Renowned New Testament scholar N.T. Wright offers a compelling framework for understanding the arc of the Biblical story as a five-act drama or play. Imagine, he suggests, that you are a pre-eminent modern-day actor specializing in Shakespearean drama. In a stroke of unbelievable fortune, a previously unknown Shakespeare play is discovered in a dusty box in a basement in England, dated to the early 17th century. After a lengthy authentication process, it is indeed confirmed as an original work of Shakespeare and you are asked to play a lead role in its long-awaited debut on a London stage.
There is only one problem: The play has five acts, but a portion of the fifth act is clearly missing.
You know how the actors have acted and behaved to the end of the fourth act, And you can see how the play eventually ends. The characters’ final actions remain consistent with their arc, but the gap in the script presents a unique challenge.
How do you, as a lead actor, faithfully interpret the themes and patterns of the first four acts to improvise a compelling, coherent, and grounded continuation of the story until it reaches its conclusion? The theatre world watches closely, eager to see how you and your fellow performers will bridge the gap…
In his example, Wright is drawing a parallel to the Biblical narrative:
We live in Act V. We know what has come before us, and we are given a vision of where history is headed—the full reunification of heaven and earth. The question for us, then, is this:
How should we faithfully interpret the Biblical story so far, and how do we take up our role as actors or improvisors in the great unfolding Biblical drama moving forward?
As leaders in Christian schools, perhaps this image of leadership as improvisation resonates with you. At various points in the leadership journey, we find ourselves taking a next faithful step based on imperfect information, alongside imperfect people, in imperfect environments. In this sense leadership is not about scripting the future, but about discerning how to improvise wisely—grounded in what has come before, yet moving into terrain that is largely unknown.
To extend the metaphor further, author Samuel Wells in his book Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics, introduces the idea of ‘walking backwards’ as a core posture of improvisation. Leaders, he suggests, take steps forward while intentionally looking back—learning from the contours of the past in order to move forward with clarity, faithfulness, and perhaps even prophetic imagination.
Consider a historical example: imagine you are pastor and author, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Born in 1906, you grow up in an economically depressed post-World War I Germany. Before the outbreak of World War II, there are at first slow, but increasingly serious signs that your country is headed down a destructive path. Some of your pastoral friends and colleagues even endorse the hard-line path that the government is taking due to the financial hardships that their parishioners experience daily. But others see dangerous signs that certain people groups, such as the Jewish communities that live in your neighbourhood, are being subtly degraded and targeted.
In hindsight, the dangers of Nazi ideology are clear. But in the moment, leadership is rarely so obvious. Bonhoeffer’s decision to resist the regime cost him dearly. He was criticized, threatened, and ultimately executed for his convictions. By God’s grace, Christian school leaders in the Edvance network do not find themselves facing the same stakes. Yet Bonhoeffer’s story continues to resonate through the ages because of his clarity, courage, and commitment to truth in a time of uncertainty. His life reminds us that faithful leadership often means discerning the right path amid ambiguity—and trusting God to guide each step.
As you head into a well-deserved summer break, may you experience the deep well of God’s love for you, not only as a leader, but as a beloved child of God. Find ways to rest, be recharged and refreshed. Improvising faithfully in the great unfolding Biblical story often takes intention, trust, and energy. Summer is the fallow season that nourishes the ongoing journey ahead. Enjoy!
Tim Bentum is the Director of Leadership and External Relations at Edvance.