family dinner.”

9: The Gospel in an LGBT World – Peyton Jones

“When someone from the LGBT community walks through the doors of the church, our approach is crucial. If our first thought is, Are you going to stop “that” and change? we become spiritual TSA agents. Hypocritical ones, too—erecting moral metal detectors and demanding people empty out certain banned sins before we let them fly.

And to be honest, isn’t homosexuality the only sin that we make a barrier right from the start? We preach God’s grace and explain that God will receive, forgive, and cleanse. We emphasize that they’ve been given the righteousness of Christ, and that sanctification will follow along their journey. But for many Christians, with homosexuality the change needs to happen yesterday. But as Jesus told the Pharisees, we shut the door of the kingdom in people’s faces.”

8: Gay Marriage and Christian Volatility – Tony Kriz

“In the late 70s and early 80s, I was just a boy. It was at this time that the AIDS epidemic began to spread in America. I remember the fear. I remember the agitation.
At that time the church community chose to use its extensive power, platform, and influence to condemn the outbreak. We called it the gay-plague. We separated ourselves from it and judged—when we could have loved.

I believe that most of us Christians wish we could go back 30-plus years and use that same power and platform as an influence to love. We could have started hospices, given to medical research, and fought to stand with the infected—”for I was sick and you visited me” (Matt. 25:36). Regardless of our moral beliefs, we could have embraced that moment to stand with the homosexual community in love. We missed it. That was a God-opportunity that we can never get back.

Today we have another chance.”

7: Why I Won’t Give to Your Church – Robert Jewe

“I am a 23-year-old who refuses to give to your church …

My generation loves technology yet we’re minimalists. We’re highly educated; we don’t like to read. We’re comfortable with uncertainty, I think. We’re skeptical of corporations, and we’re pretty much an expert on everything because of Google and Wikipedia.

We realize we’re arrogant, and in many ways, contradictory. We’re OK with that, but we’re not OK with you being unwilling to admit to the same.

More than half of us will leave the church at some point. Those of us still here find it increasingly difficult to stay.

So what is it that we’re looking for? What’s the magic answer?
There is none. What will satisfy one person my age may not satisfy me, and vice versa. But for what it’s worth, here are my ideas, frustrations, and yes, a little advice.”

6: Tithing: Law or Grace – John Ortberg

“Tithing is like training wheels when it comes to giving. It’s intended to help you get started, but not recommended for the Tour de France.

How do you know when to take training wheels off? The quick answer is: when they’re slowing you down. How do you know when it’s time to stop tithing? For all of us not living in dire poverty, the answer is when you’re giving way more than 10 percent. Tithing is a bad ceiling but an excellent floor.”

5: Help I’m Gay – Stanton L. Jones

“I would urge you to stay away from anyone who suggests that they have the program that will ‘cure’ you. There is no such program. Stay away from anyone who does not acknowledge the profound mystery of homosexual attraction. Look for someone compassionate and caring but also knowledgeable and wise, someone who can speak truth into your life, someone who can walk beside you on what promises to be a long journey. Look for a community of such people to support you. It is a good thing, but nonessential thing, if one of those primary people is a mental health professional. I say ‘nonessential’ because there is tremendous healing potential in the caring ministry of God’s people in the local church.”

4: Leaving My Lesbian Past – Charlene E. Hios

“The folks at CPBC (College Park Baptist Church) never initiated the discussion of homosexuality. It was always me who wanted to discuss it. They were more interested in my personal walk with God and my relationship with Jesus. Though they were concerned about my homosexuality, they explained that God would be the one to work on my homosexuality and my belief that God made me that way . …

… They were the people who talked to me about homosexuality by taking me deeper into the Word of God. They knew they could not argue me out of my homosexuality. The first matter at hand was to introduce me to Jesus Christ, to the Word of God, not to introduce me to heterosexuality.”

3: Why People Get so Mad at Pastors – Wayne Cordeiro and Francis Chan

“The key is to learn to listen to God and to let our vision flow from there. This often involves developing some thick skin, while still keeping our sensitivity to the real pain and needs of people. Every effective leader must learn to live with the very people who frustrate them until they no longer do. When you become a leader, you can never again get angry in public. The challenge is to stay balanced when criticized, to avoid taking the criticism personally yet to avoid becoming calloused or cynical. We are called to a paradox of personalities: sensitive but not easily offended, empathetic but not weak, flexible and yet filled with convictions.”

2: Seven Things I Hate About Spiritual Formation – John Ortberg

“I hate how easy it is for people to become “champions” of spiritual formation without actually becoming transformed. Sometimes in churches somebody will discover a particular vein of spirituality and seek to recruit others into it, or assume a superior position because they have found certain techniques—but no one actually wants to become like them. I hate it when we forget that the goal is producing truly good people, not becoming experts at certain spiritual activities, or advocates for certain writers.”

1: We Need to Stop Eating our Own – Michael Cheshire

“I firmly believe that by finally dragging our differences and petty arguments into the light of day, it will be a massive first step in breaking our mean habits. For far too long, while we have been waging a war within our own foxholes, the real enemy has had the run of the place. He has been unchallenged because Christ’s army is too wounded from friendly fire to even crawl to the battlefield for the real fight. And an enemy who is unopposed is no longer your enemy. He has actually becomes your ruler.

Jesus said a house divided could not stand. We are bitterly divided, but we don’t have to stay that way. It’s never too late to start loving each other. For some of us, that will be hard. But I don’t want to stand before God one day explaining why I was too busy taking down other Christians to take his message of love to a hurting world. I’m guessing you feel the same way.

Andrew Finch is editorial resident for Leadership Journal.