Firstly, thanks to all those who engaged in the great discussion on the Harvest Crusade post below. Here's something to chew on as I finish up Part II on that topic, an awesome quote from Phil Auxier's blog
"Leadership in the church--and I am speaking of every facet of spiritual leadership, not just the pastor's role--is not a mantle of status to be conferred on the church's aristocracy. It is not earned by seniority, purchased with money, or inherited through family ties. It does not necessarily fall to those who are successful in business or finance. It is not doled out on the basis of intelligence or talent. Its requirements are blameless character, spiritual maturity, and above all, a willingness to serve humbly."
John MacArthur in 'Rediscovering Pastoral Ministry'
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4 comments:
that's a great quote Scottie. nice one.
:)
"Its requirements are blameless character, spiritual maturity, and above all, a willingness to serve humbly"
I would argue that the first condition is pretty much unachievable. Look at some of the 'great' biblical leaders (i.e. Moses, David) and see if their character was blameless. How spiritually mature was Samuel when he was dedicated to God? Peter was constantly under attack from Paul for his apparent lack of spiritual maturity.
I would argue that in the church the term "leadership" is somewhat of a misnomer. We should ditch the term and use the word servant. Jesus is the only person who modelled true service, and it is from Him who we should take both our practice and our dialouge.
I wouldn't go as far as ditching the while term "leadership" all together. I would also suggest that the main importance of a leader isn't necessarrily to have a blameless character, and what is spirirtual maturity anyway? I think these terms are used mostly for direction, for it is unrealistic to think these are achievable things. However, if these characters become a motivation to brings people closer to Jesus they become very useful.
The same goes for these people called "leaders". The responsibility of these leaders is to keep the ball rolling, challenging Christians, praying for them, keeping them accountable, and simply being a devoted example. We humans are pretty lazy beings by nature. We need some sort of motivation that keeps us exercising.
Things get rather messy as soon as WE raise these leaders up to be more important/respected than other Christians. A leader is just another type of servant, no more important than the cleaner of the building.
Surely we have flogged this argument to death by now...
Well... that's all I have to say anyway.
Actually... I see your point P-Style. In John MacArthur's little quote there seems to be no need for the term "leader", it can be replaced very nicely by the word "servant".
I'm pretty sure every "devoted" Christian I know is striving to become more blamless, more spiritually mature, and more humble. The so called leaders in this situation is simply the person that motivates them to do so.
I hope I've clarified my point a bit...
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