Why, yes, I have been raving about Dr. Chloe Lynch’s book, Ecclesial Leadership as Friendship on my blog as well as to my friends! I have been waiting for this book for years.
In every sense of the word, Dr. Lynch’s book is a trailblazing book. If you google “friendship-leadership” it will not lead you to books by egalitarian thinkers-pastors. It will not lead you any of the evangelical seminaries “equipping” women for ministry like Northern or Fuller. It will not lead you to any of the books
Christians for Biblical Equality recommend for seekers and new egalitarians. It won’t lead to the Missio Alliance blog or to any of the pastors or theologians who are the frontline voices for Missio Alliance.
Lynch’s bold imagination questions the hidden hierarchy present in “lead first, be friends second.” She takes three seemingly unrelated topics in contemporary egalitarian theology and invites us to know Jesus as our friend who is at the center of all three: leadership, friendship, theology. In a nutshell, that's at the heart of her Christian theology of friendship-leadership.
Going Deeper in Divine-Human Friendship
What is truly, truly special about this book is that Lynch has dared to enter what has been a thick masculine space. As a friend of God, she connects the dots between the incarnation of Christ (and therefore, the ground of divine-human friendship), Christian friendship's ultimate shared good—which is Christ, and the profound richness of friendship (neighbor-love) to influence others toward that telos.
Egalitarian theology-leadership will never be the same.
She makes a strong argument for egalitarian theology to include friendship in all future conversations about mutuality, equality, and leadership at the deep end of the pool. Throughout the book we read about “the deepening participation in the divine-human friendship,” or the “ever-deepening, ever-transforming participation in the divine love.” Friendship is clearly in the deepest depths with the potential to even go deeper!
But towards the end of the book, we see Lynch making this claim as a female theologian and as God's friend, “Despite this evolving, potentially ever-deepening nature, friendship is not enmeshment.” Here, is a twenty-first-century woman claiming the fullness of healthy friendship-leadership in the deep end of the egalitarian pool. Friendship at this end of the pool does not get enmeshed or submerged into ecclesial togetherness or ecclesial gathering.
There are so many points I can make about this “ever-deepening participation.” Ever since I became an egalitarian about twelve years ago, I have read a number of egalitarian books about leadership in churches, mutuality, equality, and unity—books that barely scratch the surface on divine-human friendship.
Up until Lynch’s book, women who desired to be in ministry or felt called to be in ministry, or who were already ordained pastors had two possible paths for deep affirmation: either churches-seminaries that embraced the managerial model or churches-seminaries that embraced the servant-leadership model. Yes, those are broad generalizations but these two are the dominant models in church leadership at this hour.
If these are the two dominant models, it explains the glaring absence of theoretical reflection about friendship at the deep end of the egalitarian pool (and why it is wedged into shallows). Both church-centric models use the language of “equality,” “mutuality,” “kingdom,” and “leadership,” at the deep end with virtually no sustained critical thinking about divine-human friendship.
What could a Christian theology of friendship-leadership add to these two church-centric models? Women-pastors, women-theologians, women who desire to be leaders have experienced and known serious-egalitarian affirmation in these two models. No question about that.
It is precisely because these female leaders have received this affirmation, that we can understand the precious, precious attachment that egalitarian women (and men) can know and experience in these two church-centric models. We see wonderful connections like this in Tara Beth Leach’s book, Empowered and the beautiful connection she has with theologian-author Scot McKnight. I thank God for their connection!
In some sense, I can see why egalitarians who have experienced valued friendships within these two models would be puzzled as to how a theology of friendship-leadership could add any significant value beyond these models.
These egalitarian leaders/theologians are committed to evaluating friendship and measuring friendship through these models. They know and have experienced this rich affirmation via their church experience or their seminary experience. There is a valued ecclesial intimacy they have found to be safe, affirming, and empowering.
There is no end of egalitarian books and blogs (go back to what I said at the beginning of the post) that interpret the meaning and value of friendship through a church-centric lens. Books and blogs from egalitarian leaders/theologians that hold to this hidden hierarchy within egalitarian theology (lead first, be friends second). Evaluating friendship through an ecclesial lens is one of the unquestioned core assumptions in egalitarian ecclesiology.
What would happen though, if a committed egalitarian female theologian invited us to seriously reflect on ecclesial togetherness/intimacy through a theology of friendship-leadership? In other words, what would happen if a female scholar looked at these two popular egalitarian models through the lens of friendship-power?
In this one book, Lynch blazes a new trail as a friendship theologian and as an ecclesial theologian. She doesn’t take any theological, sociological, or psychological shortcuts to get to the deep end of the egalitarian pool. She takes both friendship and leadership seriously. From the first page onward, she invites us to look at these two popular models through the deep reflection of female theologian who knows and enjoys friendship with Jesus.
It doesn’t take a long moment to recognize the power dynamics as Lynch turns the tables around. Immediately as a woman who reads these two popular models through the lens of friendship-power we see the power-over in the church-centric lens. We are totally aware of she has entered into the dynamic of power-over in the egalitarian culture-thinking. These two egalitarian models hold the sway of the spiritual/ecclesial power over any deep thinker, any theologian—female or male—who proposes that we use a theology of friendship to reflect on ecclesial leadership.
This couldn’t come at a more poignant moment for egalitarians. The leadership community that has flourished in those two models is reeling from the seismic waves in a post-Willow Creek world. Willow Creek, arguably, was one of the most recognized and respected egalitarian megachurches in the Western world—prior to the Chicago Tribune March 2018 article detailing accusations of Bill Hybels.
When Lynch reads friendship through a power lens, she introduces to us good theological boundaries for friendship that belongs in any Christian web of interdependence. As Lynch observes more than once in the book, there is no consensus about the meaning of friendship. This could be why egalitarians have opted for a church-centric lens to evaluate friendship through the last four decades.
But, but, but she insightfully notes there is no consensus in the church or even among egalitarians about power. Could it possibly be that a theology of friendship-leadership could bring significant insight into the issue of power-over, and power-with conversations happening in a post-Willow Creek world? Well, Lynch makes this important point: "power in groups is unequally distributed." Whoa!!! That is so painfully obvious to all egalitarians on this side of the Chicago Tribune article on Bill Hybels. The Bill Hybels who emphasized sacrificial love and servant-leadership throughout his tenure.
In articulating a theology of friendship-leadership Lynch gives us this great and powerful identity marker for Christian friendship. You treat your friend, you view your friend, you respect your friend as an end--friendship as an end in and of itself--and not as a means to some other end (church-centric lens). This brings a sharp laser light-focus into the heart of my deep disagreement with David Fitch who has consistently interpreted friendship via the church--a power-over lens.
At the deep end of the egalitarian pool, this rich, basic foundational understanding of friendship can contribute to the meaning of shared power in leadership. Of course, this will profoundly shift the meanings of mutuality, equality, power-with, and power-over at the deep end of the egalitarian pool. This radically introduces friendship to be a part of a radical deep sharing of power. Thank you, thank you, Dr. Chloe Lynch!
