Leading and lamenting with Nehemiah

Listening to experienced leaders in the movement for justice is how we grow. People who have been in the struggle for a while have seen the kinds of problems we’re facing and, by God’s grace, have persevered. In her new book, Brenda Salter McNeil welcomes us into her wisdom and shares her lessons from a career in reconciliation work. She aims to train and encourage a new generation of leaders by working through the book of Nehemiah, tracing how that ancient leader worked to rebuild Jerusalem in the face of internal conflict, external resistance, and personal burnout.

Most of the lessons that McNeil draws from the text are fairly standard, such as the importance of locating yourself near the problem, organizing people based on their self-­interest, and dealing with opposition both inside and outside the community. Nehemiah has been used for hundreds of years as a leadership text; Charles Spurgeon even named his monthly magazine The Sword and the Trowel after an episode recounted in Nehemiah 4. Still, McNeil brings to the text compelling wisdom earned from deep experience.

For example, when she writes about Nehemiah identifying with the plight of the Jewish people rather than merely resting within his privilege as cupbearer for the king, she draws on the rich Black church tradition of lament. From the church’s origins within the crucible of enslavement to the spirituals that fed its soul, lament has been used to “connect people through communal compassion,” which McNeil sees as necessary to the work of reconciliation. Lament is a spiritual act of hope: crying out to a God who sees our tears and will answer our cries.