Inter-Varsity Press

Contents

A. Leadership and integrity
1. Why integrity matters
2. What integrity looks like

B. Leadership and calling
3. True accountability
4. Serving others
5. Gospel priorities

C. Leadership and community
6. Exercising authority
7. Building community
8. Confronting failure
9. Handling money

D. Leadership and its challenges
10. Weakness and power
11. Status and true ambition
12. Pride and the call to humility

E. Integrity as a way of life
13. Living contentedly
14. Living consistently
15. Living authentically
Postscript

Extracts from Chapter 1

1. Why integrity matters

The London Times recently carried a small item of news that,surprisingly, had hit the international papers. It was the rather distressing story of a lorry driver who had lost his job. The reason? He drove supply lorries for Coca-Cola, but insisted on drinking cans of Pepsi at work. So he was fired. A little unjust, you might think. Of course, if he had been the chief executive caught with a six-pack of Pepsi under his desk, that would have been another matter. These days, in the new styles of business management, consistency matters. Charles Handy, the business guru, lists as one of his six guiding principles for managers, ‘The leader must live the vision.’ He must not only craft his mission or vision statement, he must embody it.

We feel much the same about politicians. We are suspicious of manifesto pledges and political programmes at the best of times, but when there is no genuine change in the real world we become cynical about the entire process. Many politicians are undermined by the public’s perception of spin, or corruption, or a lack of integrity. We know the stories,since they appear in our newspapers most weeks: deputy prime ministers who betray their wives by having secret affairs with diary secretaries; prime ministers who allegedly sell honours to wealthy donors to their political party; opposition MPs who portray an image of happily married family men, but who cover up their gay relationships; and even a politician who parades his green credentials by cycling to work, while his flunkey drives a limo at a discreet distance behind him, carrying his shoes and briefcase (charged by the papers with being an ‘environmental hypocrite’). We could go on.

It is no wonder that the newspapers devote a great deal of newsprint not only to fallen politicians, but also to stories of vicars who embezzle church funds or who run off with the church secretary. Stories like that sell because they are blatant examples of hypocrisy. There is a salacious side to them too, but there is an understandable reaction from the man in the street when he sniffs religious humbug or double standards, particularly coming from priests or politicians who feel they have the right to tell others how they should live.

As Christian believers we know we must set our own house in order. We are too familiar with the high-profile casualties amongst church leaders. We fear that the way we live gives the lie to what we preach. A recent study by the Princeton Religion Research Center demonstrated that, alongside some increase in church attendance in the USA over the last ten years, there was a marked decline in professing Christians who thought there was any connection between Christianity and morality. As one writer expresses it, ‘Much of American Christianity is returning to raw paganism: the ordinary pagan can be ever so religious without any necessary entailment in ethics, morality, self-sacrifice or integrity.’1 Surveys find little difference when comparing the behaviour of born-again Christians before and after their conversion experience. ‘In three major categories – use of illegal drugs, driving while intoxicated, and marital infidelity – behavior actually deteriorates after a commitment to Christ . . . Recent surveys also indicate that the incidence of divorce is actually higher among those identifying themselves as evangelical Christians than among the general population.’ While the statistics might be more readily available in the US, the trends are likely to be global. In my own culture we know all too well the damage caused by the inconsistency of pastors and leaders who call others to live by God’s standards yet themselves live a lie. We know they let the side down.

Yet we know our own hearts too. I found it painful to write that last paragraph, for we know the harm done to individuals, families and communities, and most of all the harm done to the name of Christ. It is also painful because we see the evidence of inconsistency in our own lives. All of us know how vulnerable we are in our Christian service, taking responsibility for the well-being of others, teaching them God’s ways, known in our workplace as a committed Christian, while at the same time struggling with secret failures and inconsistencies. In Mark Greene’s research for the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, ‘maintaining Christian integrity’ came a close second to ‘stress’ in the top five issues facing Christians in the workplace.

Watch your life
The repeated call of Scripture is to live a life worthy of our calling. As John wrote in his first epistle, ‘Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did’ (1 John 2:6). It is a matter of faith that works, of truth in action, of godliness in working clothes. The early Christians, of course, could not afford to live inconsistently. ...

The call for integrity
At all levels of society there is a strong appeal for integrity, whether on the part of business, political or religious leaders. It is seen as a fundamental and essential quality of leadership. We should not be surprised to see that it is a high value within the corporate sector. ...

The nature of integrity
On the one hand, integrity can mean a state of wholeness, of completeness. In an earthquake zone a block of flats will be checked for structural integrity to ensure that all the pieces still fit together exactly as they are supposed to. One definition of the word ‘integral’ is ‘essential or necessary for completeness; a whole; complete; perfect; uninjured; entire’. In that sense, integrity suggests a life that is well integrated. There is a coherence between the different parts of a person’s life. The value system that we profess shapes every area of our lives, public and private. ...

A life in sync
Integrity, then, means a coherence in every area of life. Perhaps you have watched a news report on television where the sound and pictures are ‘out of sync’. It is hard to take it seriously, as we try to match what is being said with the animated face on the screen. This is what destroys a leader’s credibility. When leaders’ lives fail to match up with their words, we give up listening. We cannot take them seriously. ...