By Adrian Pyle
Chair’s introduction (optional script)
“As part of our meetings this year, we’re taking a few minutes at the start to pause with a short reflection. It’s not a sermon or a lecture, just a chance to notice a story or idea and see what it might open up for us as a board. The goal isn’t to answer big questions on the spot, but to give us some shared grounding before we dive into the business.”
Why this reflection?
In the busyness of reports, budgets, and compliance, boards and councils can slip into problem-solving mode only. Yet schools don’t just need efficient governance; they of course need leadership that models the kind of community we want to be. These reflections aren’t sermons. They’re simply a pause to notice bigger themes and how they connect to the work of governing schools that value a link to the Uniting Church.
What’s the story this month (one that many Uniting Church communities of faith are hearing)?
The Biblical reading Luke 16:19-31 tells of a man who enjoys abundance and another, Lazarus, who suffers in plain sight. What’s striking is that they live side by side. The rich man doesn’t seem cruel, he’s just indifferent. He walks past the same scene daily and somehow stops noticing. The parable seems less about punishment and more about awareness: how easy it is to normalise gaps, and how costly that blindness can become.
Where else this idea shows up
- The call to pay attention isn’t unique to this parable.
- In Confucian thought, a good leader is one who notices the state of relationships in the community. Harmony depends less on issuing orders and more on attending to what’s happening between people.
- In Sikhism, the practice of seva, selfless service, asks people to keep an eye out for needs around them, especially the small, easily overlooked ones.
- Across traditions, leadership is judged not by status or output alone, but by the quality of attentiveness.
What this might mean for school boards
In governance, it’s easy to get absorbed by what’s urgent—budgets, building projects, compliance—while missing the quieter realities that also shape a school’s life. Who’s flourishing? Who’s struggling quietly? The story nudges us to ask: what’s right in front of us that we risk overlooking?
Two Uniting Church characteristics resonate here
- Listening and collaborative decision-making – Good governance notices voices that might otherwise go unheard. Sometimes it’s not malice but simple busyness that keeps us from listening well.
- Celebrating equality and the value of all people – The parable challenges the instinct to only notice the ‘big players’. Schools that live this out create space where every contribution, even the hidden ones, counts.
These characteristics remind us that how we pay attention as leaders is as significant as what decisions we make.
A few questions to sit with. Not for immediate answers, but perhaps to let hover around the edges of this meeting
- Where in our governance do we risk ‘walking past’ something important without noticing?
- Which voices are at our gate that we’re not yet hearing?
- How do we build habits of attention, so care doesn’t depend on who speaks loudest?
This post was originally shared on LinkedIN and republished here for our Synod community.
Watch the full reflection in video format here
