A dose of democracy is always good in a church, but no church hardly ever excels without a great leader. Being a great church leader means (1) putting the mission of the church ahead of one's own gain or needs and (2) knowing how to unleash the power of his or her community to carry out that mission.
As Jesus put it in the Greek text in his teaching about the "good shepherd," he or she is both personally good (agathos), as well as "good at" (kalos) what he or she does! As that old seminary seal put it at the entrance to Saint Meinrad Seminary, a great church leader has both "personal holiness" (sanctitatae) and (scientia) "useful knowledge" or "know-how!" As Jim Collins puts it in his book, Good to Great, a great leader is both "humble" and "competent."
The two great sins of most failed church leaders, I have come to believe, are arrogance and incompetence, - clericalism and ineptitude! They often go together when clericalism becomes a failed attempt to disguise ineptitude. When that happens, isn't it usually a case of "fools rushing in where angels fear to tread?" In that case, failed church leaders end up being neither "good" nor "good at it!"
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