What kind of leader is Justin Welby?
One of the books I read over the summertime was Andrew Atherstone's fascinating biography of Justin Welby. It is a considerably expanded version of the short book which Atherstone wrote immediately after it was announced that Welby would be Archbishop.
The commencement thing which strikes you in opening the book is the thoroughness of the research. Atherstone has clearly done his homework on Welby's earlier life, citing letters and other correspondence, and interviews with people who knew the family. (This is not an authorised biography, so there is no cloth from Welby himself.) But the contempo additions to the book are based on talks that Welby has washed at a number of conferences, and Atherstone has clearly listened to them all carefully. Overall it is virtually impressive.
Equally a biography, the volume tends to focus on factual cloth rather than giving either personal evaluation, or offer much reflection on the interconnection between different aspects of Welby's ministry. But I was left with a number of strong impressions.
The first is the extent to which Welby is well-continued with the institution. His mother was personal secretary to Winston Churchill, and her family history connections meant that Welby 'is a scion of Britain's political, armed forces and educational establishment' (p 1). With his own educational activity at Eton and Cambridge, Welby at 1 level made these connections his own, and coming to faith at Cambridge meant that he too connected with that strand of public school evangelicalism shared with Nicky Gumbel, vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, and his peers. It is all a sobering reminder that, even in the 21st century, both politics in Britain and church leadership in the Church of England are dominated past a minor, interconnected aristocracy. (Information technology was recently noted that 25% of bishops in the C of Eastward trained at Cuddesdson, mainly because diocesans are more often than not appointed from the puddle of suffragans, and suffragans until recently were appointed, without any consistency of process, by the existing diocesans.)
In making some radical changes to the organisation at Lambeth Palace, Welby has appointed a team of seven advisors—half dozen of which he appointed himself, and only one of which was appointed by advertised process. It might well exist that the Church is under the leadership of a benign oligarchy, but an oligarchy information technology appears to remain.
The second impression the book gives is the flavour of Welby'due south ain spiritual and theological tradition. The first half of the book is dominated by what might be called Welby's 'unreconstructed' conservative evangelical convictions, which in some ways announced to have remained unchanged from his Cambridge days. Many (including myself) will find this quite refreshing; it is wonderful to have someone in leadership in the Church who does non repeat the mantra 'Evangelicalism has contributed to my thinking' or 'I am grateful for the past influence of the evangelical heritage'. Instead, we accept someone in Lambeth who is happy to call himself evangelical without crossing his fingers behind his dorsum!
Just it did occur to me that many in the Church building volition find this discouraging, even alarming—until, in the department on his move to Coventry, Welby non only engages with and embraces global Anglican perspectives, just also discovers the enrichment of the spirituality of other traditions. What Atherstone does non explore at all is how Welby has integrated these different theological perspectives, if indeed he has. The impression is given that they sit side by side, without likewise much difficulty, though not necessarily with much explicit integration. This has immune Welby to relate to unlike traditions without insisting that they need to change radically, which I think has led to a surprising establishment of trust.
The third impression from the book is that many of the roles that Welby has had up till at present accept functioned as places of formation and growth for him at to the lowest degree equally much equally they take been places of success or triumph. I was fascinated to see that he went to quite a traditional, middle-of-the-road Anglican church as an incumbent, and although he did see growth at that place, it was relatively minor. His time with Andrew White in Coventry was 1 of startling drama and some success internationally, but in many ways the period ended on a note of failure, as the goals for the Center for Reconciliation were re-thought and the fiscal support stale upward. It was another surprise for Welby to end upwards on the staff of a Cathedral (in Liverpool), given his ain theological groundwork, and yet it was another place of learning. It is articulate from his fourth dimension and then far in Canterbury how much each of these experiences has shaped him.
This leads to the quaternary thing that impressed itself on me—Welby'due south style of leadership. At that place are a number of a paradoxes here. On the one hand, Welby's theological tradition would not give importance to structures of institutional leadership in the aforementioned style that Rowan William'southward anglo-catholicism would, where orders of ministry building and offices are seen to have spiritual authority in themselves. Evangelicalism has general been much more sceptical about such power structures. Still, information technology does value strong, even disciplinarian leadership as part of what is sometimes (mockingly) called 'muscular Christianity'. Sandy Millar, the previous vicar at Holy Trinity Brompton, combined a warm, personal way with an authoritarian, peradventure even autocratic, style of leadership, and it is clear that Nicky Gumbel continues this tradition. One of the marks of Welby's first twelvemonth in office has been a directly and decisive approach, which has ruffled non a few feathers at Lambeth Palace. As Atherstone highlights, the legacy of his training and germination in the oil industry has been a focus on problems of strategic importance and a articulate commitment to prioritisation. This has led to a pro-active (rather than reactive) approach to invitations; whilst this has disappointed some, it has meant he has visited provinces in the Anglican Communion that Rowan Williams never once travelled to, and has enabled the fostering of better relationships. And he has overseen the date of the start evangelical every bit diocesan bishop of Europe, largely because a commitment to numerical growth was high on the list of qualities sought. (Canterbury and London have a large say in the date of the Bishop of Europe, which does not follow the usual Crown Nomination processes.)
Alongside all this, Welby exhibits a remarkable sense of humility and a 18-carat self-deference. This arises in office from his ain honest opinion of himself; when invited to write a letter to his 14-year-erstwhile self, he started like this:
Dear Justin, Y'all are rarely good at anything, a fact you know well and worry about. But don't worry—it does not measure who you are.
It offers a small-scale window into someone who has genuinely wrestled with bug of accomplishment and self-esteem, who is very enlightened of inner struggles but who has managed not to let these to hobble him. And it means he is able to speak his listen on an event—and apologise if he has got information technology wrong, which is both refreshing and endearing. Alongside this is Welby's theological conviction about collegiality. So, paradoxically, he talks honestly near how insignificant his own role is, and how limited the opportunities he has to influence things, whilst all the time he has been intervening and resolving problems (such equally women's ordination as bishops) which his predecessor, for all his theological insight, was unable to resolve.
The fascinating question is how all these things will come up together to address the fence of the moment, the Church's arroyo to same-sex activity marriage. Welby'south public statements take attracted criticism from all quarters (whose wouldn't?) and some appear to think that he has not resolved the tension between his evangelical convictions nearly the matter in its ain terms, and his desire to exist a reconciler. I am not quite so convinced that these things are in tension in the fashion that is often portrayed. Welby'due south desire for reconciliation has mostly focussed on theway in which disagreement has been handled, but it has non necessarily determined thetruth of the different positions. He has certainly avoided the double bind of Rowan Williams, who upset evangelicals with his personal view, liberals with his official view, and simply virtually anybody else with the thought that these ii could coexist in one person. Welby appears to have a more integrated understanding of how his personal convictions play out in his role as leader.
Perhaps the near exciting thing about him is his overriding conviction that he needs to speak about Jesus on every possible occasion. All through the book, he comes over as someone, any position he is within the hierarchy, whose first commitment is to be a faithful witness to Jesus and invite others to become the same. Isn't this the near important thing we demand in Canterbury?
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