Web image
Shown is the cover of ‘Canoeing the Mountains.’

“Where do you turn when you do not know where to turn?” “What do you do when facing insurmountable obstacles?”

“Canoeing the Mountains” (Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory), by Tod Bolsinger addresses these very issues. “Canoeing the Mountains” is a book primarily intended for those individuals involved in Christian leadership in the church, but also presents a strong secondary application for Christian laity, especially for those involved in church ministry. Leaders need followers. Followers need leaders. Both leaders and followers must respect one another, learn from one another, and either succeed as a team or fail as a team. Both must rely on the expertise of each other.

Bolsinger utilizes the expedition of Lewis and Clark as his main illustration of leadership principles gleaned from the famous expedition. Lewis and Clark were commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 shortly after the Louisiana Purchase to explore and find (hopefully) a waterway passage across the country to the Pacific Ocean. Traveling up the Missouri River in canoes expecting to reach the Pacific Ocean they suddenly faced the daunting sight of the Rocky Mountains. All of a sudden, the strategies and plans had to be re-evaluated.

Bolsinger repeatedly uses terms such as uncharted territories, flexibility, transformational leadership, and adaptive challenges for the situations that Lewis and Clark encountered on their trip when faced with adversity, discouragement, and indecision. The author then uses these situations as illustrations or steppingstones to put forth the principles in his book.

Bolsinger’s premise is that the situations that the Lewis and Clark expedition encountered are very similar to the situations the church in today’s world finds itself — uncharted territory:

“Lewis and Clark’s expedition to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase was

built on a completely false expectation. They believed, like everyone before them, that

the unexplored west was exactly the same geography as the familiar east. This is the story of what they did when they discovered that they–and everyone else before them–had been wrong. And how instructive and inspiring that story can be to us today. …From Lewis and Clark we will learn that if we can adapt and adventure, we can thrive. That while leadership in uncharted territory requires both learning and loss, once we realize that the losses won’t kill us, they can teach us. And mostly, we will learn that to thrive off the map in an exciting and rapidly changing world means learning to let go, learn as we go and keep going no matter what.” (pp. 13, 14)

If churches were honest with themselves, they would admit that we are all living through uncharted territories. If the truth be told, once churches embark on their expedition, she soon discovers that they are in uncharted territory — facing situations not found in a book or learned in school. Many churches in America are declining. Some Christian leaders remain satisfied with the status quo but then wonder, “What is wrong?” All the while these churches do nothing about the situation. On the other hand, many Christian leaders scramble to discover the problem or problems and seek to rectify them. The author states the obvious when he declares that, “The culture is changing, the world is changing rapidly, and churches are facing change on an unprecedented scale. Churches and church leaders are becoming increasingly irrelevant, even marginalized.” (p. 22-23) This view is convicting and should be challenging to those involved in church ministry.

Sidebars were scattered throughout the book. For example, one sidebar stated, “Christian Leaders: You were trained for a world that is disappearing.” (p. 18) This reviewer would add, “Christian laity: You are living in a world that is changing at warp speed.” If the Christian church does not adjust, or as the author states it, applies flexibility to her methodology, it may well find itself at an impasse like Lewis and Clark discovered while carrying canoes expecting to see the Pacific Ocean only to face the daunting Rocky Mountains which required a different mode of transportation. As Lewis and Clark remained true to their mission, the church also must remain true to the scriptures and the Great Commission of “going and making disciples.” A quotation stated by many leaders rings true in these situations, “Methods are many, principles are few. Methods always change, but principles never do.” The expedition of 1803 could have been doomed had it not adapted and exercised flexibility. The same can be said of churches.

Bolsinger creates several catchy, intriguing chapter titles as he relates the precarious situations that Lewis and Clark encountered with the church of today’s world. One such title is Adventure or Die. When the expedition discovered that there was no Northwest Passage the decision had to be made: give up and go home or adventure forward. The author cites an application for churches who face a major obstacle: “If you can adapt and adventure, you can thrive. But you must let go, learn as you go and keep going no matter what….We are canoers who have run out of water. There is no route in front of us, no map, no quick fix or easy answer. But this is good news. This is a divine moment.” (pp. 34-35)

This book is valuable because it is applicable to both Christian leadership and laity. It also exposes not only the issues facing the modern day church but solutions.

“Leadership in uncharted territory requires the transformation of the whole organization: both leaders and followers will become vastly different people after they have ventured forth to live out the mission of God in a changing world. This transformational leadership lies at the overlapping intersection of three leadership components: technical competence, relational congruence and adaptive capacity.” p. 43

I would recommend this book to anyone involved in church ministry whose desire is to see the church grow spiritually and who would honestly face the issues facing the church today. Many churches today are journeying through uncharted territory and could enhance their ministries by utilizing the principles presented in “Canoeing the Mountains.”

¯¯¯

Dr. Howard Houtz is the retired senior pastor of Calvary Bible Church.