In a previous post I copied an article on leadership from the House Church Blog. Now, I do it again. I found an article by Mike Steele on "The Apostle Who Is A Father" that really is worth reading. I wonder what my friends think of his view?
The Apostle Who Is A Father
By Mike Steele, DAWN Ministries
Leadership in the Church has been a hot topic over the last two decades. Books are everywhere on the subject and magazines expound the new and latest innovative concepts from the experts. The prevailing view from this direction is one of a need for greater administrative and organizational skills. Of course there is helpful information in these books and articles, for we are admonished to do things decently and in order. And surely we want to be as effective as possible in fulfilling the command of our Lord to make disciples of all peoples.
Still, these books and articles trouble me. They seem to imply that leaders who build efficient organizations and reproducible models will become our heroes. They are the ones who will see their kingdoms expand and who will receive the accolades of men for their ingenious plans and programs. They will be honored at banquets and given the highest positions in organizations because of their exceptional managerial and administrative abilities.
Business Leadership
Today’s leadership models tend to fall into two categories. Based on the success-oriented model of the business world, the "bottom line" is the motivation in this form of leadership and strategies and measurable outcomes are the rule. Churches who use many of the business principles are successful when they have a large growth rate and a growing staff. There is a program for every person and the senior pastor presides over a staff of the "best and brightest" innovators in the Kingdom. People come from around the world to sit at the feet of the "most successful" leaders who are compared to CEO’s of the top fortune 500 companies.
They see God through the passage of the talents and seek the highest return on investment for the Kingdom. They only invest in proven strategies with results that can be verified. The "sure thing" is the way to please the Father. Everyone’s activity is measured against the bottom line and their promotion and acknowledgement is based on meeting or exceeding the goals. Great ideas and large organizations come forth but run the risk of missing the mark of focusing our efforts on people and their growth and relationships. In some cases we are known by what cause we pursue and support, not by our love.
Team Leadership
Team leadership is a great step in the right direction. Multiple leaders (facilitators), are valuable and more comprehensive in scope when they utilize each other’s gifts and strengths in a complementary way to equip and release everyone in the Body of Christ for the work of the ministry. Like a hen brooding over her chicks, this team of leaders can bless, encourage, prepare and release vast multitudes of people into the harvest field.
Again, the business world has preempted the Church in this area and tons of books have been written to show us how to develop team leadership. These books espouse everyone working together toward a common goal. While there are many nuances to this form of leadership, in many cases the leader of the team is benevolent, a facilitator who catalyzes the group and seeks to "get the most" from each team member so they, together, can reach some goal for the benefit of the organization. Team members are rewarded for their contributions to the effort. Outcome is the bottom line and relationships are built on the ability of each team member to perform. Acceptance and recognition is based on your proficiency in adding to the outcome of the team effort. While this has merit, it does not exemplify the type of mutual love and benefit derived from a commitment to people over task.
Apostolic Leadership
There is, however, another powerful tide of thought that seems to me to be more biblical and therefore much more desirable than leadership models being espoused. For in the last decade much has been written and organizations formed to accelerate the move of the Church back to an apostolic form of leadership. Prominent here is the viewpoint that the Church must resurrect the leadership role of the apostle and the development of the five-fold ministry.
While I wholeheartedly give praise to the Lord for this move back to leadership principles given to us in the New Testament, I believe that the apostolic gift is yet to be clearly understood in this generation. Some feel the major thrust of the apostle is to set things in order. Some say it is the missionary/church planting gift. Some speak of initiating and oversight. Some speak of the need for an all-controlling person to steer the ship. Rather than listening to God as an apostolic team (family), we move based on the instincts of one.
My concern even here, however, is that these apostolic groups and viewpoints place their emphasis on a top down style of leadership that is dictatorial if not benevolent in its application. While they emanate from the order of reference to the leadership gifts listed in the fourth chapter of Ephesians, this passage is interpreted through what is typically a Western image of leadership.
