St. John Neumann
Catholic Church

There are lots of ways to describe leadership. I am no expert here, but in thinking of prophetic leadership, two points do come to mind: A prophetic leader will not hide behind the status quo simply because the status quo is safe. What is more to the point, a prophetic leader will risk the potential of failure, as he or she seeks what lies ahead.

Toward the end of his public ministry, Jesus of Nazareth had drawn an extraordinary crowd of followers. Many in that crowd began to use the word offered in prophecy to describe the man from Galilee as the promise of God… Messiah… Christ… the Anointed One.  The crowd expected Jesus to be the Liberator, expected him to crush gentile Rome and bring about a new “golden age”, a new Davidic Kingdom of power and wealth. But the prophetic leadership of Jesus was made manifest not in his offering them what they wanted, but in giving them (us) what was (is) needed… a Bridge to bring the Kingdom and our broken earth together, a Savior that offers salvation, mercy. And what was his methodology of leadership? He risked everything… even his life… in trusting God for everything.

St. John Neumann is called to leadership. We are called not to timidity and fear but to a prophetic leadership, seeking to live out our faith in the here and now. We are called to be a beacon of Light for Gwinnett County, now and for the future of our children and their children and the children yet to come that will need the help of faithful hearts. Though the status quo is comfy, we are called to step out from that status quo, and build what we need as a Catholic community. We risk everything…by trusting God for everything.  And He says of us you are the Light of the world (Matthew 5.14).

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