The Need for Church 'Leaders'?

The following conversation was heard somewhere in central Florida on a rainy afternoon under an awning at a soda fountain.

Mickey: So, as I understand it, you think the Church needs leaders?

Donald: Yes.

Mickey: And you think that what we need to do is train more leaders for the Church?

Donald: Yes.

Mickey: Is a teacher of the Scriptures a leader?  Let us say, a Bible professor?

Donald: Yes.

Mickey: Is this Bible professor a leader because he has been taught how to lead or because he has been taught the Bible and can now teach the Bible to others?

Donald: Because he has been taught the Bible.

Mickey: Then, being a leader is irrelevant to the Bible professor.  He does not need leadership training.  He does not need to know how to run a business or corporation.  He does not need to know how to be the president of a country.  He simply needs to know his Bible and how to teach it.

Donald: Why, yes, I suppose so!

Mickey: Is a pastor a leader?

Donald: Oh, yes.

Mickey: Is he a leader because he has been taught how to lead people or because he has been taught how to pastor a church?

Donald: What’s the difference?

Mickey: A leader knows how to get people to follow him, how to push an agenda through, how to develop and build things—programmes, buildings, church membership or attendance.  He may sit in an office, have a secretary who makes appointments in his schedule, and go to meetings.  A pastor is like a shepherd.  He is out in the field with his sheep.  He goes to those in need.  He carries the injured and wards off attacks from the enemy.  He takes the sheep to green pastures and finds streams for them to drink.  Would you rather hire a leader or a pastor for your church?

Donald: A pastor.

Mickey: Does a pastor or a teacher do better if he has power or respect?

Donald: Respect.  Many people with power are not liked by others, and people who get power often do bad things.

Mickey: If you were to study leadership, would you not be studying how to gain power and how to use it effectively?

Donald: I suppose.  But couldn’t I be a leader because people respect me?

Mickey: This is a step in the right direction.  However, would people respect you because you are a good pastor or teacher or because you have leadership capabilities?

Donald: I see what you are saying.  If I respect my pastor or a Bible teacher, it is because they do what they do well, not because they have power and authority for what they do.  Respect is different from power.

Mickey: Perhaps this is why, when Paul gives some criteria for overseers or elders and deacons in 1 Timothy and Titus, he lists qualities that would help the person do the job well and that make people respect them.  That is, he is concerned about the functioning of a person who has been put in a position of responsibility, not the electing a person to an office that has power and authority.

Donald: I like that.  Functioning instead of office, responsibility instead of authority.  It is not a matter of status and position but of respect and function.

Mickey: And the word Paul uses, which sometimes gets translated as ‘bishop’, is ‘overseer’.  An overseer is someone with responsibility, a leader is someone given the power of an office.  His other word is ‘deacon,’ which means ‘one who serves.’  Jesus said, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10.42-45).

Donald: Isn’t that servant leadership?

Mickey: No.  Servant leadership is when a person gets power and authority to lead others and then uses it to serve others.  Jesus’ understanding of service is slavery.  Slaves had absolutely no power.  They simply served.  A servant leader needs power and authority.  A slave does not.  Jesus did not go to Jerusalem to take over the government so that he could rule well as a servant leader.  He went to Jerusalem to give his life as a ransom for many.

Donald: Shazam!  The Church doesn’t need more leaders after all, not even servant leaders.  It needs people trained in ministry—in service.  It needs people who know how to pastor and how to teach.

Just then, Minnie came back with the drinks—two chocolate malts and one strawberry milkshake.

Mickey: Thanks for serving us, Minnie.  I don’t suppose you thought of yourself as a leader by going to get the drinks?

Minnie (looking puzzled): Of course not!

Donald quacked up laughing—literally.