Business leaders like to pull paradoxical ideas together. Forbes invoked the “think big, start small” mantra to highlight transformation into a digital era with artificial intelligence (Scalerandi, 2024). Philosophers are no different. In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu mused similarly, claiming that “all difficult things in the world are sure to arise from a previous state in which they were easy, and all great things from one in which they were small” (天下難事,必作於易,天下大事,必作於細; Sturgeon, n.d.). Jesus articulated truths that profoundly captures the paradoxical connection between small and great. Focusing His hearers’ imagination,
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
這個問題在網絡找,可能會有許多答案。有些人認為教會和神的國一點關係都沒有,但也有些人認為神的國就是教會 (Ferguson, 1989, p. 67)。一直以來我們教會的教導對這個問題的答案是一個很肯定的「是」,也就是說教會就是神的國。但隨著時間和時代的變遷,有些門徒開始懷疑諸多以前所謹守的信念,甚至接受教會和神的國一點關係都沒有的說法。隨著人的成熟,我們發現許多事情和想法不應只是「有」或「沒有」,甚至「是」或「不是」的粗暴簡單。反而,我們可以明白更多當中的細節,以增加我們對屬靈的事情更了解,對神與祂的國度更認識。今天,透過經文的探討,我們將清楚看到教會的確是神的國,但同時,神的國不只是教會。
作為基督徒,我相信耶穌是屬靈領導力的終極典範。這段日子我領會到,帶領小組、工作團隊和家庭時,領導學的鑽研可給我們提供一些有用的原則。我們會研讀《路加福音》7:1-10中耶穌治愈百夫長僕人的片段,見識他的領導[1]This blog post is based on a paper I wrote in a leadership studies and theory course as part of an online program at Johnson University, Tennessee, USA. I am grateful to my instructor and cohort mates for their guidance and support.。 我們將考慮經文的前文後理及那個時代關於尊榮、贊助 (patronage)、財富和親屬關係的背景,再去剖析經文,從領導模式的角度來看耶穌的領導力。一世紀加利利的耶穌,他僕人式及顛覆性的領導榜樣,也能啟迪今天的我們。
This blog post is based on a paper I wrote in a leadership studies and theory course as part of an online program at Johnson University, Tennessee, USA. I am grateful to my instructor and cohort mates for their guidance and support.