Copyright by Joshua Shaam Sudharman 2020 Abstract Pastors, especially senior pastors of churches with larger congregations and staff teams, have to provide leadership, not only in the typical pastoral sense of preaching/teaching and counseling/caring, but also in terms of direction and management. Yet pastors tend to receive inadequate equipping in this third area, and sometimes flounder when faced with the complexities of their role. Lee Kuan Yew was an extraordinary political leader and manager, leading the severely disadvantaged fledgling nation of Singapore from Third World status to First World in a few decades. Underlying the question of what pastors can learn from Lee, given that he never professed Christian faith himself, is the principle of discernment anchored in humility and healthy skepticism: humility to realize non-Christians may be wiser than Christians in the way they manage their institutional affairs, and skepticism to know that not everything that “works” in the world is going to likewise succeed in God’s church. The first step in discerning what aspects of Lee’s leadership have relevance for pastors was to construct a biblical/ theological grid by which to evaluate Lee’s leadership. Shaped by the data available on Lee, this grid had four components - formation, shepherding, excellence and power – and a broad theological understanding of each of these themes was outlined so as to serve as a set of criteria in evaluating the applicability of key aspects of Lee’s leadership. iv Lee’s life was examined both in terms of his pre-leadership years and his time in leadership. The formative experiences of Lee’s life from childhood through to early adulthood evoke reflections on how one’s own personal history has a shaping influence on one’s leadership, and where there might be strengths yet to be harnessed, or shadows yet to be confronted. Lee’s positive leadership traits - as described by himself and others – are worthy of thoughtful appropriation insofar as they are deemed compatible with Christian values as identified in the biblical grid. Some features of Lee’s leadership, which were heavily critiqued by many and are at odds with the principles in the biblical grid are also identified for reflection. To deepen and personalize the above leadership reflections, several interviews with Christians who held significant leadership roles and knew Lee first-hand were cited. A fictional narrative of an interview with Lee was also incorporated in the final chapter, which offered the space for imaginatively extending Lee’s leadership in a more theological vein. In summary, Lee’s complex legacy provides rich material for leadership reflections by pastors, and the overlap zone between Christian and secular leadership merits further study and exploration. v Dedication To all Senior Pastors who wrestle with the complexity of their role and want to please God by serving their church well. vi Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... iv Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... x 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 2. A biblical grid by which to assess Lee’s leadership .................................................................. 12 2.1 Formation .......................................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Shepherding ....................................................................................................................... 22 2.3 Excellence .......................................................................................................................... 33 2.4 Power ................................................................................................................................. 43 3. Lee’s formation and leadership .................................................................................................. 51 3.1 Formation of Lee Kuan Yew ............................................................................................. 52 3.2 Positives about Lee’s leadership ....................................................................................... 64 3.3 Critiques of Lee’s leadership ............................................................................................. 89 4. Conversations about and ‘with’ Lee ........................................................................................ 100 4.1 Interview with Retired General Winston Choo ............................................................... 101 4.2 Interview with Lee: The first hour ................................................................................... 111 4.3 Interview with Retired Permanent Secretary Mr Lim Siong Guan ................................. 123 4.4 Interview with Lee: The second hour .............................................................................. 131 4.5 Interview with former Cabinet Minister Lim Hwee Hua ................................................ 139 vii 4.6 Interview with Lee: The third hour ................................................................................. 147 4.7 Interview with Lee’s brother, Dr Lee Suan Yew ............................................................ 159 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 166 BiBliography ................................................................................................................................ 174 Biography ..................................................................................................................................... 178 viii List of Figures Figure 1: Three interlocking aspects of pastoral leadership ............................................................ 2 Figure 2: A Venn Diagram of Secular and Church Leadership Spheres (indicative, not to scale) ................................................................................................................................................ 7 Figure 3: Reply from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong .............................................................. 171 ix Acknowledgements I wish to thank people living in two very different parts of the world – the US and Singapore. Firstly, I owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr L. Gregory Jones, Dean of Duke Divinity School, for kindly agreeing to be my thesis supervisor, and for being so responsive to all my email communications with him despite his enormous responsibilities and workload. You have been most encouraging and patient with me as my thesis went through several revisions in terms of its shape and outline. I am also grateful for the helpful inputs of Bishop Will Willimon who, though he was not technically my second reader, very willingly gave advice on certain portions of the thesis. Bishop Will, you are a big reason why this DMin course has been the highlight of my academic journey. I thank all my classmates in the DMin intake cohort of 2017 at Duke Divinity School. I have been sharpened, stimulated, challenged and inspired by all of you and appreciate our friendship. You have been very hospitable to this guy from halfway around the world, and I always felt accepted and warmly received by you. I also express my deep thanks to the many lecturers and instructors in the DMin course for their amazing insights and thought-provoking assignments, with special mentions for Dr Ellen Davis, Dr Susan Eastman, Dr Warren Smith, and Dr Curtis Freeman. Thanks, too, to Colin Yuckman for helpful comments and questions in the early stages of the thesis. x Now for those in Singapore, I firstly thank Dr Tan Kim Huat, the Academic Dean and Chen Su Lan Professor of New Testament in Trinity Theological College, for graciously agreeing to be Second Reader for my thesis, despite his busy schedule. Your comments and critiques have helped to sharpen my writing, and I am grateful for your insights and for our friendship. I also wish to thank Mr Lim Tin Seng, librarian at the National Library, who was most helpful in compiling a comprehensive list of resources on Lee Kuan Yew and orienting me to the library when I reached out for help. In the course of writing on the subject of formation, I had occasion to reflect on my own formation, and realised how great a debt I owe to my three previous Vicars. Canon James Wong, you affirmed my call to full-time ministry and believed in me enough to approve a substantial gift by Chapel of the Resurrection to help me to pay off the remainder of my scholarship bond to join the church staff. Canon John Benson, you invested innumerable hours mentoring me and processing leadership matters with me, before you became my Vicar and when you were my boss. I have the greatest respect and admiration for you. Bishop Rennis, you mentored and trained me as your Curate, both by example and by countless deep conversations over cups of tea. And you entrusted to