REVISITING LEADERSHIP AND DISCIPLESHIP

Matthew 23:8  But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.

Matthew 28:19  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Leaders are not the centre of the church, Christ is, and leaders are meant to facilitate this reality.   Leaders are supposed to lift up Christ by a consistent gospel proclamation and a focused equipping of the saints.  When Jesus came to this earth he changed everything, including mankind’s way of looking at leadership.  The renewal of our minds (Rom. 12:2) is supposed to include the way we look at leadership.  Leaders must, as it were, send out the gospel in front of them so that Jesus may be seen, as they remain in His shadow as servants of the saints and the church (1 Cor. 4:1).  It is completely consistent with the New Testament to say that leaders are meant to lead ‘in the shadow of Jesus’.  The moment a leader or leaders step out of that shadow they step into the light and press Jesus into their shadow.  This is a travesty and a shame.  Consider a very significant fact that has received little attention in church history.  In every single instance that Paul wrote a letter to a church he addressed it to the whole church and not to a leader or leaders.  1 and 2 Timothy and Titus were written to apostolic co-workers, not to churches.  This is even more striking when we consider the fact that almost every one of those churches were experiencing crises at the time of Paul’s writing and yet he did not address his letters to the elders. When he wrote the Philippians he starts his letter by saying ‘to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons’.  Note that he did not say and the overseers and deacons, but the saints with the overseers and deacons.  This is highly significant and it indicates that a local church is comprised of one group, saints with elders and deacons, not three groups.  Jesus said in Matthew 23:8 ‘One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers’.  Yes, there are teachers and leaders in the church, but they must serve as fellow brothers who teach and lead in the shadow of Jesus, the true Teacher and Leader.  Furthermore, elders are under-shepherds and Jesus alone the ‘Chief Shepherd’ (1 Pet. 5:2-4).  The shepherds in a local church should never view themselves as ‘above the sheep’.  They themselves are sheep in the fold of the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11, 16), albeit sheep that lead other sheep by following closely behind the Shepherd.   

Additionally we have to radically alter our ecclesiastical approach from merely teaching people, to making disciples of them. The priesthood of all believers means precious little if we do not actively pursue this as our main mandate (Mt. 28v19). We have to make it our single aim to train every single disciple to love and study the Word, to be a self-feeder, to demonstrate the Word by transformed living, and to share the Word with others in this same way, i.e. teaching them to be disciples!  We have to move from giving people fish to teaching them how to fish and how to teach others to fish. We have to hand the church back to the saint. The church does not belong to leadership and saints are not meant to 'remain ignorant so that the leaders can be perpetual feeders'. Vision is not the sole prerogative of leaders, it is meant for every single member of the Body of Christ.  Read Ephesians and Colossians and note Paul’s prayers for the saints if you doubt this.  The letters of the New Testament were primarily written to saints, not leaders.  New Testament leadership is radically Christ-centered and utterly member-aimed (see Mt. 23:8-12)!  It aims consistently and persistently to attach saints to Christ as their ultimate leader and to equip saints to be disciple makers. It is time for us to stop paying lip service to the belief in the priesthood of all believers and begin to actually apply it in the practical life of our churches!  This is a mega paradigm shift in the context of current church practice and it is urgently needed in the church. God's plan is simple and meant to be utterly pervasive; every member equipped, every member in the Word, every member radically Christ-centered and animated by the gospel and every member a disciple maker. Unless we have this specific aim, we are missing it completely and wasting precious time, even with all our church programs, meetings, committees, training courses, etcetera ad nauseam!