When a debate breaks out in your church about some theological issue, real leadership requires more than just laying out the main positions clearly and fairly. That’s a good skill, but people need to know what you think. They need you to lead them through the issue, wrestling fairly with the positions, and then reaching a conclusion. Yes, there are some issues that you might be able to set aside by saying, “Well, that’s a tough one that Christians have always argued about.” But good luck doing that with something like whether women should be elders or whether an agonized parent should end life support for an apparently brain dead child. 

That’s a great picture for a struggle that many have with theology. People like to stay in the clouds enjoying the view. But sometimes you just have to land the plane.

Landing the Plane in Theology

I use this analogy when explaining to my students why they have to take positions on difficult theological issues: women in ministry, image of God, election, etc. Every year I have at least some students who don’t want to land the plane. They enjoy reading, thinking, and debating about difficult theological issues, but when it comes to taking a clear stand on what they think, they hold back.

And they often make a virtue out of it: theological humility. They’ll argue that these issues are so complex and have been debated for so long that the principled thing to do is just not to have a position. And they’ve probably seen too many landings turn into crashes—maybe landing the wrong way or developing the arrogance that comes from thinking that you’ve got it right. Bad landings lead some to think that maybe it would be best just to stay in the clouds.

But I make them land anyway. Why?

3 Reasons to Land the Plane

1. Landings Are Necessary in Real Life

Can you imagine a student pilot trying to explain to his flying instructor that he loves flying but that landings are just too difficult and scary, so he’d rather not do that part? Tough. In real life you can’t fly if you won’t land. They go together.

When a debate breaks out in your church about some theological issue, real leadership requires more than just laying out the main positions clearly and fairly. That’s a good skill, but people need to know what you think. They need you to lead them through the issue, wrestling fairly with the positions, and then reaching a conclusion. Yes, there are some issues that you might be able to set aside by saying, “Well, that’s a tough one that Christians have always argued about.” But good luck doing that with something like whether women should be elders or whether an agonized parent should end life support for an apparently brain dead child. If you’re going to work with people in real life, you have to get the plane on the ground.

2. Landing Forces Careful Thinking

Cruising around in the sky is the easy part. You can even turn on the auto-pilot for a while and just enjoy the view. It’s the landing that makes you sit up and pay attention.

The same holds true in theology. There’s nothing like being forced to articulate and defend a position to make you really engage the material.

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