WRITINGS (1 -8)

strippers or promoters?

Friday, June 5, 2009

Dear church,

Let me start this article off with a bit of a warning. While what I’m about to say regarding the role of pastors and church leaders might be seen as counter-productive and divisive, I’m convinced that a major factor why the American church is in a state of disrepair today lies at the feet of our misunderstanding of the nature of pastoral and church leadership. Simply put, our leaders just might be killing us! The New Testament Greek word for repentance literally means ‘to change our minds’, and one of the things that many of us in the American church need a change of mindset about is what church leadership actually is. I’m convinced that the implications of this change of mindset may be as dramatic as the protestant reformation of the 1500’s.

I have always been amazed and perplexed that some of the most vocal critics of past revivals, and even the American great awakenings of the 1700’s and 1800’s, have been very well respected church leaders of their day. How did they miss it? Why did they oppose these moves of God? I can tell you from personal experience as a local church pastor that there were many times that I quenched the Holy Spirit’s operation in the church that I was leading as well.

Why did I do that?

Well, we could conclude that these leaders, myself included, were evil people consumed with pride and power hungry hearts. On the other hand, we could also conclude that the real problem just might lie at our fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of leadership in the kingdom of God. I think I’ll assume the latter because the majority of church leaders I know have beautiful hearts who are willing to endure much hardship in their quest to be obedient to Jesus and His call to serve the body of Christ. Simply put, they have good hearts.

In spite of our church leader’s best intentions, this lack of a biblical understanding regarding kingdom leadership has affected the American church in 3 negative ways.

1. The rise of the focal point leader.

This kind of leadership runs rampant in American culture in which people and celebrities are constantly idolized. Many pastors unconsciously hold to the false belief that they are not truly successful until they have reached celebrity status within their churches, or even beyond. While this type of thinking has crept into the American church, it is not normally found overseas in areas not affected by the west. To my knowledge, there are not many biblical examples of celebrity senior pastors of local churches. We know there were teams of elders in place in these churches, but rarely do we know who they were. Biblically, local churches were governed by a plurality of elders. The concept of the local church Senior pastor is a biblically foreign concept. Who was the pastor of the Thessalonian, Philippian, Roman, etc… churches?

Why don’t we know who they were? Possibly because these churches were not built around them. If I told you the name of some of the churches in your city, you might say: “Oh yeah, that’s the church that so and so leads, or where so and so is the pastor. Unlike the churches described in the New Testament, many churches today are known by their pastor and his identity. These are the churches led by focal point leaders.

Where did this kind of thinking come from?

I am convinced this type of thinking can trace its way back to the error that crept into the early church that sought to elevate church leadership above the laity. This kind of teaching was also a problem with the Pharisees in Jesus’ day as well, and that is why Jesus’ statement about Kingdom leadership was so radical. Consider what Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 23:8-11:

“But do not be called Rabbi; for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for one is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for one is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant.”

When is the last time that you heard a sermon on this passage? This passage can quickly deflate the ego centric leader. I know because as a pastor, I was more concerned with explaining what this passage didn’t mean, than what it did mean. Leaders who are aspiring to celebrity status either knowingly or unknowingly, or who mistakenly believe they are above the laity find themselves in an elite position that is somewhat separate from the people they are leading. Sadly, this kind of understanding of leadership can lead the pastor to living an isolated and lonely life. If we, as leaders, really believed that we were just another member of the flock; we would not need to keep ourselves at an arms length to protect an elite image that we or others have created for ourselves. There would be no need to isolate ourselves from the very flock that we are just another member of. Jesus’ statement about kingdom leadership flies squarely in the face of the American church’s professional, top down, pastoral culture.

2. The leadership offence at not being the causation of ministry

Because many leaders see themselves as focal point leaders, they are always looking for new vision to excite their people with, or some master plan of kingdom advancement. Sadly, as a result of this kind of thinking, leaders can tend to at look at people and evaluate them in light of how they might ‘serve’ their vision. As long as people fall in line to the leader’s initial vision, everything is fine. When the time comes when the people can no longer ‘serve’ the leader’s vision, there is no more basis for the relationship to be continued. Some people end up serving the leader’s vision simply out of fear of losing relationship with the leader or the church body. Either way, when this happens the true God given gifts and callings of many people in the church end up being neglected. Usually these people then fall into a rut, settle into complacency, and the church body does not function effectively and supernaturally.

Several months ago, I was having a conversation with a friend about the validity of ‘para church’ ministries. He defined ‘para church’ as something that was not apart of the local church. That made me ask the question: “What is the church?” Without getting overly technical, the church at its essence is an assembly of believers. When a person becomes a believer and is filled with the Holy Spirit, they are given supernatural spiritual gifts for the accomplishment of ministry. Simply put, the people are the ‘ministers’ and the ministry is given to us by the Holy Spirit and resides in the hearts of the individual believer. The main job of church leadership is not to invent or tell the people what their ministry is, but to equip and free the believers for the work of ministry that God has already determined for them before the foundations of the world. Consider Ephesians 4: 11-12:

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,”

If leaders mistakenly see themselves as the causation and keepers of all ministry, then they will not be free enough to see, recognize, and equip the people they lead to the God given works that have already been prepared for them.

