The original invitation to deliver this Johannaber Lecture included the general instruction that the lecture theme have something to do with spirituality and/or spiritual formation. The more I thought of that in the context of a “ministers week,” the more certain I was that I wanted to focus on leadership – the vocation of leadership. Pastors are leaders, but they are specifically Christian leaders. So that’s my focus: leadership from a Christian perspective.

I begin with three pictures. The first is out of the rich treasury of Celtic spirituality, which is claiming a lot of attention in our day. It’s Patrick’s own account of a portion of his pilgrimage.

“I, Patrick, am the most unlearned and the lowest of all the faithful. My father was a deacon, and my grandfather a priest. At the age …