Recently a church leader said to me: ‘It has just dawned on me that the Bible says that my job is to work with people for their joy in God. That revolutionises what I think I should be doing’.
He had made a critical discovery: biblical leadership is about growing and equipping disciples who are full of the joy of the Lord. And who, in turn, make more disciples.
He had been reading Philippians 1.25 where Paul tells the Philippi church that he wants to ‘continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Jesus Christ will overflow on account of me’. It doesn’t take much imagination to see why a church that is overflowing with joy in Jesus will be a powerful witness to the gospel.
Uphill battle
However, my friend is going to face an uphill battle, because his church — like many — conceives church life to be about meetings and activities rather than about discipleship and disciple making. Or it confuses the two, assuming that disciples are being made and nurtured in brief Sunday meetings alone.
A church’s self-understanding is a key factor in what leaders are expected to be and do. If we think about church as a series of meetings, then we conceive of leadership in terms of organising and running those meetings. That is a very tempting route for both churches and leaders to take because it is much simpler to measure meetings run than to assess the spiritual growth of missional disciples.
How do you measure?
Working for people’s progress and joy is not easily evaluated by measurable activity. Growing disciples doesn’t happen merely by teaching people but by apprenticing them, as Paul tells Timothy: ‘You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings — what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured’ (2 Timothy 3.10).
It is tempting, then, for leaders to allow definitions of what spiritual leadership is to be imposed on them by the culture and expectations of their church, or simply by what they are or are not allowed to do, rather than by the Scriptures. And that will rarely have a strong view of growing missional disciples at the heart of its DNA.
Here is how the Apostle Paul describes the work of leadership: ‘What is Paul? What is Apollos? Servants, through whom you believed’ (1 Corinthians 3.5). ‘We proclaim Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your servants for his sake’ (2 Corinthians 4.5).
Servants for Christ
Spiritual leadership is servanthood among God’s people. But notice it is servanthood with a very focused goal: it is for Christ’s sake. In other words, it is exercised so that Jesus receives glory in other people’s lives as they learn to trust, follow and obey him. It is that God will be glorified in lives that are being yielded to him. Serving people like this certainly doesn’t mean simply doing whatever the congregation wants.
Leaders take others into God’s purposes. People look to leaders to hear and see those purposes and discover how they can be involved with God. Serving the church for the sake of the Lord means that every aspect of leadership is done so that God is exalted in the life of every disciple, so that he is more widely known and praised around the world. Leaders serve so that Christ is formed in people’s hearts by faith and non-Christians are invited to commit their lives to God and be worshippers with us. That is what is wrapped up in that little phrase ‘for his sake’. Leaders serve the church to achieve that.
Six foundations
When you meet leaders with this kind of DNA, it is always worth trying to discern the foundational principles of their leadership. Here are six foundations that I see frequently in the leaders I most respect and want to follow:
1. They believe that God’s greatest concern is that the glory of his grace is proclaimed and praised and that our lives are for the praise of his glory. Leaders who believe that God created the universe to receive worship from a God-besotted people will mould every aspect of church life so that he is praised and enjoyed by as many people as possible.
2. They understand that the heart of leadership is to serve the church for the sake of Christ. Such leaders don’t get side-tracked into merely leading popular, comfortable activities that distract the church from this core purpose.
3. They are likely to be full of joy about the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. And keenly aware of the Spirit manifesting God’s power through the centrality of the message of the cross: ‘My message and my preaching [of Christ crucified] were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom but on God’s power’ (1 Corinthians 2.4).
4. Good leaders grasp that the purpose of a church is to go and make disciples by declaring the greatness and wonder of God to the world.
5. They know that the way a church grows into this purpose is through all the disciples individually growing to be spiritually mature. They are called to be Ephesians 4 facilitators and equippers of the ministries of all the believers. The people who do the work of God are all the people of God, not just an elite few. Leaders have a particular contribution to make in releasing the contribution of everyone else. Leaders who can’t or won’t release the gifts and ministries that God has given others are hindering the church rather than helping it.
6. Joy-filled leaders are inevitably people who constantly want to grow in Christ-like character. They know the vital importance of their personal prayer and worship life. The older I get, the more I want to ask leaders: ‘What is your worship and prayer life like?’ That is the way to see that God has their heart. Worshipful, prayerful leaders readily live by faith not by sight. They are teachable by God because their hearts are happy in him.
To summarise, biblical leadership is based on:
* The purposes of God
* The worship of God and Jesus Christ
* The work of the Holy Spirit
* The centrality of the cross of Christ
* The reason for — and mission of — the Church
* The centrality of growing mature disciples
* The development of Christ-like character in the leader
The job in hand
The job of spiritual leaders is to produce radically God-centred Christians and churches. It is about discipling and equipping people so that they will have an overwhelming concern for the growth of God’s kingdom and participate in making him famous among those they meet — and all around the world. Spiritual leaders are leaders of a different kind.
If you are a leader, how are you currently doing:
* towards God? Is your heart happy in him? How is your worship and prayer life?
* towards others? Would your congregation identify that you are full of love, forgiveness, repentance, kindness and Christ-exalting servanthood? Are you enjoying working with them for their progress and joy in the faith?
If you aren’t a leader:
* does your church liberate its leaders to devote enough time to discipling people?
* do you know who disciples and encourages your leaders for their own spiritual growth? In what ways might your church help them make progress in faith and enjoying God?
Marcus Honeysett is Director of Living Leadership (http://www.livingleadership.org). His new book, Fruitful Leaders — How to Make, Grow, Love and Keep Them, is out now, published by IVP (£8.99, ISBN 978 1 844 745 449).
