Erling Thu

Christian leadership

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Erling Thu

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There is a discussion on leadership going on elsewhere on my blog on an article on apostolic leadership. It seems clear to me that many people have had some nasty encounters with so-called Christian leaders and leadership structures. Therefore they even reject the concept of leadership. They seem to feel that even all Biblical leadership terms are a power-language that we must avoid to use.

I thank God for his goodness and faithfulness to me in allowing me to work with apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, elders, overseers, – Christian leaders who express the love and care of Jesus Christ in their leadership functions towards me and the covenant communities to which I am related. The many different leadership terms used in the Bible are not part of a power-language to me, but rather expressions of the good order of God. I am happy to follow my Leader, Master, and Lord Jesus Christ and all those leaders he sends to me to guide me and help me in my walk with the Lord. I thank God for the blessings these Christ-like leaders have brought to my life.

Below I quote a comment and my answer on this subject:

This is a question that is turning in my head at the moment.

Firstly it depends on the definition of leadership. If to be a leader only is to be someone who is taking the initiative and then followed by others, I guess it is not a problem to be a servant and a leader. But if being a leader means that you have authority over other peoples lives, then this is a more difficult question.

Two definitions of authority (in this context); "the moral or legal right or ability to control" (Cambridge), or "the power or right to give orders and enforce obedience" (Oxford).

To me it is clear that God has this authority over men, and a nation state over its subjects. And maybe even a husband over his wife (1 Peter 3,6). But can a Christian have authority over another Christian because he is an apostle, a prophet, a pastor or an elder?

I’d like to find out.

Espen

Dear Espen,I think understand your question, and I think we can find the answer in the Bible. The two definitions of authority you have found in the dictionaries are useless when we speak of leadership among the people of God. The word of God says:
Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.(1 Pe 5:2-4 NLT)

Please notice these expressions that the apostle uses when he speaks to the leaders of the church:
– Don’t lord it over the people
– the flock that God has entrusted to you
– the people assigned to your care
– because you are eager to serve God
– lead them by your own good example

Christian leaders are not allowed to dominate people by lording it over them.

God is the one who entrusts Christian Leaders with a flock to care for. God is the one who assigns people for leadership functions.

Christian leaders are to lead people by their good example.

As far as I understand God has called some people to be leaders. He has not given them the right to control, give orders or enforce obedience. However, he has given them a task in looking after and care for people in order to help them mature in Christ. He has made them responsible, in a certain way, for the well-being of the flock. And God will hold them accountable for how they accomplish their task.

The question is not how much authority I can have, how much right I have to give orders, but how much I serve people. Christian leadership is servant-leadership after the example our Master and Lord Jesus Christ himself.

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5 responses to “Christian leadership”

  1. Espen Avatar
    Espen

    Thank you for your answer Erling 🙂 For me it is more at stake in the question of authority than the “oppressive” side, thatis to give an opportunity to a leader to take advantage of those who are subject to him.
    What is my concern is that even in the best of intentions, this way of organizing church, can rob God of (some of) the control He ought to have.
    Here is an example from a manual of church planting written by Felicity Dale, a friend and associate of Wolfgang Simson (at the seminar in Kristkirken, Wolfgang told about a man who after a small course in churchplanting went to Pakistan and planted thousands of churches. This man had been taught by Tony and Felicity Dale):
    “There is a huge temptation to try and control what is going on, often with the best of intentions. However, we need to understand who the head of the church is, and decide whether or not we are willing to risk letting the Holy Spirit direct things. Paul must have faced this many times. He would sometimes have to leave a church after days or weeks (e.g., Philippi, Thessalonica or Berea), and would have to trust the ongoing growth of the new believers to the Holy Spirit.
    […]
    A couple came over for a meal shortly after we met them in one of our meetings. In the middle of supper they announced that they were starting ther own home church the next Sunday. It sounded like a dozen people were already invited and most had committed to coming!
    If they had given us a little more notice, we could have suggested that they maybe come along for a month or two, until thay had more understanding of what house church was about, or that maybe they could go through some kind of leaders’ training. As it was, we blessed the, prayed for them and offered to help in any way we could. They had about 10 non-christians at that first meeting with a dozen or so kids. A few months later, several were baptized. Our revelation was that Jesus is building His church, and it is better when we are out of the picture!
    We could so easily have gotten in the way of what God was doing by trying to take control. Our motives would have been that we wanted them to chuch plant in the best way possible. But who is the head of the church? Can we trust other people to let Jesus lead them without interference from us?”
    (pages 161-162, Getting Started by Felicity Dale)

