Break the Stage: Leading from Vulnerability

“Christians are hypocrites.”

This is the anti-apologetic of our day. Christian behavior is one of the most leveraged pieces of evidence against the Gospel. And why wouldn’t skeptics argue this point? You don’t need to search far to find an article conveying the latest Church scandal or a statistic on divorce rates among confessed believers.

And too often, the church’s response to such criticism is to rub a little Scripture on it, and act like everything is okay. Nothing to see here.

“How are you doing?” “I’m blessed and highly favored” (meanwhile your house is on fire and your marriage is in ruin). I’ve received the perfect, family Christmas card from a guy that divorced his wife two months later. When did playing church and acting like everything is fine become the target of our faith? Let me tell you a not very secret, secret. It isn’t.

What is the difference between a hypocrite and a disciple? A hypocrite acts righteous and lives a life betraying said facade. A disciple boasts in weakness making his/her desperate need for God all the more evident.

Here’s the rub. Most Sundays, I’m on stage teaching the Word of God as best I know how while simultaneously falling radically short of God’s glory. And that stage comes with a perception. People believe because of my title and because I happen to have a microphone, that I’ve reached the mountaintop. This stage without any effort on my part becomes a pedestal. It becomes the target for people to reach and transforms the church into an audience waiting to watch my massive fall. To be clear, this is the default setting. This happens with little to no effort from leadership. Without intentionality, a stage WILL ALWAYS become a pedestal.

The solution: Break the stage. Smash the pedestal. Destroy the “play church” mindset.

Clarification: Platforms and titles aren’t specific to Lead Pastors. If you are a life group leader, you have a stage and a title. If you are a parent, volunteer, leader, Gospel carrier, missionary, co-laborer, disciple-maker… each one comes with both title and stage. And it is our responsibility to intentionally break the pedestal.

I’ll say it more plainly. You set the depth of vulnerability in any environment you’re in. If people think that perfection is the target, then that is what they will strive for (and that is the image you will try to live up to). But if you are so bold as to let people see you bleed, God’s glory will shine through, first in you and then (God willing) in them.

If perfection was the point of the Gospel, it would be very bad news indeed. The “play church mindset” must die.

Several years ago, I was sitting in a coffee shop when a friend from church asked for my testimony. I shared the first part with little concern until I prepared to drop the bomb. I leaned forward and whispered, “And that’s when I realized that I am an alcoholic.” I’ll never forget his response. He said, “Dude, why are you whispering?” Without even meaning to, he shattered my desire to hide and awakened me to how I was veiling God’s glory in my story. Why was I so afraid to share my brokenness to give God praise? Because in order to give God praise, I had to share my brokenness. I needed to break the stage and prove myself human all over again.

To be clear, I’m not saying we glory in sin. I’m not arguing for us to remain in our brokenness. I’m simply imploring honesty in our leadership as we invite others into a freedom that disciples should know well.

We see this throughout Scripture. In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas are crushing it for the Kingdom. They are healing people and teaching truth. In response, the people start calling Barnabas, Zeus and Paul, Hermes. Their stage came with a perception. And what happened next? Paul and Barnabas hit the pause button on the miracles. They tore their clothes, ran into the crowd and shouted, “we too are only human, like you.” More still, Jeremiah was known as the weeping profit. Job’s story is one of lament and loss, and David’s sin was incredibly public.

I’ve heard many a church leader push back on this concept. “I can’t tell my small group that my spouse and I fought last night! I work at a church.” Yes, you do work at a church, but the rest are lies.

Here’s the truth: I’ve cried on stage, been honest about my brokenness (past and present), shared to guys I was discipling about arguments where I didn’t look like Jesus, tripped on stage, gone to the bathroom with the mic on (whoops), and had to seek forgiveness for being careless with my words. And as I live in this freedom, others are finding it too. “But what if they weaponize my vulnerability against me?” They will. It’s going to happen. If you read the rest of Acts 14, you’d see that Paul was stoned and dragged out of the city for it. And then Paul, got back up and went back into the city that left him for dead. In other words, “worth it.”

The more I boast in weakness, the more obvious it is that it is God and not me. The more I boast in weakness, the easier it is to continue such boasting. The more I boast in weakness, the less burdened I have become.

If you want to call others into freedom, the best strategy is to live in the freedom you are calling them to.

Break the stage. Set the depth. Lead the change.

This post originally appeared at: Break the Stage: Leading from Vulnerability – Relational Discipleship Network