Putting It All On The Line

When your goal is nothing short of transformation, be it an organization, community or a country, you have to "go all in". Lip service, halfheartedness, short sightedness, or incompetence won't do. Today's interviews accentuated strategic thinking and skillful facilitation as necessary accompaniments to a service heart. The CRWRC (Christian Reformed World Relief Committee) is engaged in some powerful and unusual leadership in Kenya, a country that has been challenged with conflict, divisive leadership and ethnic/tribal disparities.

Under the recent leadership of Fred Witteveen, the organization has refocused on a new mission that seeks sustainable transformation through conflict mitigation and facilitative processes informed by his skill in "Deep Democracy" (http://deep-democracy.net/) The lesson here: servant leaders need to be more than humble, value centered and committed. The leader becomes a more successful instrument of change when armed with skill, tools, networks, and leverage for resourcing the work to larger scale. His journey included coming to terms with his own white privilege and using the access and opportunity it provides for the sustainable transformation of communities in need-forward action rather than regret and guilt. One of the program directors, Stephan Lutz, hosted us at a marvelous Ethopian Restaurant for his interview. He is a remarkable young man, with wisdom and insights beyond his years and desire to keep growing and learning as a servant leader.

Part of our discussion centered around the indigenous wisdom that existed but was

not valued upon the arrival of colonists and missionaries. In the fervor to bring "truth" and "salvation" to the natives, so many original and important insights were dismissed, particularly concerning self reliance and reverence for the environment. Lesson here-leaders need to recognize and appreciate the natural intelligence of those they lead and avoid the seduction of "knowing better". Instead our job is to facilitate collective and inherent knowledge to bring about solutions that just need uncovering and consensus to move forward. We also talked about Gandhi, Christ and St. Francis and their ability to let go of the trappings of leadership, allowing them to be fully with the people they served, not over. Thank you Stephan and Fred for an enlightening day.