Overcoming Excuses: Embracing Leadership as a Christian

There are far too many excuses for people to choose from as to why they cannot be a leader. Whether it is because they believe they have bigger things to invest in, or they simply convince themselves that they are not fit for the position. These same principles hold true to Christians today. Many feel that God can not possibly ask them to step up and take a stand for an issue or injustice, as too many things hold them down or crush their confidence. Henri Nouwen has been and is an inspiration to many because of the reputable and respected positions he earned throughout his life. It appeared to both religious and atheists that he was able to achieve these things because God gave him an easy path but in fact it is quite the opposite. Many Christians

Rather, he acknowledged that these things are a part of life and carefully chose when and when not to write about them. This ensured that he was able to explain his point of view on his problems and how he was approaching them. Jeff Sharp, a mentee of Nouwen, notes that Henri viewed his struggles as a “critical aspect of spiritual leadership [which allows] the ability to articulate the movements of one’s inner life and offer oneself to others as a source of clarification” (506). He never viewed the struggles as embarrassments, but rather as traits to embrace and face head on in

It is controversial to among many of his followers as to whether or not Nouwen was a definite homosexual. Scrutton insists that “he had been aware of his homosexuality from an early age, [but] in the context of his priesthood he was unable to admit to it, except to a few close friends, and didn’t begin to come to terms with it until near the end of his life” (103). However, on the contrary, Ford states in his biography of Nouwen that he speaks hard-heartedly against this sexual orientation. He not only had a “violent number of teachings with regard to homosexuality” but also tells his readers that during his years at Harvard in the early 1980’s, Nouwen seemed to take a “particularly [negative] hardline approach to homosexuality with students” (66, 141). In the end, Ford does believe that Nouwen fully considered himself a homosexual, and towards the end of his life he “became acutely aware of his homosexuality, which he saw as a disability and it started to disturb him greatly”