Myth of Church Leadership (4)

Followers of the Lord Not Leaders of His People

As we have considered the absence of scriptural directives for any believer to be a leader of others and the inherent dangers when mortal men lead others, we would also do well to see the abundance of instructions to all believers to be followers of the Lord!

In the NT alone there are 25 direct commands given to believers to follow the Lord Jesus. There are 8 specific instances of people being obedient in following him and 4 specific warnings not to follow those who do not follow him!

Six times Paul instructs believers to follow him but clearly does not direct us to follow him blindly but only to follow him as he followed Christ.  Those who follow Christ will always be good examples for others and so scripture also commands us to be followers of other saints before us who were followers of Christ.   (Please follow the subject of “following” and “followers” through the NT with your own Bible and concordance.)

In this regard, it is most instructive to consider all that the NT has to say about all believers being good examples for others to follow!

The Lord Jesus is our prime example and is to be the preeminent one that we follow. Immediately after he had taken the humble place of serving and washing his disciples’ feet, he said, “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” John 13:15-17

Then Paul who wrote to the Corinthians, “Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ”, wrote to the Philippian believers to follow him and others who walked in the same way, “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.” Philippians 3:17

Then as Paul wrote to the saints at Thessalonica we see how the task of being followers of the Lord Jesus and good examples to others is passed on down to each succeeding generation of believers… “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” I Thess.1:6-10

So it is very clear from the teaching of the Lord Jesus and the apostles that they were not at all interested in “leadership development”. Rather they were most interested in “followership development”!  Followers of the Lord Jesus would always be good examples and patterns for the generation that would follow them!

We see that Paul taught this same principle to younger men who were co-workers of his:…

To young Timothy, Paul wrote the following: “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”

To young Titus Paul wrote telling him how to instruct both older and younger brothers and sisters in the Lord. But all of his instructions to others were to be illustrated and reinforced by the example and pattern of his own behaviour… “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.” Titus 2:1-8

In Paul’s final visit and conversation with the Ephesian elders - the instructions, commands and warning which he gave stand in stark contrast to the common practices of “church leadership” of today! “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  Acts 20:28-35

Finally Peter, who was given the responsibility of feeding the Lord’s sheep, writes to other shepherd/elders teaching exactly the same things as the Lord Jesus and Paul had taught.  I believe that Peter’s words here are some of the clearest instructions in all the NT  which reprove many of the ideas connected with “church leadership” today and teaching the positive pattern of followers of the Lord Jesus being living examples for others to follow… “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over  God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” I Peter 5:1-3

(Your comments and questions are welcomed and encouraged. In the next post, I hope to show from the scriptures we’ve been considering the vast differences between  the scriptural teaching for followers of the Lord and the prevalent conception of “church leadership” of our day.)

The Myth of Church Leadership (3)

In my first post on this topic I challenged my readers to check out my claim (which many may think is radical and utterly false!) by what the scriptures clearly teach on this subject. Those who have been willing and have taken the time to list all scriptural references to the words “lead”, “leadeth”, “leading”, “led”, “leader”, “leaders”, “leadership” and  words of similar meaning such as “guide”, “guides”, “guidance” , “direct”, “direction” and  “directors” etc will be well aware that all such references in scripture are roughly divided into two groups: -those referring to God as the leader or guide of his people and those referring to mortal men who lead others.

Firstly, You will have found, as I did, that there are roughly  90 instances in Old and New testaments where God leads, directs or guides. He leads in the right way, in His way, in the way we should go, in light and truth, beside still waters, in paths of righteousness, to keep his statutes, in a plain path, in safety, in the way everlasting, into the way of peace, into the land of uprightness, by the springs of water, in the way of wisdom and in right paths.  He leads His own sheep out, gently leading those that are with young, He leads from evil, into blessing,   into all truth, to repentance, into the love of God, into patient waiting for Christ and finally unto living fountains of waters and wiping all tears from His people’s eyes.

Secondly, You will have found, as I did, that there are about 50 references in all the scriptures when mortal men lead, guide or direct.  In only about 10 of those instances was such leadership of benefit and blessing. Those cases were only when Old Testament people were lead by Gods appointed leaders such as Moses and Joshua, when Israel was lead into battle by divinely appointed leaders and captains and once in the New Testament when Saul of Tarsus was lead by the hand when he was physically blind.

In all the rest of the cases of mortals leading or guiding, Jeremiah’s declaration is most appropriate: “I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”  And the prophet Micah warns us all, “Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide.”  Apart from mortal men being specifically appointed to leadership by God Himself,  leadership by mortals is always “into a way that is not good”, i.e.  God’s people are lead by mortal men into captivity or prison, into error, wickedness, destruction or death, into judgment before governors, councils or their enemies. The blind lead the blind into the ditch, into Babylon  or into idolatry.

Thirdly, It is most important to notice that not once in all the NT is any mortal man or woman appointed by God to the responsibility of leading, guiding or directing other people.

Furthermore, if one is actually going to lead others, it is crucial that the leader have the trust or confidence of those who are lead.  So a study of all that the scripture has to say regarding where our trust or confidence should be placed is most instructive…

Fourthly, If you were to look up all the instances in scripture of the various forms of the words “trust” and “confidence” you would find about 130 scripture passages which declare that God alone is worthy of our trust,  instruct us to place our confidence in Him  and describe the many blessings and benefits of doing so.

And Fifthly, by way of contrast, there are about 60 instances where we are forbidden to place our trust or confidence in man, in his gods, his wealth, his wisdom  and where the follies, curses, harm and destruction of doing so are clearly described.  Among these are many instances of warnings about trusting a friend or even your self!

It is for all five of these reasons above that I maintain that leadership by mortal men or women in the church of Jesus Christ is a myth without any scriptural support!  When men or women are appointed to or assume leadership in the church it is a sure sign of rebellion against Christ and disobedience to the Word of God!  While these words seem very harsh and critical, I also want to make clear that I do not believe that everyone who has been appointed to or has assumed positions of leadership in the church are wilfully and knowingly rebelling against God and His Word.  Likely the vast majority, like myself for many years, are simply following a religious culture which has been steeped for centuries in a “leadership” mentality and believes that such is entirely Biblical!

I am simply saying that it is high time to search out the foundations of this teaching, recognize it for what it is, reject it and return personally and corporately to the scriptural mindset of being followers of God as dear children!  As each of us radically adjust our thinking to acknowledge and follow only One Leader, our Lord Jesus Christ we will exert a far greater influence than any professed “leader” ever could!  If each of us purposes to be the best follower of Christ that we can possibly be,  we will in turn become examples to encourage other saints and those who do not yet know our Saviour to also follow Him.

(more to follow in the next post regarding followers of Christ exerting powerful influence on others by example. But let me encourage you to “flesh out” this subject for yourself and others by your own comments questions and observations in “comments” below or in personal emails to me at bwood4d@gmail.com)