Welcome to Inner Resources for Leaders, a popular-press magazine exploring the subject of leadership and Christian spirituality.

Kofi Annan, the general secretary of the United Nations, a while back, declared that the greatest challenge to face Africa is one of leadership. The greatest crisis in Africa is not poverty, disease or corruption - but one of leadership. We would like to propose that this is true not only in Africa but also of the world. The answer lies in preparing tomorrow's leaders today. How do we do this in an increasingly spiritually corrupt world? The popular author, Richard Foster describes this contemporary problem well, when he writes: "Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people."

Christian thinkers going back to St. Paul have described human history as involving a struggle between two opposing spiritual forces. St. Augustine of Hippo spoke of the City of God and the City of the World: the Civitas Dei and the Civitas Mundi. The former is dedicated to serving others and to God's will and to His glory. The latter is dedicated to the pursuit of worldly ideals - communities of rampant and competitive self-seeking, cities of debilitating selfishness. It is clear that St. Augustine was right; and that our contemporary world, like the world of his times, is a battleground in which rages a battle for the souls of the earth.

In the light of all of this, we therefore face a sacred challenge: Authentic leadership to change the world. How do we do this? How do we ensure that we do not follow the road of shallow worldliness (the road that leads to the Civitas Mundi, in St. Augustine's words) taken by so many leaders that have come before us? How do balance the call to humility and holiness and the desperate need for leadership?

St. Francis of Assisi, in the thirteenth century, writing in a letter to the leaders of his day proposes a surprising approach to this tension in leadership: "Pause and reflect, for the day of death is approaching. I beg you, therefore, with all possible respect, not to forget the Lord or turn from His commandments by reason of the cares and pre-occupations of this world..you should manifest such honor to the Lord among the people entrusted to you..that praise and thanks may be given by all people to the all powerful Lord God."

We would like to highlight the central thought of St. Francis here: contemplating our own mortality in the presence of our creator as a way to understand and to surrender to our vocation to devotion, service, witness, holiness and transformation in leadership. This idea of using this ancient devotional discipline is not new to Scripture: Moses writing in Psalm 90 petitions God to: ".teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Contemplating our own death has a way of focusing us - giving us a new perception and vision. This does not mean that we must adopt a morbid spirituality. On the contrary, as the Swedish leader, Dag Hammarskjöld once commented: "Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment."

We do not walk blindly. Albert Schweitzer made the point: "Example is Leadership." We have a wealth of deeply spiritual and authentic leaders that have walked this difficult road before us, the ultimate being Jesus of Nazareth. We welcome you to this popular-press magazine where we hope to explore inner resources that could help us all locate, define and ultimately model biblical, ethical and authentic models of leadership.

Peace and all good,

Corné J. Bekker, D. Litt. et Phil.
clbekker@regent.edu

Doris Gomez, Ph.D.
dorigom@regent.edu

Editors