Church leadership

Many people, based on their experiences with how the church is run, would rather not have any church at all. They experience a lack of freedom, manipulation, and feel pressured. Despite these bad experiences, however, we cannot give up and say that we do not need the church. More than ever before, we need the church, but one that belongs to Him, not to us.

The fundamental problem is the model of church leadership – the pastor (priest, minister, etc.) is often an absolute ruler.

Mark 10,42 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them

Those who lead should therefore primarily serve others and help them. Every organisation needs leadership, but we understand from Scripture that the leadership of a community should be collective. Church leadership should be like a team sport – sometimes I have to take a back seat, and sometimes you do. It's similar to a well-functioning band of musicians – you can't solo all the time – sometimes you have to give space to others!

Let's take a look at this in the Scriptures:

Greek expressions (The New Testament is written in the original Greek ) – presbyteros (elder, leader), episkopos (supervisor, guardian), poimen (shepherd).

76These are three terms that describe the same function – the leader of a local church.

It does not occur in the singular in the New Testament (only in cases where it is addressed, e.g. 2 John 1:1. I am the elder or Jesus is referred to as the good shepherd), but where the local church is spoken of, elders are always named in the plural.

Word occurrence:

Episkopos (overseer, guardian), 5 occurrences in the NT

Acts 20:28 pl.-episkopous, Phil. 1:1 pl.episkopois, 1 Tim. 3:2 s. episkopon, Tit. 1:7 s. episkopon, 1 Pet. 2:25 s. episkopon – Jesus as guardian

Presbyteros (elder, leader) occurrence in the NT – 66x

– Gospels – Jesus meets with elders and they are always named in the plural (i.e. the words presbyteron, presbyteroi, presbyterois, presbyterous). Occurrence – Matthew -15:2, 16:21, 21:23, 26:3, 26:47, 26:57, 27:1, 27:3, 27:12, 28:12. Mark 7:3, 7:5, 8:31, 11:27, 14:43, 14:53, 15:1, Luke 7:3, 9:22, 22:52, John 8:9. The only occurrence in the Gospels – elder son – Luke 15:25, here the word presbyteros is used – singular. But here it is not about the church, but about one specific person who is older than his brother.

Acts – here it is used only in the plural – 2:17, 4:5, 4:8, 4:23, 6:12, 11:30, 14:23, 15:2, 15:4, 15:6, 15:22, 15:23, 16:4, 20:17, 21:18, 23:14, 24:1, 25:15

Letters – plural – 1 Tim 5:17, Titus 1:5, Hebrews 11:2, James 5:14, 1 Peter 5:1, 1 Peter 5:5, Revelation 4:4, 4:10, 5:5, 5:6, 5:8, 5:11, 5:14, 7:13, 11:6, 14:3, 19:4

Letters – singular – 1 Tim.5:1 – not to speak ill of an elder, 1 Tim.5:19 – not to receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses, 2 John 11, 3 John 1:1 – here John presents himself as an elder.

Poimen (shepherd, leader of the flock) occurs in the NT 18 times.

Mentioned many times in the singular, but when it is mentioned this way, it is referring to Jesus – Matthew 9:36, 25:32, 26:31, Mark 6:34, 14:27, John 10:2, 10:11, 10:12, 10:14, Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 2:2.

It is mentioned in the plural only among the shepherds in Bethlehem – Luke 2:8, 2:15, 2:18, 2:20.

An interesting case is Ephesians 4:11 – where it is in the singular, but is listed with other ministries to jointly equip the saints for the work of ministry.

The shepherd is clearly not mentioned in the NT as someone who should lead the church, as some kind of head of the congregation. That can only be Jesus.

Summary – From the NT perspective, we do not see that an individual should lead a church in the authority that the Lord gives him (an apostle is another matter, now we are talking about a local church). The church can grant someone authority in this way, but that does not mean that they have it in the light of the Bible. In scripture, we see that some figures were more prominent (Paul, Peter, James, etc.), but the decision-making authority is always collective (eldership) and the individual must always submit to the collective. I quote Derek Prince's study on elders (page 5) "The position of a prominent person arises from respect and recognition, but it should not normally be legislated or institutionalized. ……. From my own experience over the past 10 years, I can say that I have seen very unfortunate results from not applying this principle. ….. In such cases, manipulation easily creeps into the church….. The end result is confusion."

If someone puts themselves in the role of the exclusive (chief) shepherd of the congregation, in the role of the one who leads others, if they want to have an exclusive position, then we consider it wrong from the point of view of Scripture. This is because the knowledge of each of us is partial and we need others to supplement our knowledge, to direct us. We see in this a dangerous tendency, similar to when the Israelites wanted a king and Samuel warned them (1 Sam. 8) - here it is clearly written that it is wrong, that it is the way of the surrounding nations. We are to have God as the only king and no one may put themselves in an exclusive position. If someone wants to rule in this way, then by this action they divide others into those who recognize their exclusive authority and submit to him and those who do not agree with him. This brings confusion and division into the congregation.

But let's look at it from another perspective. If the Apostle Paul had to constantly explain what he was doing and how he was doing it and why he was doing it, then he might not have started many churches. In the case of newly emerging communities, it must work differently. The Apostle Paul led various groups of new converts, he was the clear and sole authority, but once the congregation (community) was established, he handed over the leadership to the elders, whom Paul then only encouraged and admonished, and directed.

The problem with collective leadership is that it may not get you anywhere, and that each leader has different views on how to lead.

Proverbs 11:14 For lack of guidance a nation falls,but victory is won through many advisers.

1 Corinthians 12:28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.

If no one leads the church, it will get nowhere!

Those who have the gift of leadership should lead, but they do not have a patent on the truth and must be willing to be corrected. We must be very careful in choosing leaders, but that is a separate topic.