By Brother Stephen Rankin

If you’ve spent any time reading leadership books, you’ve undoubtedly run across the central importance of leaders casting a vision. A number of years ago, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner co-authored The Leadership Challenge, which has become a best-seller. They offer five principles that leaders should embody. The first is “model the way.” Isn’t it intriguing that a non-religious book on good leadership starts with what to Christian leadership is utterly fundamental?

But in this Encouragement piece, the second principle on leadership from Kouzes and Posner follows closely on the first and holds our attention: “Inspire a shared vision.” In the United Christian Ashrams, one essential way we talk about our shared vision is with Brother Stanley’s words. The Ashram is “the kingdom of God in miniature.” It helps our souls to meditate on what it means for us to experience the kingdom of God here, now. The Christian ashram movement aims at introducing people to King Jesus, the Prince of peace and Lord of lords, and to his kingdom that will have no end.

I encourage Encouragement readers to contemplate the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 from this angle of vision. They are not ethical demands that we must meet to qualify us for entry into Jesus’ kingdom. They are promises; they cast a vision of what is possible and available for all those who recognize their deep need (“Blessed are the poor in spirit”) and see our Lord as the one who meets their deep need. Imagine each of the character qualities listed in the Beatitudes as a promise to you that, as you yield to Christ, he will give you these holy dispositions and you will demonstrate his kingdom as a result.

Perhaps a good way of illustrating this point is by thinking about how a small child reaches for their parent or for someone they know and trust, when they need something. Among our grandchildren, Joni and I have a nine-month-old grandson, Paul. He’s crawling now, so he has some independence. Still, when he needs something, he reaches for Mom or Dad or his twelve-year-old sister or a grandparent. And they respond by grabbing him up in their arms, just as Jesus does for those who seek him.

Every human being hungers for the goodness, the deep satisfaction, the delight, the steadiness in life that comes ultimately only from King Jesus. We have the blessed privilege of sharing his kingdom with all who are thirsty. That is our vision.

The kingdom in miniature. Here. Now. This is the vision we aim at. It inspires us, stretches us, and keeps us focused. May every local ashram and everyone in that ashram’s orbit catch this vision.