*Editorial Note: Leading Voice Dr. MaryKate Morse tackled a thorny topic for us last week: Hierarchy: A Word Christian Leaders Can Confuse with the Dark and Love to Hate. We both thought a follow-up Q&A unpacking the complex nature of hierarchy, authority, and stewarding power was warranted. ~CK

MISSIO ALLIANCE: What is the difference between hierarchy, authority, and power? 

DR. MARYKATE MORSE: Hierarchy, authority, and power are all non-value words. There is neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’ inherent in their meanings. The moral implications come from how persons exercise their role, authority or power. For instance, a ‘parent’ or a ‘boss’ is a morally neutral word, but you can have good parents and bad parents, good bosses or bad bosses.

Hierarchy basically means a ranking of those in authority. It is a role. A position of hierarchy usually means someone is given the authority to make decisions and to see them through. Someone is given authority to lead or guide a group. It is a right that comes with the role.

Power, using Rollo May’s definition in Power & Innocence (as I mention in the piece), is simply the ability to cause or prevent change. It is the result because the group will determine its investment in following the one given authority. Thus, things will change only if a group decides to follow. How much power one has is dependent on how much a group gives it to you. In a church, people can leave, obstruct or sabotage if they don’t give you power even if you have authority.

All three go hand in hand. Hierarchy is what you see as a position. Authority is what you can do in that position. Power is when people give you permission to exercise authority because of that position, unless they do not have freewill. In dictatorships or unhealthy situations, power is still used to cause or prevent change, but it is enforced. In a job, you might not like what the boss has you do, but you’re getting paid so you do it, perhaps reluctantly and not with your best effort.   

MA: As you seek to do in your piece with hierarchy, what could a healthy, spiritually mature, emotionally responsive, and non-reactive use of authority and power look like in a Christian leader?

MKM: This is a big question which takes a life of faithfulness for each of us to unpack. We are constantly striving to be like Christ and lead like him. Edwin Freidman, in his well-known book A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, tried to unpack this. Many books, people and organizations try to help us with this, such as Ruth Haley Barton’s Transforming Center or Leighton Ford’s Healthy Leaders for Thriving Ministries Center.

To figure this out we need to be very thoughtful and humble. We need each other as peers and friends, and also need coaches-spiritual directors-therapists, to hold us accountable and to help us grow. We need a consistent unwavering commitment to cling to Christ throughout every day. Our relationship to God must come first. Otherwise, the world will press us into its mold. I find Christ to be the best model for healthy, spiritually mature, emotionally responsive, and non-reactive leadership. We can learn from him.

Hierarchy basically means a ranking of those in authority. It is a role. (1/4) Share on X

A position of hierarchy usually means someone is given the authority to make decisions and to see them through. Someone is given authority to lead or guide a group. It is a right that comes with the role. (2/4) Share on X

Power, using Rollo May’s definition in 'Power & Innocence,' is simply the ability to cause or prevent change. It is the result because the group will determine its investment in following the one given authority. (3/4) Share on X

Hierarchy is what you see as a position. Authority is what you can do in that position. Power is when people give you permission to exercise authority because of that position, unless they do not have freewill. (4/4) Share on X

MA: Why is the Church, and senior Christian leaders in particular, so tempted by, and susceptible to, abuses of hierarchy, authority, and power? Sometimes it feels like the Church struggles with this more than those who don’t follow Jesus as Lord.

MKM: Basically, I believe we are all products of the Fall (Genesis 3). We all, at some level, struggle with wanting to be like God or as gods. We want control of our lives and the outcomes. The temptation to have pre-eminence and to put other idols before our God such as success, wealth, and status is the siren call to humanity.

Now, is it worse in the church than in the world? I’m not sure, but I do believe that the church and her believers are naïve about power. We fall for the shiny, so it’s easier for wolves to come among the sheep. We don’t insist on and enforce the highest levels of character and integrity in our leaders. We don’t set them up for moral and emotional success. We assume they’ll be okay, and the wolf is always at the door of the church.

MA: When you think of the rapid growth of the ‘Church of the Nones‘ (a recent opinion essay by Perry Bacon Jr. in the Washington Post described this phenomenon well) and young people in Generation Z, how should Christian leaders consider adapting their approach to hierarchy, authority, and power to reach these divergent groups?

MKM: This is a cultural and a contextual question. It will depend on where you are and with whom you are with. I cannot say for sure what it might look like. I do think, however, that listening to them and discerning with them for what ‘fits’ is a healthy way to start. It is a conversation. We might also try things on. What is working for the group and what is not.

Christian leaders who are trying to reach young people must also first earn their trust. We have to be Christlike and, on a journey, to follow the scent of the Holy Spirit. That means our own inner house is in order.

The church and her believers are naïve about power. We fall for the shiny, so it’s easier for wolves to come among the sheep. (1/2) Share on X

We don’t insist on and enforce the highest levels of character and integrity in our leaders. We don’t set them up for moral and emotional success. We assume they’ll be okay, and the wolf is always at the door of the church. (2/2) Share on X

MA: You wrote a book on these concepts in 2008, entitled Making Room for Leadership: Power, Space, and Influence. What is a central concept in your work that would be helpful for a Christian leader to implement into their ministry immediately?

MKM: I invite you to read the book, but the central concept is that social power is instinctively constituted in social spaces between the people gathered in that space. It is primarily emotional and relational. It is obvious. You can observe a room and see who has power and who does not. It is also rarely thought about. Therefore, what is constituted is often the world’s view of power and not Christ’s. Then the troubles begin.

Power is also a limited resource which Christ calls us to steward for the thriving of Christ’s Bride, the church. I believe this is where churches fail and why her leaders fail, because there is a naïve and undeveloped understanding of power and authority. There are no guardians.

MA: How is the patriarchy connected to all of these issues?

MKM: Patriarchy is when the social hierarchy can only be occupied by males, and males have ultimate authority and power over females. The culture created is male-normed, and males have more privilege and agency than females. This does not mean that every patriarchal culture treats women poorly. However, usually women in these cultures are less educated, less healthy, do most of the work, and have the least amount of access to the resources.

In my view of Scripture, God intended males and females to thrive in mutual positions of authority and power. Therefore, they both can fulfill hierarchical roles. In that way, as redeemed people we can hear God more clearly and lead more effectively.

MA: Thank you so much MaryKate. Your wisdom and insight here is so helpful. ~CK

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Social power is instinctively constituted in social spaces between the people gathered in that space. It is primarily emotional and relational. It is obvious. You can observe a room and see who has power and who does not. Share on X