PREFACE
Yes, this is going to be a powerfully-biased blog.
We are going to side-step theology for a second, and talk about human leadership structures, and the way that people organize and make decisions, especially in the human-relationship transaction called Church.
This blog will be about power-gradients within human groups, dominance, control patterns, hierarchy, and… the modern Church.
OPENING
From my perspective… in human leadership…
Horizontal leadership: Biblical and desirable. The JESUS model of our leadership, and what He taught us.
Vertical leadership: un-Biblical (?? anti-Biblical) and dangerous. The leadership that Jesus warned us about (leaven of Herod and Pharisees) and told us to do the direct opposite.
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Note: economic arrangements like owner-employee or supervisor-employee arrangements will not fit into this discussion of human group-leadership very well. This discussion is in regards to groups of people and how they are led.
WHAT IS HORIZONTAL LEADERSHIP?
Horizontal leadership is where ‘leaders’ work side-by-side with everyone in the organization.
Decision-making is by collaboration and consensus. There is no ‘top dog’, or ‘the buck stops here’ person.
Decisions may take ‘longer’ to achieve, but everyone has a creative contribution to the directions and decisions, and usually high buy-in.
Authority is shared and each member of the team is honored and valued.
Horizontal Churches would also involve a great deal of prayer… individual and corporate… and seeking together the direction and Rhema-word Voice of Holy Spirit… there is also a huge ‘culture of Honour’ within the group.
Based on a high level of investment, Horizontal models yield a higher degree of wide-based participation in the implementation of a decision over a longer time than other models.
Because the Horizontal organization is all on a ‘level playing field’, ‘leadership’ task within the group is to create and facilitate open and honest communication, so everyone is aware of the groups tasks and responsibilities.
[If communication is poorly managed, chaos and confusion can manifest… a problem in some ‘Horizontal’ attempts.]
Horizontal organizations are designed for power-sharing, flexibility and equal standing of authority.
Leaders in a Horizontal organization will ‘lead’ by hard work, wisdom, insight and maturity within the group. The group receives and accepts such leadership because it is more coordinational, helping all members of the organization to operate at their full potential. These leaders are masters at communication and interaction.
Many non-Western societies value and demonstrate Horizontal models… while the Churches in Latin America and Africa have fallen prey to very powerful Vertical leadership structures.
Representational democracy was actually meant to be a Horizontal structure in its’ inception.
WHAT IS VERTICAL LEADERSHIP?
Vertical leadership is the well-known top-down approach, where the ‘leader’ or ‘leaders’ exert authority and control over the subordinates ‘under’ them. The usual ‘flow chart’ of Vertical Leadership takes on a ‘pyramid-structure’ format, with increased power/control/authority the further a person is ‘up on the flow chart’.
Vertical models are desirable in emergency situations and warfare, where immediate decisions and actions are required.
Vertical leaders are usually strongly self-determined, resolute, have a clear goal and target for the group/organization, and willing to be directive and controlling ‘to see that the objectives and target goals are met’.
In Vertical models, the ‘top authorities’ don’t consult the people below them for input, ideas, or insight. Frequently, the leaders ‘up the pyramid’ give orders or directives with expected obedience and compliance by those below their level in the organization.
Experienced Vertical leaders learn how to be directive and controlling while ‘making it seem like’ the subordinates are actually participants in a great accomplishment or project.
Potential for abuses and ‘being used’ is significantly higher in Vertical models.
In the Church, this model is frequently manifest by dividing the group into the ‘Clergy’ or ‘quasi-clergy’ such as deacons and Board leaders [at the top of the pyramid]… then the ‘Laity’ [the subordinates, supporting the top].
In some Church models, this is where the pastor/pastoral leadership engaging in ‘vision-casting’, calling the people to give support to something like a building project or new service to be delivered. Frequently, they portray that God ‘spoke’ to them, or leading them towards this project or goal.
In ‘vision-casting’, the ‘laity’ had little participation in the birthing, shaping and project costs.
Since Vertical models and leaders ‘rule the day’ in Western society [business, government, education] and the Western Church [clergy –v- laity], there is high potential for ‘subordinates’ to feel disenfranchised and ‘used’, creating significant tension and relational strife.
[thanks to on-line resources for the defining characteristics here… see https://hidayatrizvi.com/vertical-vs-horizontal-leadership-difference-pros-and-cons/ ]
HISTORY AND CAVEATS
Since the early 300’s AD, the Vertical leadership structure has been heavily injected into the Church by… well…
Constantine launched the greatest contamination of the early Church by shaping it under his heavy hand as Emperor, modeling it after his Roman religious-political structures and NOT Biblical/New Testament models, especially those commanded by Jesus. This ‘shaping’ by Constantine was clearly a ‘power-play’ on his part, and we know what ‘power’ means in questionable and human hands.
Constantine’s terrible deeds live on to this date.
Important to note:
^^Horizontal Church leadership does not mean there are not people distinguished as a ‘leaders’ [plural] in a Church or Body of believers. It’s not hippie-chaos. It just means that all the usual human-sin-structure ‘pyramid’ power-ploys enacted by Vertical leadership are not in play. There have been many historic Horizontal leadership movements, such as the AnaBaptists, Quakers, Shakers, Mennonites, Amish, and the Monrovians… to mention a few…
^^Human Vertical leadership is not a Divine-given structure where the guy or guys (almost never gals!) at the top enjoy ‘Divine rights and connection’ that the ‘common man’ does not have rights or access to.
In other words, the whole ‘Clergy’ and ‘Laity’ system is bogus, un-Biblical, and a set-up by men for power-plays by people who do such things. This sin-structure has been the plague of history, claiming some ‘Divine rights to kings and queens’, right down to current ‘pastors’ and church leaders.
^^The actual structure and model of Leadership currently existing within Ecclesiastical, Denominational and Non-Denominational Churches and Para-Church movements world-wide would be completely foreign to the Apostles and the early Church in the New Testament and first 300 years of existence.
TAKE-AWAY
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” [Isaiah 40:3-5]
QUESTIONS:
^^How would you categorize YOUR leadership?
Vertical?
Horizontal?
^^What does your organization or Church expect of you in this regard?
Vertical?
Horizontal?
^^ Do you feel the stirring of Holy Spirit in our time to totally re-shape Church Leadership? Not just cosmetic changes and minor adjustments, but a total gut-out of the Vertical thing that currently rules, and make it Horizontal?
Every valley raised, every mountain flattened… THEN His Glory…???
written by crisbaj
POST_SCRIPT: I found this particular BLOG by Dr Piippo helpful…
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