Start Asking Questions—NOW!

The news of Nelson Mandela’s death was still fresh when I shared lunch with a fellow Lutheran.

She told me that she remembered going to church the Sunday after the news of his release from prison in 1990.

Nelson Mandela went to prison when I was in the fourth grade. Those were turbulent years ruled by fear. There was talk of the evils of Communism. The Civil Rights protests were in full swing in this country. There were mixed philosophies on how to protest decades of wrong policy in our own country. Nelson Mandela epitomized from afar everything we feared at home. He had Communist sympathies and had practiced both nonviolent and militant protests. He was living with a very tough situation. People in tough situations are likely to try many paths.

Pressure from around the world influenced Mandela’s release from prison after 27 years.

His release was not met with universal approval.

My friend told me that her visit to one of the churches closest to Redeemer that morning was led by an angry Lutheran minister. His sermon was about the huge mistake that South Africa was making. Nelson Mandela deserved to rot in prison.

Read the description of traits of a doctor. We should trust them. Why? They work hard! Do we give our church leaders the same unquestioning allegiance?

Imagine that sermon being preached today. The world is just coming off three weeks of mourning Mandela’s death and celebrating his life.

Nelson Mandela did not have an easy life but he was given time to prove himself.  He became the one-term president of a divided country and proved that the surest way for all of South Africa to move forward was to put the past behind them and move ahead together.

His 27 years of brutal and humiliating punishment were erased by his final 23 years of peacemaking.

It didn’t have to be that way. He could have written an autobiographical manifesto fueled by bitterness and anger. Instead, he was typically seen with a smile on his face and the words he spoke were as gentle to the young and innocent as they were to the older generations who had witnessed and perhaps advocated for his downfall.

The world is always challenged to think independently, to make difficult judgments. This is pivotal to a democratic society. It is also pivotal to Christianity.

The people who make up the Church, lay and clergy alike, are tempted to follow. Following Christ is part of our heritage. We tend to take the same trait and misuse it. We act as if mortal church leaders are due the same unquestioning devotion.

Followers are not expected to be mindless! If we behaved as unthinking drones, no new leadership would emerge.

Perhaps that is the problem we face in today’s church—a problem of leadership.

In our society, church leaders are given special protection by courts reluctant to get involved in church matters. This creates a very dangerous environment, especially for lay people. Church laws may not give special protection to clergy but custom does. Because courts will defer to church leaders, lay people are at risk. Ask the people of Redeemer! The court ruling in our case stated that if the law were applied, Redeemer’s arguments held merit. But the law was not applied. The courts deferred to the Church. Church leaders reveled in their ability to flaunt their own rules without legal consequence. Church rank and file followed — mindlessly.

The Church deals, usually in private, with thieves, adulterers, liars and schemers. We don’t question when we should. We are beginning to regret it in the sexual abuse cases. But abuse comes in many flavors.

If we could get in the habit of asking questions, there’d be no need for the dramatic sacrifices of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela — contemporaries fighting similar problems.

Christians need to question leaders. Leaders can be wrong. When there is self-interest in the decisions in question (either monetary or prestige), it is almost guaranteed.

When we don’t question early and often, we end up with defensive stalemates. That’s where the Church is today. Stalled by leadership that is vested in protecting the past and their own positions within the past. We wait for someone else to take the first dangerous steps. It usually takes a very long time. It is not without cost.

Enter the Martin Luther Kings and Nelson Mandelas. Neither lived an easy life, but we are all the better for their struggles.