From The Bottom Up
Christian Leadership is Serving and Setting An Example
Last Sunday the Newark Church ordained three new elders to serve alongside our other three elders. It was a beautiful Sunday and an answer to prayer, as our church has prayed that God would raise up more elders to help shepherd our church.
As I think about elders, the thought of Christian leadership comes to mind. Part of the reason for that is because shepherds/elders are leaders in the church, along with ministers/pastors, as well as deacons, teachers, etc… Another reason is that I know there is much confusion as to what constitutes Christian leadership these days. This confusion is illustrated by this quote shared by Michael Bird last week in his Newsletter Word from the Bird, regarding the Hillsong Church Network:
According to three sources who spent time in Australian and American Hillsong green rooms, pastors often had riders explicitly outlining what should be provided for them backstage. After a sermon of a conference speech, pastors could be seen backstage congregating with celebrities over tequila. It wasn’t unusual to see envelopes of cash or prepaid expense cards handed about. Volunteers became accustomed to requests such as finding a better car for chauffeuring preachers and guests around town, or last-minute requests to carpet the stage because the pastor’s wife had bought new heels.
Of course, there are many other glaring examples of Christian leaders failing to reflect leadership character formed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So there are a couple of questions that come to mind at this point. What does Christian leadership look like? How should a Christian function as a leader?
Before I deal more with these questions, let me point out that nowhere in scripture are the words leadership and leader ever used. Those are words we use to describe the role and function of various people of God, from Moses and Elijah to Jesus Christ as well as the apostle Paul and even all the people listed by Paul in Romans 16. But the Bible never uses these words. Instead, the Bible speaks about serving and setting an example.
Consider the following passage of scripture written by the apostle Paul regarding his own work as an apostle. Paul writes, according to 1 Timothy 1:12-17:
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength because he considered me faithful. So he appointed me to ministry even though I used to speak against him, attack his people, and I was proud. But I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and without faith. Our Lord’s favor poured all over me along with the faithfulness and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is reliable and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I’m the biggest sinner of all. But this is why I was shown mercy, so that Christ Jesus could show his endless patience to me first of all. So I’m an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. Now to the king of the ages, to the immortal, invisible, and only God, may honor and glory be given to him forever and always! Amen.1
Did you how Paul spoke of “ministry” and living as “an example”?
The word ministry comes from the word diakonia, which means ministry or service. It’s a word that may sound familiar to you because its cousin is the word diakonos, which unfortunately often gets transliterated in our English Bibles as a deacon when the word should be translated as servant or minister. Living as a servant is how Paul understands his ministry. That’s important because being a servant seems to be the fundamental characteristic of Christian leadership and therefore should characterize the way every Christian leader functions within their role.
Furthermore, because Paul understood his role of being an apostle as that of a servant, his desire was that he would set an example for other believers. I’m going to be blunt but when a pastor or some other Christian leader seems more concerned with tequila, riders, and rubbing elbows with celebrities, then I question if they really know what it means to be a servant setting an example of Christ for others to follow.
Another issue related to the issue of Christian leadership as serving and setting an example pertains to the matter of authority. One of the questions that inevitably seems to come up whenever a church calls a new pastor to serve or ordains new elders to serve is the question of who’s in charge. But where does the language of “who’s in charge” come from? Not from scripture, neither from Jesus nor Paul. Jesus warned his disciples about being like the Gentile who seek to rule over, or shall we say be in charge of others, and instead instructed his disciples to follow his example in becoming a servant (Lk 22:23-27). Of course, Paul follows Jesus, describing himself as a servant wanting to set an example for other believers.
The language of who’s in charge or who has authority comes from the culture of business and politics where leadership is exercised from the top-down. However, among Christians and therefore among the church, leadership is always exercised from the bottom up. Bottom-up leadership that serves and sets an example is the economy of leadership within the kingdom of God, derived from the very gospel that Jesus embodied with his own like. This isn’t to suggest that leaders should be passive or should never offer guidance as to how the church should live. However, Christian leadership, as we learn from both Jesus and Paul, is about becoming a servant and setting an example for others to follow.
What I am suggesting is that the question of leadership within the church is about who serves, not about an elevated stature or ruling over others. Those who seek to serve will help lead others in the way of Christ, while those who seek to rule over others will only cause harm. And there are too many examples that say so.
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are taken from the Common English Bible, copyright 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.