MOMENTUM: LEADERSHIP (PART 4)

LEADERSHIP: THE DISCIPLES FINALLY GET IT [PART 4]

Eventually, the disciples got it. They abandoned their pursuits of hierarchy and they embraced the loving, servant leadership posture that Jesus so beautifully modeled for them.

We see this when Peter appealed to the Church as a fellow laborer in Christ and referred to himself as a "fellow elder" rather than as an Apostle:

“To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” – 1 Peter 5:1-4

Paul echoed this also, saying:

“Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.” – 2 Cor.1:24

People love leaders. We love leadership. We flock to those with the greatest talent and ability. But this is exactly what Paul warns the Church about when he rebukes them for identifying themselves as followers of Appollos, or Peter, or even of himself. (see 1 Corinthians 1:11-13)

Instead, Paul warns all of them not to become disciples of any other man, or leader, but to fully submit to Christ alone as Lord and Savior and Teacher.

It took me about seven years to fully embrace this. I started out giving myself only two “soapbox moments” where I would basically stand up and preach a mini-sermon. Eventually the Lord broke me of that. Next, I had to learn not to answer every question, and eventually Jesus broke me of that habit, too. After that I had to learn to stop playing “Ping-Pong” where I felt the need to respond immediately to whatever was shared in our group, which essentially made me the center of our conversations. Today I’m learning to just listen to people, and to the Lord, when we come together. As someone once said, “Listening to someone is so much like loving them that most people can’t tell the difference.”

What we’re learning to do now as a church family is to meet with Jesus, not just have a meeting about Jesus.

So, let’s not draw away disciples to ourselves. Let’s do all we can to point people to Jesus; to empower them, not to exploit them. Jesus is the One who is Building His Church, not you and I. But, we do get to facilitate what He’s trying to accomplish in their lives if we stay close to Jesus and listen for His voice.

Here are some questions that we can consider:

*What are your biggest personal challenges when it comes to leading others?

*What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made as a leader?

*When you hear the word “Leader” what mental image comes to mind?

*What does leadership look like to you?

*What sort of leader was Jesus?

*Can you lead others by listening?

*Can you lead others by empowering them?

*Can you lead others by serving them?

*Can you lead others without promoting yourself?

CONCLUSION
Leadership really is the most important thing in the Church. But only if Jesus is our Leader and the rest of us are brothers and sisters practicing the many “one anothers” found in the New Testament.

-kg

MOMENTUM: LEADERSHIP (Part 3)

JESUS: OUR HEAD? – [PART 3]

In the Church, our only Head and Leader is Jesus. This means we already have a Shepherd. It's not up to the sheep to choose another shepherd from among the flock, or to hire one from the outside to rule over us.

As Paul so eloquently puts it:

"Christ is the head of the body, the church; Christ is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything Christ might be preeminent." (Colossians 1:18)

"And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." (Ephesians 1:22-23)

But, is Jesus really the Head of His Church? Of Your Church?

In our little house church experience, I've tried very hard over the years to allow Jesus to be our Head and not to take that role upon myself. Here are some suggestions I'd share for those who would like to allow Jesus to actually be the Head over their Church family:

*Don’t orchestrate the meeting - This means you shouldn't decide ahead of time who's going to teach or speak, or which songs you will sing, etc. Just show up and wait on the Lord.

*Learn to Wait -The scriptures are chock-full of blessings for those who wait upon the Lord. I believe that in the church this concept is just as valid. If Jesus is the Head, let's wait for Him to lead us.

*Gather to Pray and Seek Together - Someone once remarked that an open meeting requires more prayer, not less. He was right.

*Practice Corporate Submission - Individually, each of us is expected to follow Jesus daily by submitting ourselves fully to Christ and allowing Him to lead us and have His way. When those same surrendered people come together for fellowship, they should experience a corporate submission where they continue to lay everything before their Lord and ask Him to lead them and have His way.

*Restraint is Key - Leadership is often more fully expressed in the things I do not do when we come together than in what I do.

*Keep Focus on Jesus - People may become tempted to talk about their day at work, their kids, that commercial on TV, the election, those people who aren't as spiritual as we are, etc. Bring them back to Jesus since He is the Head and He is in the room.

