I grew up in the traditional, organized church. I was always taught that the pastor was head of the church and he had all the answers and so much more knowledge than anyone else in the church. I mention the pastor as a ‘he’ because when I was young and growing up in the church it was unheard of to have a woman pastor.
I remember scheduling meetings with the pastor so I could ask him questions and find out all the answers to Christian living. It almost floored me one time when I asked the pastor a question and he actually said he did not know the answer.
Looking back, I can see that I certainly looked to the pastor rather than looking to the Spirit. I was putting my hope in a man who I thought could tell me everything about God, yet I was not seeking to know God himself.
Next in line were the board of elders. Each of them were so much more holy than I or anyone else in the church, or else they would not be in that position of authority. At least that is what I thought at the time. I have a friend who thinks prayers have more authority when she goes to the board of elders and has them pray.
Questioning Christian Leadership
The longer I was in the church, the more I began to wonder about things. Of course I did not dare ask the questions I had, since people would be questioning my faith or think I was questioning the pastor.
When I read that Christ was the head of His church, I wondered why the pastor seemed to get credit for that position.
I read that we should call no one father (or pastor) other than God, and I again wondered why people in position of leadership and authority in the church wanted to be called pastor or apostle or elder.
We are told that the Holy Spirit is our guide and teacher, and we do not need anyone other than him. Yet, we look to the pastor or an elder, or some big name evangelist to find all the answers to our questions.
I began getting dissatisfied with having these questions and not letting them surface enough to come out and be asked. I began to realize I had more and more questions, and less and less answers.
I finally started coming across books and websites of people who seemed to be in the same boat. They were wondering and questioning and being open with their questions. Some of them seemed to actually come up with some answers that made sense to me.
The more I thought, questioned and read the more I began to realize that our traditional church system is really not what God intended for the church. I also realized that questioning is not a lack of faith. God can handle our questioning, in fact, most of the time Jesus taught more with questions than answers. He wanted people to question and reason over things.
True Christian Leadership
The true Church that Jesus is building is not a brick and mortar place. The head of the Church that Jesus is building is not a pastor, pope, elder or apostle. In fact, the head is not a man or woman at all.
Leadership in the Church of Jesus is not what we have always thought of either. When we realize Christ is the head and leader of his Church, we begin to realize that man has no business demanding or expecting people to follow them and put them in the place of Christ.
True Christian leadership is not an office of authority. It is not a place for only a few who are specially trained at a man-made Bible school. True Christian leadership is for all of us who are members of the Church of Christ. We are all kings and priests, we are all holy and righteous because of Christ. To be clear, when I say Church of Christ I’m not talking about any denomination or physical building. The true Church is a community of people who are following Christ, and He is our head. All the rest of us, men and women alike, are equally functioning body parts of his Church.
No person has a place of authority over another. That is the world’s way of doing things. That is the business way of doing things. Needless to say, there are a lot of churches and religious organizations that are acting like big business with their presidents and CEO’s, but that is not how it should be.
Christian Leadership as God intended is the Spirit working through the different body parts, leading by example. Leaders are those who encourage and teach from a place of love and experience, not a place of authority and power. Each of us are leaders at one time or another in the sense of leading by example, experience and love. We come in contact with those who need encouragement or a little guidance, not from someone who thinks they know it all, but from someone who has been there. A person who, out of love, wants to see the best for everyone.
True Christian leaders will not demand your loyalty. They will not want your allegiance to them. They will not rule over you with authority and expect you to follow them no matter what. True leaders will want to lead you to the head and true leader of the Church, Jesus. It is time we stop looking to men and women as our main guides and leaders, and look to Jesus. We need to listen for the leading, guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit who is actually God within us, rather than seeking the knowledge and wisdom of mere men.
“True Christian leaders will not demand your loyalty. They will not want your allegiance to them. They will not rule over you with authority and expect you to follow them no matter what. True leaders will want to lead you to the head and true leader of the Church, Jesus. It is time we stop looking to men and women as our main guides and leaders, and look to Jesus. We need to listen for the leading, guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit who is actually God within us, rather than seeking the knowledge and wisdom of mere men.”
Now that’s a profound statement. It was a cultish, abusive church with that kind of leadership that pulled me out of traditional church altogether. I saw my fill of a demand for loyalty and complete submission to authority crammed down our throats practically every Sunday. It’s so very important to learn to hear from God, from the Holy Spirit for ourselves.and as you say, quit looking to men (and women). Amen, brother!!
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Thanks Marion, I appreciate your comment.
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So, Jim, as a pastor, I would like to say that I agree with you 100%. I upset MANY people (including those in my “chain of command) because I don’t care if no one calls me “Pastor” – and I usually don’t call them “pastor” either. I see my job as that of leading people to Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit clean them up. I get criticized for not pointing out people’s sin and breathing fire and brimstone. I don’t believe anyone needs me to point out their sin or that it IS sin. I think satan does a pretty good job of that already. I get that God sets up apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers, but those are offices with responsibilities and (here’s the biggie!) those are foundational offices. “Foundation” means they’re at the bottom, not the top. If “to minister” is defined as “to serve”, why do these folks seem to think everyone else is supposed to serve them? I guess they cut out the scripures that the Son of Man came to serve, not to be served and a servant is not greater than his master. For the record, I am apparently a horrible pastor because I don’t play by the rules…
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Good words. You certainly have the meaning of leader down good. Most don’t see it that way and those usually want to respect and power so many are familiar with. Glad to hear there are those like you out there. Thanks for the comment.
