Why Church Leadership & Authority is Different

Orginally published on Monday, December 04, 2006 at 1:02 PM
by Mark Simpson

I was pastoring a growing church in the Chicago suburbs. One day one of my board members asked me if we could watch a famous leadership teacher’s eight hour series on leadership, together as a board. It seemed like a great idea. We set up a series of meetings and went through the series of videos together. Two things distressed me, for all the good material we seemed to be gleaning. First, the instructor said that he used the material interchangeably, with both church and corporate groups. Second, for the entire eight hours I only heard one Bible reference.

There is a great danger being released on church leadership in these days: a suggestion that leadership principles in the church are very similar, perhaps identical, to those found in a business, a corporation, a secular company.  First, let us look at Matthew 20:20-28.  There Jesus makes it very clear: “The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you.” (vs. 25-26)

Besides our Lord’s clear instruction about the incompatibility of “kingdom leadership” with that found in the world, I would suggest that for at least nine other reasons, such a proposal, that leadership in the world and the kingdom are rather similar or even operate the same, is completely in error.

First, kingdom leadership is built only on the humility that comes from the death to self accomplished by the Cross. “We have no ability of our own.  We have nothing that we have not received.  We can do nothing in God’s service except when He imparts the enablement by His Spirit.  We have nothing outside of grace of which we can boast, so there is no justification whatsoever for pride. If we are not humble before God, pride will invalidate any spiritual authority we are meant to have, and we will be spiritually immobilized.  In such circumstances, any authority exercised can only be carnally imposed.  IT IS ONLY AS WE MOVE AND WALK IN THE DIMENSION OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD THAT WE WILL REMAIN HUMBLE AND BE EQUIPPED TO BEAR TRUE AUTHORITY.” (John Carr, Dundee, Scotland)

We have to go to the cross and allow it to do its work, and also to allow it to be our daily way.  Jesus, our Pattern Authority, said “All authority is given unto Me” only AFTER He had gone to the cross.  Power blinds: the cross opens our eyes to see an entirely different realm and spirit of leadership.

Second, the pastor IS the leader in God’s Kingdom.  “Thus says the Lord of Hosts (to David), ‘I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be leader over My people.’” (I Chron. 17:7) Today we are being told in many places that pastors and leaders are different, that we have to get leaders in charge and get the pastors that visit and care and weep over and pray over and touch and disciple the sheep, out of leadership.  Perhaps we have become so preoccupied with numbers that the “personal touch” Biblical shepherd has almost becoming a thing of the past.  True shepherding, however, is still what God calls leadership.

Third, in the Kingdom we lead people to another Leader, the Holy Spirit. “All who are being led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God.” (Rom. 8:13-14, Gal. 5:18-25, Jn. 16:13).  In the Church, the Holy Spirit is the real leader, and we are called to lead people to be led by Him.  David’s first priority as leader was to “restore the Ark”, to restore God’s presence to His people again; he knew that leading the people into His presence was the greatest thing.  In order to do this we have goals that are almost entirely different from what a corporate leader would have.  We have a leadership that minimizes us, and maximizes Him!  Ken Gangel adds, “From a Christian point of view it is improper, perhaps even impossible, to talk about group dynamics without a recognition of two Biblical concepts: spiritual gifts, and the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit.  A leader working with a Christian group is concerned that the group’s thought processes and ultimate behavior are controlled by the mind of the Holy Spirit in the life of each member.” (So You Want To Be a Leader)

Fourth, Joshua 1:8 lets us know that He is leading through us only when we always and only lead by the principles found in the Word of God.  Gal. 3:24 says that the Law has been given to lead us to Christ.  Do corporations have their management teams studying the Scriptures? 

Fifth, related to numbers 3 and 4 above, we will lead our people into love.  “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) We can never be satisfied by an organization that merely produces results, brings in more people, spins off more programs, generates more revenue, erects larger facilities, etc. if the atmosphere around the office and sanctuary are as cold as ice and the bottom line is the only reason for a raise or promotion.  Without love, we are truly nothing.  Adds Ken Gangel, “A Biblical view of leadership will always find us exercising great concern for the needs and interests of our co-workers. Human relations in the church is not only a means to an end: it is indeed an end in itself.” (So You Want To Be a Leader)

Sixth, we are not building any hierarchy.  Rom. 12:16 tells us to condescend to the lowly.  To do so, we do what Jesus did: spend time with individuals, all kinds of them, and not just for the token appearance accompanied by rolling cameras.  All jobs and all people have value, and therefore doing humble tasks and being with the humble is not just a lack of delegation to others, but obedience to Him. 

Seventh, I Chron. 17:21 says, “What nation is like Thy people, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make Thee a name?” That is the purpose of His Kingdom: to make His name great.  Not our church, not our denomination, not our own name—no other name but His!  Selling vision and mission and motto statements to enhance our own organization, to grow our own fellowship or denomination or missions agency, to get others to buy into what we are doing, is almost a return to Babel.  Only His name is worthy to have leadership of our lives. 

Eighth, leadership is actually a disappearing process. (Acts 20:25, 31-32) Take the two great examples of Jesus, and Paul.  Jesus’ own forerunner said, “I am glad that my disciples are now following Him. That is why I was sent, to be a friend of the Groom and see Him meet His bride.  This makes my joy full. I must decrease and He must increase.” (John 3:26-30) Jesus ministered, then was gone to heaven in just over three years. Paul was never in a place (except prison) for more than three years.  John the Baptist only ministered for around ten months! 
There was never a hint of perpetuating their own name or legacy or memory or nameplate on a building somewhere.  That is why God was able to raise up and give His Son a name above all—because that Son abandoned all agendas to assure His own permanence here over a structure.  Now He is the Head of the Church because of His willingness to empty Himself of all but love and sacrifice.  Is this the agenda that CEO’s are being taught? Yet this is the only way in His Kingdom; the last is first, the first is last.

Finally, there is no uniform, consistent structure to build and lead, save the Church, which is existing today in a thousand different forms with just as many ministry goals and histories of being led into the Harvest.  Church is being started and is growing in a multitude of different ways; take one way, write a book about it and sell it, then watch others imitate and fail.  This is what we are seeing today, everywhere.  Again, the Holy Spirit must lead us into the Harvest by His own guidance and special DNA imparted to the vision, history and destiny of every congregation. So, if you led a church one way, then started another, you may be called upon to be “poured into another vessel” to be faithful to that church’s spiritual blueprint. 

BIO: Mark Simpson has served in ministry as a missionary and pastor, and now directs a ministry that trains and equips church leaders all over the world, primarily into the Hispanic world. He has a wife, Lois, and four grown children, and makes his home in Bolingbrook, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.  He likes to play basketball to stay in shape. 

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