Leading change – Andy Rowell

As I hear about troubled organizations, people ask, how will reform come? The theological answer is the Spirit. Perhaps it is the breath whisper of the fluttering of a sheet as in Acts 10:11. Or perhaps it is like the gusts of wind of a storm that cause shipwreck in Acts 27:15.

I'm specifically thinking of people dismayed because they have little power. The Christian claim that there is a need for the Spirit to work is not surrender to passivity. God's people continue to act. But they also ask for and look for the Spirit's quiet or drastic intervention.

As the Spirit moves, the hardened heart of the powerful gate-keeper is awoken to exclaim "I see now that I was wrong!" and the chained outsider is welcomed and freed.

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on December 25, 2021.

Update on Navalny in this thread from the NPR correspondent in Moscow.

For us on MLK Day, this is right out of the Martin Luther King Jr. playbook: Have an angry unjust ruler? Then do normal peaceful things and see if he lashes out with brutality—showing the world who he is.

Navalny: A minute ago I was let out of my cell to meet my lawyers. Now a court proceeding is supposed to take place in this police station. Why here? Why was I not summoned in writing? What's happening here is not possible. It's the height of lawlessness. https://t.co/cdkFyi8yUI
— Lucian Kim (@Lucian_Kim) January 18, 2021

This takes tremendous courage and willingness to sacrifice. You may die. But if *many* people do the right thing and act with courage and without violence, the vicious person will eventually be toppled or at least be remembered as an embarrassment.

BREAKING: @navalny has been taken to Matrosskaya Tishina prison, the place where Sergei Magnitsky was murdered. https://t.co/Luz8WQMYoS
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) January 18, 2021

The road is long.

Great observation @AlexKokcharov . https://t.co/wmOFewOsU8
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) January 18, 2021

Courage is contagious.

Not a novel observation, but Navalny is as hard as nails. https://t.co/h6f4bq6K6b
— Ed Caesar (@edcaesar) January 18, 2021

What other countries can do: make it less fun and easy to be enriching oneself by enabling and cooperating with brutal injustice. And associate their names formally with Putin for all to see.

BREAKING: @navalny’s colleague @vashurkov shared the list of eight Russian officials and oligarchs who Alexei thought should be sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act. Alexei prepared this list days before being arrested. pic.twitter.com/adg2Vq2pzL
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) January 18, 2021

Gather symbolically and peacefully to ask that justice be done through the law (if it were being administered rightly). And demonstrate for all to see that the leader does not care about just laws. *Eventually* the majority of the people begin to see it.

Navalny's supporters will on Saturday try to repeat a rally in 2013 when they bravely gathered outside the Kremlin walls demanding his freedom after a dubious conviction. Putin is unlikely to cave this time with more at stake and the world watching. https://t.co/fulLkOoWlT
— Jason Corcoran (@jason_corcoran) January 18, 2021

When someone is a dictator, reminding them that many think they are a selfish, lying, coward pierces their self-delusion. And it causes the dictator to choose between either appearing weak by giving in, or inspiring more resistance if he cracks down.

BREAKING: ⁦@navalny⁩ urges Russians to 'take to the streets'. Protests scheduled for January 23rd. This is Putin’s worst nightmare coming to fruition. https://t.co/Qdzv0aYZNP
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) January 18, 2021

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 18, 2021.