At the 32 FIEC Local Leaders’ Conferences held recently, participants have considered how good leadership is relational leadership. Johnny Prime, Associate National Director for the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches writes:
Good leadership thrives on good relationships; relationships in which the fruit of the Spirit is growing and maturing. From Galatians 5:13-26 we noticed four truths about the fruit of the Spirit.
It is relational, not individual. Or, to put it another way, horizontal, not vertical. The message of Galatians is that a right theology of justification by faith will be seen in loving relationships among God’s people. The fruit of justification is ‘faith expressing itself in love’ (Gal.5:6).
The fruit of the Spirit only operates in the context of relationships. Each aspect of the fruit is about how we relate to each other.
Also, it is supernatural, not natural. The devil can counterfeit spiritual gifts, but he cannot duplicate the fruit of the Spirit. The internal irreconcilable conflict between our flesh and the Spirit is an evidence of our being justified through faith (Gal.3:2).
Any evidence of the Spirit’s beautiful fruit in our lives is a miracle of grace.
The fruit is singular, not plural. ‘The fruit of the Spirit is’ – not ‘are’. It is not a case of ‘pick and mix’ the ones we like best. Each aspect of the fruit is an essential part of the package. Each is an outworking of true love for others. If they were to be listed in a column and added up like an arithmetical sum, the answer would be the perfect character of our Lord Jesus.
Finally, the fruit is essential, not optional. No one can be an effective pastor-teacher without a Spirit-given gift to teach and preach God’s word. Neither can anyone be an effective pastor-teacher without the fruit of the Spirit; fruit that should shape every relationship, interaction, and decision.
All of which is why, according to Galatians 5, we need to live by the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and keep in step with the Spirit.
We have prepared a series of short video-based studies on how the fruit of the Spirit relates to leadership in the local church on the FIEC website (fiec.org.uk/fruitful).