The apostle leads out on behalf of God in a sort of top down, almost blind obedience to the person holding the office of apostle. This parallels the role of the pastor as exhibited in the most modern congregations. In their zeal to reestablish the apostolic, some have merely transferred the tasks and responsibilities of the pastor and singular leadership to the new title, apostle. While they speak of team and the five fold ministry, they view the other gifts of Christ as subservient to the apostolic gift. Rather than developing an apostolic team to facilitate the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, some are becoming the "new" pope and lording over the people. In this paradigm, the clergy/laity distinction still exists and the control factor is still present.
This isn’t the example of the ultimate apostle, Jesus Christ, who emphasized to his apostolically-gifted disciples that "He who seeks to lead must become the servant of all." When Jesus on one occasion called his disciples together, He said to them, "You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave. For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:25-28).
The Heart of the Father
With these many, conflicting voices gaining a hearing, can we ever come to consensus on what is the ideal? Did God give us a universal principle for leadership?
From my understanding of the Scripture, this ideal can be expressed in the concept of "The apostle who is a father." I believe the answer can be found in the heart of Father God. It is embodied in the saying "A weeping father crying out for his sons to overtake him." It is the blessing of a father that is irreplaceable in the life of those who will lead the church in the next move of God. I pray this would become the heart of leadership in the Church in America.
It is exemplified by fathers who mentor, empower and release their sons. These fathers are not controlling, but with wise counsel and wisdom "that comes with age" they impart to their heirs the way of the Kingdom. Continuously willing to resource and support the emerging generation and their call from the Holy Spirit, they encourage them to step out further into the vast arena of those seeking to have an intimate relationship with the Father.
We see this heart of the Father expressed as early as the creation story in the book of Genesis. After creating a perfect place for His son Adam to live, God involved him in everything on the earth. Their relationship was intimate. God knew every need his son had. It was God who acknowledged that his child had no suitable partner. It was God who created Eve for Adam.
In chapters 2-3 we see the Creator of the universe longing for relationship with His creation. His desire is to commune with His son. He has created a perfect environment for His children and He wants to walk with them daily.
The heart of the Father is revealed in Genesis 3:9 when the Creator of the universe and all mankind , the omnipotent, omniscient God over all, is found seeking his son in the garden. Adam, my son, where are you? I want to be with you. I want a relationship with you. I want to care for you.
We see the heart of the Father revealed in deep travail. God is seeking out and wooing His son Adam back to himself. God has every right to destroy Adam but instead He is looking to come back into intimate relationship with His creation. He cries, "Adam, my son, where are you?"
Reconciliation and intimacy are at the heart of the Father. Even in his sin, God makes clothes for Adam and Eve. God is the author of love and life. It is in this desire to reconcile and be reunited in intimate fellowship that God the Father sends His Son Jesus to sacrificially give himself in order to be reunited with His children. This is the ultimate payment, His Son. That’s how much God wants to be in relationship with us. That is the Father’s heart.
In our society the definition and expectations of the role of father have been severely misunderstood. Throughout history, the definition of and act of being a father has been misused and abused in various ways. Because of the distortion of the role of the Father in current western society and many societies around the world, we must seek to restore the heart of tenderness and compassion revealed in the scriptures. This "heart" is exhibited in the "mystery of the ages," God sending His Son to reconcile us to Himself. It is exemplified when God seeks out Adam in order to restore their relationship. In another scripture passage it is seen in the heart of the father of the prodigal son when he immediately restores his son to full fellowship upon his return.
Over the course of history, men have confused the role of the father with the role of a warrior, a general, a businessman and many others actions and activities. These roles are real and there are times a man will function in each one of them. Not many have talked about distinguishing when to be one or the other. In many cases he is certainly one or more of these on a daily basis. But he does not treat his children based on these roles. He treats his children based on his role as a father.
The picture God paints of His Church is one of a Bride, a family, a living and breathing organism. It is a life, not a war to win or a business to control. The Bride is not made up of employees with a goal toward a more profitable bottom line.
