Andy Flannagan issues a challenge

Andy Flannagan

Many people have written about "money, sex and power" being the main stumbling blocks, especially for those in leadership. History is sadly littered with many examples of the sad, but simple truth of this. When the fingers point (as they regularly do in these days of vicious 24hr media), they often seem to point at politicians, who seem to be the most likely to fall foul of all three! Yet, sin is customised. Any of us who have been part of any youth group, small group, church or other organisation know that we are all equally prone to succumbing to any of the "big 3".

As Christians we like to think that we've got a handle on this stuff, but I wonder if we've got a blind spot. The more I see, the more I fear that we're doing not so bad on two of them but not so good on the third. Let me try to explain.

Things only have power over us while we hold onto them tightly. We prove that things don't have a hold over us when we can give them away. When we give, we prove that these things, while important, are not the most important thing in the world to us, and certainly won't get in the way of God's kingdom coming.

For example, we have disciplines around money. We often tithe. We follow the biblical tradition of giving away the "first fruits" of our labour to God to make sure that we remember who gave us the ability to earn money in the first place. The Israelites gave away the first fruits picked in the harvest to God. (Firstfruits are mentioned in connection with the Feast of Weeks (Shavout) in Numbers 28:26, Tabernacles (Sukkot) in Exodus 23:16 and Passover in Leviticus 23:10) It is one way of saying thank you for the gift of our bodies, talents, and skills that we have all been given.

Beyond that, we are encouraged to give generously of the rest of our income, for the benefit of others around us. What we do with our cash fleshes out where our hearts truly are. Someone said something about that once, I think! (Matt 6:21) It is such a healthy discipline to give. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim 6:10), and giving it away helps to pull up that root. You cannot serve both God and Money (Matt 6:24), and giving is one way of choosing God. We have good examples of giving all around us. Money's a bit like horse manure. When mounded up it's a useless, stinking mess; when spread around it makes things grow.

We also have disciplines around sex. We step back from claiming various sexual acts as a right, and instead declare them to be a pre-fall gift from God. Therefore we will enjoy them in their proper context. In "courting" relationships, we are careful about ensuring that physical intimacy only accelerates at the same rate as our intellectual, spiritual and emotional intimacy. In essence, we give away what some would regard as a right, for the greater good. There are also many who sit by the disciplines of celibacy for all of their lives.

But, I fear we haven't got many disciplines around power. Given that we don't really have a working definition of what it is, or an acknowledgement that it all comes from God and therefore we are not in authority unless we are under his authority, we often ape the world's power. This means that churches, church-based organisations and Christian NGOs can look suspiciously like mainstream organisations in their power structures. When did you last see an organisational leader give away some of their power to make sure it didn't have a hold on them? You see with power, as with money and sex, we start to enjoy having them for their own sake, rather than exploring how we can use them to give pleasure and joy to others. It feels good to not have to answer to anyone. It feels good to send an email and make things happen without people challenging your opinions or motives. We read that: 'But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.' (Luke 22:26) But when was the last time you saw a Christian leader hand over "power" to the next generation of leadership, rather than cling onto it with their fingernails until their last breath. We simply don't have many good models for handling and giving away power. We're not really serious about developing any training to be downwardly mobile. Everything in church and society applauds when we get more responsibility, when we grow things bigger and when we get results.

This is human power. Yet we follow one who chose to systematically give away his power. He became fully human. He was labelled a failure, because he didn't seize power as the Israelites hoped he would. His life fulfilled the prophecy from Zechariah 4:6 "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit", says the Lord. My power is made perfect in weakness, he said. (2 Cor 12:9)

So we need new disciplines of how to let go, and let God. How to really rest, and really trust. Perhaps it is only running churches or organisations for 10 years, even if you're still the best person to do it. Perhaps it's partnering with other agencies when you know you'd get more profile and kudos if you just did it yourself. Perhaps it's focusing on your locality, even though no-one will ever know about it. Kingdom success isn't measured by how good your website is, or how many other Christians talk about your work. That's just vanity.

Here I think is the crux of why we don't fully understand and experience God's grace, and also why we don't engage with the poor of his world as he did.

We need to engage with poverty not just to alleviate it, (even though we pray we make some impact on that), but because we need to identify with the poor. We need some new friends. Only in identifying with the poor of the world can we understand the full extent of our poverty before God. We are wretched and helpless but for his grace. When we become self-sufficient, having accumulated enough money, sex and power to keep us happy, we still say that we are recipients of God's grace, but it's stopped meaning anything, because in truth we've stopped needing anything. In our material world, people seem to matter less and less. This is the way of the world, numbing us to the needs of the world, but also numbing us to OUR need of him.

Forgive us Lord.

In looking for other ways forward, the author Richard Rohr writes about male initiation rites in many societies throughout the world. There is an interesting common theme. Young men are taken away to be challenged, experiencing as a group together situations where they are put in jeopardy. They become acutely aware that they are not exclusive lords of their own destinies and of their need of each other to get through the "trial". They learn that ultimate power lies beyond their reach and that earthly power is to be held lightly and shared. Sociologists report that the tribe to which they return after the trials is much the better for it, with societal bonds enhanced. These rites however don't tend to happen in Western societies, but perhaps we are badly in need of some.

Of course, all this doesn't mean stepping back from leadership, politics or other forms of public service. Far from it. This means doing it differently.

So will you be part of a generation who find new ways to give away power rather than grab it at all costs? Will you serve as leaders, rather than dictate? Will you model the kingdom rather than a slightly Christianised version of what the world has to offer? And if you choose to stand to your feet as an MP, maybe you should start on your knees.