The One Thing For Christian Leaders
The general thrust of this article is that the church overemphasizes the qualities of leadership that work in the marketplace rather than lift up leaders who exhibit the qualities of Biblical leaders. In particular, the author points to Moses as someone who lacked the qualities that we tend to associate with talented leadership yet possessed the necessary traits that the church needs in those who lead: humility and obedience in relationship with God. While I agree with much of what the author says, especially the point that leadership in a corporate setting is not necessarily 100% transferrable to the church, I think he goes too far in suggesting that as a result the church should no longer concern itself with leadership.
Throughout the Bible, we see examples of God elevating men and women to positions of authority among His people. This was most obviously true in the case of the twelve apostles who Jesus handpicked and mentored to assume leadership in building the church after His time on earth ended. The key in choosing leaders is to let God do the choosing. God calls and the people respond. Prayer from both leaders and followers is needed in order to discern the call of God for leaders. While the idea of everyone being a follower may seem ideal, it is unrealistic. A leader without followers may just be taking a walk, but followers without a leader drift aimlessly in any, and possibly the wrong, direction.
Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that every church needs to be concerned with who their leaders are. I also agree with the author of the article that we cannot use a corporate idea of leadership in the church. If we do not pray about who should be the leaders of a church and also pray about what positions those leaders should fill we run the risk of having the church go in the direction that was not intended by God.
So many churches have tried to appoint people who were not called by God to serve as the leader of a church. Or they put a person, who has been called to serve, in the wrong position. So many times prayer is forgotten about when placements are being made.
Another problem that I have observed in church leadership, and is mentioned by the author of this article, is that leaders have refused to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot know where God wants us to lead the churches in our care.
We cannot allow competition of numbers affect how we are leading the church. We get so concerned with how many people are attending churches that we forget about whether those people are growing in their spiritual lives. We as leaders need to remember the MAIN THING that makes a church a CHURCH. That main thing is the Triune God.
Too many times a church's qualities are based on business instead of the qualities that God intends.