*Don’t Allow Anyone To Dominate - This goes for you, too. Make sure that those who tend to talk too much practice listening to those who seldom talk at all. Find an equilibrium where everyone can share but no one shares too much.

*Don’t Answer Every Question - I had to learn the hard way not to be the Bible Answer Man but to transition into the Bible Question Man. It works.

*Don’t Create Dependency on Yourself - Teach people to depend on Jesus, not upon you, for hope and strength, and faith. They say that the way you know you're a leader is to count how many people are following you. That's wrong. In the Church, the way you know you're a leader is to count how many people are following Jesus, not you.

*Love People As They Are and Ask Them To Do The Same - Don't try to make people think and act just like you. It's alright if they don't agree with you on every little doctrine. You just might learn something from people who do not have the same theological assumptions that you do.

*Everyone Is In Process - Many of the convictions I hold today are ones I did not hold 5 years ago. If the Keith of today could go back in time and talk to the Keith of 5 years ago, they wouldn't agree on many things. So, have grace for people who aren't on the same page you are now. You might not be on this page in the next 5 years either.

*Focus On Your Mistakes and Failures - What I mean is, it's easy to start pointing out the faults of other Christians and especially of those Traditional Churches who don't "get it" like we do. So, rather than waste time exploring how wrong they are about evangelism, or what have you, make sure you talk about how your church is doing in that same area.

[END PART 3]

Anatomy of an Open Meeting: How Do I Lead One?

Part 3 - HOW DO I LEAD AN OPEN MEETING?

This is probably the hardest thing to write about. As someone who grew up in the traditional church, was trained to be a leader in the church and has never even attended an open meeting before transitioning to an open house church model, leading others in this kind of meeting is very difficult to do.

For the first several years of our house church gatherings, I tried to encourage this sort of open meeting. Sometimes we would manage to come close, but it was years really before we started to actually have the sort of open meetings we long for.

If anything, the leader in an open meeting should begin by exercising great self-control and restraint. Honestly, a successful open meeting is more about what I don’t do than anything I do to make it successful. For example, I don’t prepare a teaching every time we gather. I don’t answer every question about the Bible that comes up. (As Neil Cole suggest, “Be the Bible Question Man, not the Bible Answer Man”). I don’t decide in advance what we’ll talk about or what we’ll study. I don’t choose the worship songs ahead of time. I don’t orchestrate the meeting. I don’t fill the awkward silences with noise. I don’t create a dependency on myself. I don’t lead the communion time. I don’t have a follow-up or illustration to wrap up everyone else’s testimony or scripture verse.

So, once we know what we don’t want to do, what is it that we should be doing? For starters, we should spend time in prayer before the meeting to ask the Lord Jesus to reveal Himself and have His way in the gathering. We should allow everyone a chance to speak. We should make sure the quietest person in the room is invited to share something, if they would like to. We should respect the opinions of others, even if they are not our own. We should learn how to disagree agreeably, which is all about your focus. If your focus is on Jesus then you won't get distracted so easily by disagreements on doctrine.

We should try to keep the group focused on Jesus if things begin to stray off the mark. We should learn to ask intelligent and insightful questions more than we bring clever answers to show our intelligence. We should find ways to bless everyone else in the group. We should pray during the meeting for the Lord to speak, and to move, and to have His way, and to reveal His heart to everyone. We should listen to the Holy Spirit if He prompts us to stop and pray for someone in need, or to sit quietly and listen for His voice, or to sing another song to respond to something inspiring we’ve just heard someone share with us. We should allow others to lead the group as they hear from the Lord. We should not see ourselves as leaders filling a position of authority but as servants fulfilling Christ’s command to serve others in love.

Overall, the leaders of an open meeting should be seen and almost never heard unless it’s necessary.

Granted, there are times when a visitor, or even a regular member, might become hostile, or attempt to take over the group or monopolize the share time. That’s when the leaders in the Body need to defend everyone else in the group and lovingly suggest that there might be someone else who would like to share something. If that doesn’t work, you might need to pull this person aside after the meeting and explain to them how an open meeting is designed to work and why it’s better if they take time to listen more than they share so that others can participate and everyone can grow together.


In our next installment of this series we'll discuss the danger of creating heroes and experts within the Body of Christ.

-kg

[END PART 3]