I’ll never forget the time that I saw this play out in the collegiate church that I used to Pastor. On the east side of Columbus Ohio, there existed a half-way house for women who had no place to go with their kids. I had never heard of the place until a person from our church told me about it. At the time, this person had been around our church for a couple of years, and was really coming alive to God’s purposes. After doing some research, she gathered a team of people to go into this place on a regular basis to show the love of God to marginalized women and kids who often slip through the cracks of society.

Even though I didn’t tell her this at the time, I was offended at her idea! Yes, I knew what she was proposing was a good thing, so I couldn’t really oppose her, but I was offended that it didn’t fit in to my ‘limited’ vision for the church on our college campus, and I was offended that it did not originate with the church’s leadership. The leadership didn't appoint this person as the head of this outreach. She simply took the initiative because if she didn’t do this, she would explode! Looking back, I’m thankful that she had the courage to rise above the low lid that I unfortunately set for our church. Our church’s influence expanded to an area of the city that I couldn’t have imagined! Little did I know then that my job as a leader was simply to equip and affirm what the Lord was already doing in her.

Since many ‘para church’ ministries begin with a vision in the heart of a believer who was more than likely apart of a local church, and since the church itself is made up of people, I wonder what it would look like if church leadership simply encouraged and equipped these believers to accomplish their callings? If that happened, what we call ‘para church’ would not be independent of the local church, but an extension of it! It is simply a matter of how the local church leadership understands their role as either a ground level servant, or a top down manager.

3. Fear of losing control as a leader

Many leaders feel that it is their job to keep people submissive to them. That, however, is not the job of leadership. Consider what Hebrews 13:17 says:

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account…”

Within this verse, we can clearly see that a major job description for leaders is watching over souls. Simply put, leaders should be preoccupied with watching over and serving the souls of their people, and the people being led should submit and allow their leaders to serve them. Leaders will give an account over how they have served their flock, not how submissive their flock was to them! The flock will give an account for that. So what keeps leaders from being free enough to adequately serve their flocks?

*Fear*

We have all heard the horror stories that too often occur within church communities. Factions, rogue groups, and disorder can arise quickly and destroy a church. This can be a leader’s greatest fear and many times, without even knowing it, leaders will end up trying to lead from this place of fear. Unfortunately, many leaders have more faith in satan’s ability to divide and deceive their people, than in God’s ability to keep the flock healthy and thriving. Fear doesn’t come from the Lord however. If we’re not careful, leading from this place of fear can cause great damage to the flock because in the leader’s attempt to control their people, they can end up stripping the flock of the radical authority they were meant to walk in as followers and imitators of Jesus!

When people don’t walk in this authority, they end up living defeated lives. The goal of a church leader should be that their people live like Jesus. It was Jesus’ authority that set Him apart from the religious people of His day. Jesus did not get His authority from men, but from God. The same can be said about John the Baptist. These men were routinely questioned about where they got the authority to do what they were doing. This did not deter them from their mission because they knew where they received their true authority.

The crazy thing is that in the kingdom of God, this kind of authority is actually normal! In Matthew 11:11, Jesus states that in the kingdom of God, the least is greater than John the Baptist, and in Matthew 11:12, Jesus states that it is actually these kinds of people who are the ones who forcefully advance the kingdom! This kind of authority threatened the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, and if we’re honest, the thought of entire church communities of people walking in this kind of authority is enough to unnerve insecure pastors.

Jesus lived as one who had authority, not as one who was stripped of authority. He had been given true authority from His Father, not from men. As we are conformed to the image of Jesus and begin to walk in the authority that Jesus gave us, we as believers will begin to live like him. As leaders of the flock, we must be very careful to guide, direct, encourage, and sometimes even correct the people we are serving, while at the same time not usurping the radical authority all believers were given and called to walk in. True leaders will promote this kind of authority within their flock, not strip them of it in the name of submission!

When the masses of believers begin to walk in this radical authority they have been given, the result will be comparable to an avalanche. Church leadership will no longer have to rely on top heavy systems, programs, or processes to mobilize and control ministry. (It doesn’t work anyway) True biblical and servant leadership will simply serve as the catalyst that unleashes their people like an avalanche to advance the kingdom in ways that we would never dream, imagine, or control. As leaders, we are called to serve the flock as the Holy Spirit empowers and leads the flock to advance the kingdom.

Conclusion: (I’d like to leave you with a few introspective questions…)

1. As a pastor, are you actively promoting or stripping this kind of authority among your flock? What is God saying to you? Do you see yourself as a bottom up servant, or a top down manager?

2. As a member of the flock of Christ, are you walking in this kind of authority and confidence? If not, why not? Is it hard for you to receive guidance and direction from your leaders without surrendering the radical authority that is rightfully yours?

How we answer these questions will have dramatic implications for our lives and for the churches we are apart of. I’m excited about all that the Lord has in store!

For His glory and fame, and the reawakening of the American church,

Jamal Jivanjee