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.
Comments