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Whoever told you you are a ‘horrible pastor’ does not deserve to be allowed to express an opinion – unfortunately there is such a thing as free speech! 😉 Sounds to me as if you should not lend any credence to those who do not see how brilliant you are, bro.
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Dear Tony, while I appreciate being considered a “bro”, “sis” would have been a little more appropriate. lol That’s also a sore point with some folks, but they just need to get over it. God chooses whom He will and I’m just doing what He tells me. I’m just sayin’…
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Oops sorry Beth – but the comment stands: you’re still great! 🙂 Keep it up – sis!
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Superb article. I do think, though, that for specialist churches like mine, where it’s a CofE Church that works with the homeless, we need a strong leader who has set guidelines (and I hate Rules, believe me) but this is for the good of the addicts we get in. He always points people to Jesus, but there are certain people who have to know who is ‘in charge’ on a human level.
Believe me, I don’t follow leaders lightly, and I certainly don’t buy into big-name ministries. But in this instance, I feel it’s important to have a strong leader. I don’t agree with him on everything, but that’s ok, both ways. However, if a leader does insist on full compliance with Church doctrine, that to me is a danger sign and would have me running a mile immediately!
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Hi Tony, I agree, there are exceptions to about everything and I understand what you are saying. Thanks for the comment.
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A few weeks back, after a whole string of things leasing up to it, I chucked all my devotionals, quit listening to pastors (Andrew Farley was my weekly go to guy) and unfollowed, as well as hid, all Christian Facebook pages. I simply wanted to shut out all the noise, and there’s A LOT of noise. I didn’t want my spirit to be numb to His Voice. For the first time I am reading the Bible via a Bible Survey via Plain Truth Ministries (closing in on Leviticus/Hebrews and Romans, as I felt led to begin there), along with a commentary and an old book on the Holy Spirit.
It has been really incredible! I don’t miss all the other, and am having things revealed to me that deepen and widen and enrich the gospel narrative.
I do not attend church, but cut out the middle man of all that I had been using. Certainly there is much good out there, truth being preached (like I believe Andrew Farley does). But I was ready or drawn into seeking straight from the Source. And, so, this post speaks volumes and I appreciate it very much!
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Thank you Becky. I agree, I’m getting so fed up with all the different views, opinions and arguing. I think you are onto something good. Thanks for commenting.
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well written, very clear explanation of how it is to be, between and us and HIM !!!!!! thank you…….living in the love of an awesome father…….mary
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Thank you Mary. I appreciate your kind remarks.
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May I ask your name? I might have missed it along the way. I think this post explains this verse a little better for me: Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and act under their authority. They are watching over you, because they are responsible for your souls. Obey them so that they will do this work with joy, not sadness. It will not help you to make their work hard.
This verse was always hard to swallow for me. It rubbed me the wrong way. I never understood how another human being could watch over my soul. I could only see Jesus doing that. As you said, each of us are leaders at one time or another. When I was in organized religion, I only looked at church leaders or pastors as being leaders. Some of the authority was abusive. Never liked the manmade word “covering ” either.
Enjoyed reading your post. Always happy to see an email from you in my inbox.
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Hi Carol, I go by Jim Gordon, a pen name used for two reasons. 1. I have many friends still in traditional religion who would be offended with some of my articles. 2. Most of these friends would either drop me as a friend or bombard me with comments about me being a backslider and walking away from God (neither of which are true). I appreciate your comment. I think there are many verses that are confusing and misinterpreted. I think seeking the leading of the Spirit within is better than always seeking opinions of man. Thanks for reading and commenting on this article.
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Yes, my brother, you encapsulated everything that the Lord has been showing me about my relationship with Him as my Head and why men have no business taking HIS place in our lives. Sooner or later if we are alive in Christ we will kick the slats out of our cribs in the church nursery and climb out and start feeding ourselves from HIS table and no longer in the mess halls of religion. Thanks! ⭐
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Hi Michael, thanks for your comment. You took the words right out of my mouth, lol.
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It was great to eat from His table with the two of you while you were here! Stay in tough, my brother.
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We enjoyed it very much and still take about our time with you guys. Always glad to hear from you.
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Do you post this on Facebook? I wanted to share it on there.Thank you. Helen M. Rolf From: Done with Religion To: hmrolf@yahoo.com Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2015 11:34 AM Subject: [New post] Christian Leadership #yiv9467223003 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv9467223003 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv9467223003 a.yiv9467223003primaryactionlink:link, #yiv9467223003 a.yiv9467223003primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv9467223003 a.yiv9467223003primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv9467223003 a.yiv9467223003primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv9467223003 WordPress.com | DonewithReligion posted: “I grew up in the traditional, organized church. I was always taught that the pastor was head of the church and he had all the answers and so much more knowledge than anyone else in the church. I mention the pastor as a ‘he’ because when I was young and gr” | |
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Yes, this article was posted on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/DonewithReligion/. Feel free to share it also. Thanks for reading the article.
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