Leading Like Christ
Campus Crusade's president shares why collaboration is key to the great commission.
Interview by Frank Lofaro
Christian Leadership Alliance president Frank Lofaro recently interviewed Stephen Douglass, president of Campus Crusade for Christ International. Douglass, who spoke at the CLA National Conference in Dallas this past April, shared his perspectives on issues affecting Christian nonprofit organizations.
How do you define Christian leadership?
Exerting influence in a biblical way.
What are some keys to discovering and deploying future leaders for Christian nonprofit organizations?
I believe there is a much-overlooked reservoir of future leaders of Christian organizations. That reservoir is Christians who are currently leaders in secular society. They have just never thought about, aspired to, or seen themselves as people who could lead in a Christian organization.
What I sought to address when I spoke at the CLA conference last April was how we can help people cross over from the secular world to lead a Christian organization. I emphasized three things that leaders need to do better in order to exert influence in a biblical way.
The number one thing is to live the Christian life—to live as God would have us live, in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no room for compromise.
The second is to love. Often leaders deal with others in a way that doesn't reflect the love of Christ. To be a successful Christian leader in a Christian organization, you need to be a leader who follows what Christ said: Love God and your neighbor as yourself.
Sometimes leaders come into a Christian environment with too cut and dried of an attitude. They don't treat people as Christ treated people: with dignity and recognition of their commitment to serve the Lord. That attitude won't help leaders be successful. Leaders who exude the love of God, on the other hand, are trusted and followed.
The third point is that people need to learn how to lead toward nonprofit goals. The absence of a profit "bottom line" can be puzzling to a secular leader. But once they reorient, they can definitely experience how the richness of their giftedness applies in the endeavors of the body of Christ.
In summary, there are lots of people who know how to exert influence. But they don't necessarily know how to do that in a biblical way, which is necessary to be successful in a Christian organization.
In 1972 you wrote The Ministry of Management. What inspired you to write that book?
When I was at Harvard Business School, my roommates and I did a research study on Campus Crusade. We were mentored by the top professor at Harvard Business School in terms of student rankings, so we got advice far beyond our years of experience. We made recommendations to Bill Bright in several categories and staged out the implementation over three years. One of those recommendations concerned the need for leadership development.
Dr. Bright needed someone to implement these ideas, so my friend Bruce Cook and I joined the staff of Campus Crusade to do that. Right off the bat, he asked us to lead a management training seminar for Crusade's top leaders. (He never resisted challenging you to do something beyond what you thought you could do.) As we did that and subsequent trainings, we decided to turn our notes into a text. Eventually we wrote The Ministry of Management. In the 1970s, we did national conferences on church management using The Ministry of Management as the text.
As you think back to 1969, you realize that management training was not in vogue in Christian circles. There were no Christian management texts. There was no CLA.
How important has the kingdom collaboration principle been to Campus Crusade for Christ?
In a word, it has been crucial. Campus Crusade has a calling to help fulfill the Great Commission by winning, building, and sending in the power of the Holy Spirit, and helping the rest of the body of Christ do evangelism and discipleship. We believe we were created by God not to hoard, but to give away.
Let me give you an illustration: the Jesus film. The Jesus film is produced and distributed by Crusade. The film has engendered over six billion exposures to the gospel, and 200 million decisions for Christ. It has been translated into more than 1,000 languages and shown in every country in the world. According to Ralph Winter, who for many years was the director of the U.S. Center for World Mission, it has been the most fruitful evangelism tool of all time.
So what did God use to cause all that to happen? We partnered with denominations, local churches, and other parachurch organizations. There have been more than 1,500 partnerships related to the Jesus film.
I will give you an illustration. One partnership is with the Church of the Nazarene denomination. We supplied the reels of film and projectors and they supplied the salaries for the workers. Since 1998, they have seen over 45 million exposures to the gospel, eight million decisions for Christ, and three million people entering into follow-up. They have planted over 13,000 churches and have more than 20,000 pastors in training.
In my view, we are in an unprecedented time of partnership in the Christian world. I really see an outpouring of generosity, humility, and unity. It's crucial for Campus Crusade to be a part of that.
Do other compelling examples of Christian collaboration come to mind?
Yes, one partnership definitely comes to mind that formed at the Billy Graham Amsterdam 2000 meeting. There was a group there called "strategists" who represented about 500 of the 10,000 people. I was in that group, chairing a table that had the number 71 on it. There were about seven or eight action-oriented people around that table.
Fairly quickly, they became bored talking about, "What is an unreached people group?" That was too academic and they were activists. So we decided to stop talking about definitions and start talking about action: "Why don't we just figure out how to do it?"
There are a certain number of unengaged and unreached people groups—people who aren't reached and there's no one even trying. As of about a year or year-and-a-half ago, that number was 639 with a population of over 100,000. There are lots more with smaller populations. We said, "Let's just figure out what each of our organizations can do to achieve the dream of the day, when the number will be zero—that is absolutely no unengaged, unreached people groups."
I can tell you, that number 639 of just a few years ago is plummeting. It is down several hundred today. By the end of this year, I think there will be another 100 engaged in India alone. The total number left will probably be in the range of 200 to 250.
That is an example of Christian collaboration. No one is paid to be there, but we have met over 20 times since this partnership was inaugurated. We call it "the Table 71 Partnership." It includes Youth With a Mission, Wycliffe Bible Translators, International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Campus Crusade, Dawn Ministries, and various other ministries.
What are challenges that Christian nonprofits will face as they seek to collaborate?
The first challenge is that you don't get to do it entirely your way. You've got to be flexible.
The second challenge is the perceived "risk" of exposing your donors and volunteers to other approaches and organizations that might be quite attractive. The Christian world is overcoming that. For example, in the last year I have spoken at the fundraisers of three other Christian nonprofit organizations, and we at Crusade have had a number of top leaders of other organizations into our fundraising events for the Jesus film.
What are the compelling benefits of collaboration?
It leverages each ministry's contribution way beyond what that ministry could do by itself. It also allows for the total completion of the task. I honestly believe that the body of Christ is close to fulfilling the Great Commission. One reason for that optimism is that I see Christian organizations working together to complete the task.
No doubt you have heard of the "tipping point," how things can gain momentum suddenly. I think that is what's on the verge of happening regarding the Great Commission.
When future leaders see how they can make a big difference for eternity using the gifts God has given them, they will want to be a part of the action. Soon, what has been a leadership shortage will become a leadership surplus.
Stephen Douglass is president of Campus Crusade for Christ International. With nearly 40 years at Crusade, he has served in numerous roles, including executive vice president and director of U.S. ministries. Douglass has a BS in electrical engineering from mit and an MBA from Harvard. He is the author or coauthor of several books, including Managing Yourself, How to Achieve Your Potential and Enjoy Life, and Enjoying Your Walk with God.