The Father in the Home
Having become successful in the area of business, many go home and begin to apply the lessons learned to our family and personal lives and things just don’t work out. Business models, hierarchical leadership and strategic plans do not a leader make. It is the heart that is at the core of the issue and it is the heart that is easily deceived.
Our measurements for success rarely include travail on behalf of our children to become more in Christ than we have become. Rather, we focus on their achievements and work to prepare them for the work. In many cases our focus becomes the return on investment. So, our children must excel to go to the most prestigious colleges to make the most money and gain the most prestige. Genuine service and unconditional love are factored out of many of our "success" strategies. We sometimes forget that love does not expect payment in return. It sacrifices its own desires and dreams for the dreams of another. It is selfless and humbly serves. It is a platform from which another is lifted to even greater heights. It is not based on what you get, but what you give.
Measuring Greatness
He who wants to be the greatest must become the servant of all. John the Baptist modeled this for us when he relinquished his rights to Christ. John stated, "I must become less and He must become more". Scripture reminds us to consider one another greater than ourselves.
The fruit of the Spirit is at the heart of leadership. Since we are being led by the Head of the Church, Jesus, we seek to emulate that which so characterized His life. In this list of "fruits" or "evidences" of the Spirit we find no reference to administration, oversight, power, control, manipulation or the like. Instead we see love, humility, gentleness, kindness, a sacrificial life that models the heart of the Father. These are the characteristics of genuine spiritual fathers and mothers. It is a servant’s heart, poured out on behalf of those God has called you to father and mother.
The Kingdom of God is an oxymoron. Become great by becoming small. Become a leader by serving. He who is the greatest must become the servant of all. I once heard apostle John Kelley describe an apostle in two words, "foot washer." The idea of being in charge and in control comes from a western cultural mindset and constrains rather than releases the apostolic gift into the Body of Christ. These words are not easy to put into practice but I believe they hold the key to the future move of God through His Church.
As a whole, the Church has missed the call to raise up sons and daughters with the heart of the Father. The definition shared earlier, "A weeping father crying out for his sons to overtake him," is sadly missing from our vocabulary and practice. Relationships and investment in peoples’ lives is the bottom line. Church is family and God is our Father. This is exuded through our acts of blessing, not cursing; giving not taking; releasing not controlling.
We need organizations and leadership. When the Lord brings his body together there will need to be administrative skills to facilitate process. Let’s just not confuse them with the role of leadership or of fathering.
In Houses that Change the World, Wolf Simson compares exploiting leadership with empowering (fathering) leadership on page 208.
Exploiting leadership Empowering leadership
Give them functions Let them function
Make them believe in you Believe in them
Require submission Delegate authority
Make them a part of your plans Further God’s plan for them
Use them Invest in them
Take what they have Give them what you have
Preach at them Discuss with them
Require appointments Spend time freely with them
Hold back until you retire Give them the keys now
Let them serve you Serve them
Accept their praise graciously Praise them
Demonstrate master hood to them Transfer master hood to them.
The need to see the reemergence of the heart of the father in our leadership style in the next decade is more than an exercise in theological correctness. The Church in the United States continues to lose ground in its effort to "make disciples of all the peoples." The Church is increasingly viewed as irrelevant and not to be taken seriously by those it is trying to reach. Leadership books tell us that the only way to turn around your organization/company/ministry is to employ the latest techniques in administration and management. Rather, to this writer it becomes apparent that the spontaneous expansion of the church will require a shift into a new (really, very old) way of leadership modeled after the family and the role of fathers and mothers.
With the heart of the Father as a foundation, and while emulating the servant leadership of the Lord Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we will be able to grow together in a fuller understanding of the apostolic gift, its role and function in the Body. We will be able to perceive all that God would reveal and release through those who walk in the gift of the apostle. With this foundation it will not be hard to recognize those God will set apart for the office of the apostle. We will see the office filled by those who, in time, distinguish themselves by their humility and gentleness, their servant’s heart and their sacrificial lifestyle-weeping father’s crying out for their sons to overtake them.
AND we will in the process become much more effective in the process of obeying that majestic command of our Lord to "Go, and make disciples of all peoples."
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