Leadership is a system of operation by which vision is orchestrated, giftings are harnessed and passion and commitment are organized. Church leadership helps to identify gifts and deploy them for the progress and edification of the body of Christ.
Generally, leadership thrives on the field of vision and one beautiful thing about it is that it is able to build passion in the saints and stir up their commitments. The church leadership provides direction and receives words from God, then convert to the instructions to nutrients to sustain the growth of the Church.
There is both a spiritual and organizational aspect of the leadership of the church and there are three major drivers and life wires of leadership, namely:
- Vision: [biblegateway passage=”Proverbs 29:18″ display=”Proverbs 29:18″] – Without vision, people perish and the word ‘perish’ means no longer observing order, having a lost sense of direction or coordination. Vision is the blueprint by which leadership expresses itself. Vision is the template by which direction for any ministry is inspired, without which the call of God will not be known.
- Commitment: This is the discipline necessary to apply oneself to achieve personal development. Leadership does not function without this discipline. At times, praying can seem difficult, but we must still pray because of our commitment. One aspect of commitment is the consistency required for personal devotion and also corporate actions or duties.
- Character: This is most rare in church leadership today. Leadership failure is bound to happen if the leadership does not have character. Character is the medium by which any ministry or vision is furnished with credibility. When we are wrong, we should be able to agree that we are wrong. God cannot stand pretence and hypocrisy. Character deals with the quality or purity of the life of the minister, not his gifts. Charisma may open significant doors for people in ministry, but enduring impacts are only ensured by character. True approval before God is embedded in the character of a minister.
[biblegateway passage=”Matthew 16:18″ display=”Matthew 16:18″]
The church is meant to advance in the atmosphere of contention, but the problem with the church today is that it is being built after the systems and orders of the nations and not according to the blueprint from God.
[biblegateway passage=”1 Corinthians 12:28″ display=”1 Corinthians 12:28″]; [biblegateway passage=”Ephesians 4:9-11″ display=”Ephesians 4:9-11″]
We must understand that none of the ministry gifts is more superior to the other. The placement of the gifts in [biblegateway passage=”1 Corinthians 12:28″ display=”1 Corinthians 12:28″] is not a hierarchical placement and the purpose of all ministry gifts is to achieve God’s purpose which is to fill all in all.
Brief functions of the fivefold ministry gifts using the human five fingers:
- Pinky finger (able to reach to our ears for cleansing) – Teachers bring exposition and understanding to the body.
- Ring finger (showing marriage and union) – Pastors are shepherds, having a personal touch to the saints with the purpose of bringing the church into the oneness of Christ.
- Middle finger (far-reaching finger) – Evangelists motivate and propel the church to reach forth.
- Index finger (pointing finger) – Prophets bring warning and direction.
- Thumb (coordinating finger) – Apostles helps to harness the other gifts. He is a wise master builder able to interpret the vision of God.
Whether Teacher, Pastor, Prophets, Evangelists or Apostles your job is to perfect the saints to be well rounded and balanced. When the saints go out to their workplace or anywhere they go, they should be able to represent Christ well. The ultimate objective of Christ for the church is for us all to come to the unity of faith and to the perfect stature of Christ, and this is the reason for ministry gifts.
Our awareness of what Christ has done births urgency to us. The command “go ye” is birthed from a sense of urgency because Christ has paid the price for the Salvation of all men. Our personal devotion should be to see the gospel of God widespread and the word of God prosper. Our boldness should also be to go forth and demonstrate the power of God.
The evangelistic mandate of the great commission is found in [biblegateway passage=”Mark 16:17-18″ display=”Mark 16:17-18″] and the apostolic mandate of the great commission is to teach the will of God and infiltrate the nations with the Kingdom mindset through interface and relationships (this happens by first internalizing the Kingdom) – [biblegateway passage=”Matthew 28:18-20″ display=”Matthew 28:18-20″].
[biblegateway passage=”Mark 13:13-14″ display=”Mark 13:13-14″]
At first, Jesus called His disciples that they might be with Him first. The real New Testament ministry comes from being sent and this sending would not come until we have been the Lord first.
Pitfalls in the ministry that we must avoid
- We must watch against mixed multitudes. For instance when people bring suggestions that contradict the order of the Kingdom. Ministry is for the purpose of raising disciples and not mixed multitudes.
- We must shun spiritual ambiguity. The purpose of knowledge is for people to understand. We should not be stuck to a pattern of high sounding and mystical words. We need to liberate our minds.
- We must also shun the Elijah spirit; one that believes that nobody is right unless they come through them.