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  2. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    I think it is helpful to distinguish between authority and rule. All believers have authority, some are called by God to exercise rule for the well-being of the body.
    Authority is in the name of Jesus – we all exercise this, most often over the works of the evil one, but also within the body, which is why we must “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph 5:21)
    Rule is exercised in the church as in the home (compare 1 Tim 3:5, 5:17). And the purpose of rule in the church is the same as in the home: for peace, well-being, order, security and prosperity.
    It is interesting also to note that this kind of leadership is a spiritual gift (Rom 12:8) and so cannot be seen as an invention of man, but an appointing of the Spirit.

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  3. Espen Avatar
    Espen

    Hello Matthew,
    to me it is problematic to introduce the concept of rule in the church because Jesus said
    “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you.” (Mt 20,25 WEB).
    I think it would be an underestimation of Jesus’ words just to say that this only means that the leaders is to rule selflessly (this is the sense many secular leaders give to it). In the end that only makes them good rulers (as opposed to bad), but still rulers and not servants.
    I find it also difficult to distingue rule from authority, because in my understanding rule is authority in action. The Bible is clear on that we as christians have authority in the name of Jesus over demons and diseases. But do we have it over other christians?
    I found this definition of the greek word translated “submit to one another” (hupotasso) in Eph 5,21:
    “In non-military use, it was “a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden”.” (Greek lexicon at studylight.org).
    To me this seems the meaning that Paul and Peter intended with this word, especially because of what Jesus said in Mt 20.
    The word translated “to lead” in Romans 12,8 is in some translations translated “to help”. But in any case it depends on what excactly it means to lead.

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  4. Erling Thu Avatar
    Erling Thu

    I think Matthew have a point that we need to look into more thoroughly. Perhaps Matthew could elaborate on what he sees in the Scripture on authority versus rule?
    In 1.Tim 5:17 Pauls is speaking of elders who rule well, and in 1.Tim.3:3-4 he is saying that ruling home is a condition to be able rule or care for the flock of God.
    I think that we need to discover the Biblical meaning of words like rule and authority and not read secular meanings into these words.

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  5. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Sorry – I’ve been away from the blogs for a while!
    The Greek word for rule (manage) is used 8 times in the NT, all by Paul and nearly always to apply to church leaders (the word is not used in Matt 20:25).
    Those verses are: Rom 12:8, 1Thess 5:12, 1 Tim 3,4&5, 3:12, 5:17, Titus 3:8&14.
    I agree that this kind of rule is cannot be the same as the kind described in Mt 20:25, but is the kind of servanthood described in the following verses. Jesus himself shows us that it is possible to be a servant and a “ruler” – he is the Servant King!
    So we have Paul clearly expounding a form of leadership which involved “rule” and “management” which must be something in addition to the mutual submission we have toward one another out of reverence for Christ.
    Rule in this sense is much more about releasing the blessing of God into the lives of people and the church than it is about passing judgment on individuals or telling them what to do (though sometimes we all need to be told what to do to walk God’s way!).
    I think the way management of the home is parallelled with managing the church in 1Tim 3 is helpful: fathers must rule in the home – but only a foolish father would “lord it over” his children and wife: the wise father would serve them and guide them and set an example for them, and let them lovingly know when they are out of line.
    I often think that the OT Judges are an interesting example of how rule works: although they sat and passed judgment on the people of Israel on a day to day basis, we have very little of that part of their ministry recorded.
    What we do have recorded for us is the deliverance aspect of their ministry – and this seems to be the more important aspect of their judgment! (See Judges 2:18)
    The ultimate judgment of the Judges was “Israel is the people of God, therefore they will triumph over their adversaries”
    I think it is this kind of life-imparting, blessing releasing rule that leaders in the church are called to exercise!

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