The Leader's Ego

Megan and Michael investigate what part ego plays in church leadership. Is it really a dirty word?

Show Notes

This episode is brought to you by Anglican Aid. Your gift will strengthen churches and help transform communities. You can donate to With All Due Respect's featured causes here.

Several books have recently been released on the problem of narcissism in the church. When we mix this with some high-profile examples of pastors gone wrong, the ego-centric leader becomes an important issue to consider.

While we may not have evidence of legions of diagnosed clinical narcissists in the church, we can all point to church leaders with ego problems - not that surprising when church leadership can come with attached power and status.

So, Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen ask how do we deal with the potential ego problem of leadership? Step one: interview Professor David Starling about his research into New Testament approaches to leadership.

Then the WADR team follow this up with a discussion on whether our whole approach to leadership is wrong, before finishing with a surprising movie on leadership, Disney's Encanto.

If you'd like to help Michael and Megan continue to deliver With All Due Respect each fortnight then why not make a donation?

With All Due Respect is the podcast for The WADR Project, and a proud member of the Undeceptions Network.

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To find out more about this appeal and make a tax-deductible gift, visit anglicanaid.org.au/wadr. 

What is With All Due Respect?

Less aggro, more conversation.

Is it even possible to have a deep discussion without it descending into chaos? Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit think yes, and want to show the rest of us how to do it.

There’s plenty of things they disagree on: free will, feminism, where you should send your kids to school and what type of church you should go to. But there are also plenty of other things that they have in common. They want to talk about all these things with conviction. But they also want the conversation to be constructive. Tune in to find out if that’s possible.