The part of Shanghai where the summit was held is the closest thing I've seen to an American suburb in China. The gathering was at a wealthy international school in a newer area of the metropolis. While being shuttled on wide, new highways from the Metro to the school, I passed recently-built mansions in gated communities, freshly planted rows of trees, and billboards for Western products. Except for the Chinese script on the billboards, this area could have been in northern Atlanta or northern Virginia.
Friday and Saturday's summit was packed with eight videotaped sessions (four each day) from leaders who had recently spoken in-person at Willowcreek. The summit marketed itself as an opportunity for business leaders around the world to have training in best practices. Speakers included (among others) Michelle Rhee (the former chancellor of the DC Public School system), Maggie Gobran (a Coptic believer who has been called the Mother Theresa of Cairo), Bill Hybels (senior pastor), Cory Booker (the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey), John Dickson (a professor of ancient history at Macquarie University in Sydney), and Henry Cloud (a psychologist who has written an influential book called Boundaries).
I was incredibly grateful for the opportunity to chew on some "food for thought." While Brian and I are learning plenty in our daily studies, it was nice to engage in an intellectual exchange of ideas that is more in line with my graduate training. I also appreciated meeting people from other international fellowships in China.
The videotaped sessions were incredibly hit and miss. For one thing, most of the speakers presupposed that best practices for business leadership are exactly the same as best practices for church leadership. The message I gleaned from most sessions is that both types of leaders should always aim for flashy financial numbers, shiny new buildings, a sexy final product, and a suave public image. Yet this is a very brash, US-centric, and narrow understanding of what the church is. I do appreciate that Maggie Gobran's session acknowledged that faith callings (such as hers and that of Jeremiah in Scripture) can be very difficult, painful, and ultimately "unsuccessful" by the standards above. Maggie's message, however, was an outlier from the dominant implication that we should not only craft entertaining programs/products, but also perpetually seek an action-packed organization. Contrary to the underlying assumption of the summit, ecclesial success does not equal business success.
I was also embarrassed at times by the ethnocentricity of the speakers. One speaker conversed on the value of vulnerability in leadership. According to this individual, leaders who are willing to be vulnerable, forthright, and even playfully casual with potential parishioners/clients can build trust effectively. This thought pattern springs logically from a Western worldview. Yet such an assertion falls flat for a Chinese audience where saving face is of utmost importance. What does vulnerability look like in a Chinese context? I'm still not sure, but I know it won't look like the idyllic image this speaker painted.
With the possible exceptions of Maggie and Michelle Rhee (who is Korean-American), all of the speakers came from a very narrowly Western background. John Dickson is Australian, yet the remaining speakers are from the US. Half of them were white American men. In the year 2011, when the face of the church (and even the business leadership community) is quickly changing hues and speaking increasingly varied tongues, why is a very small demographic still dominating the conversation? I was actually encouraged that many of the people from our fellowship in Hangzhou who also attended the conference (Kenyan, Bolivian, German) had this same complaint. A global leadership summit should be, well, global in leadership.
In conclusion, I'm very glad I could attend this summit because of (and often in spite of) the sessions. The conversations the lectures spurred with others in attendance were blissfully thought-provoking, and I was heartened to gain a bigger picture of the local leadership community. And I must admit I appreciated feeling strangely at "home" in the newer section of Shanghai. I'm still nibbling on the ideological nuggets I gathered, and hopefully other opportunities for intellectual feasting will continue to emerge!