Samuel Pipim Leadership in the Church: Are We Honestly Mistaken?

The new buzzword in church circles today is leadership. And the thrust seems to be towards “inclusiveness, balance, and diversity” in spiritual leadership at every level of church administration, from local congregations to the General Conference.

This emphasis on leadership could be a legitimate response to the increasing complexity and challenges facing our growing church. But it could also be a reaction against leadership abuse and incompetence at the different levels of church administration. Samuel Pipim

In the ongoing discussion, a few seem to be questioning the legitimacy of an exclusive spiritual leadership by elders or pastors of the church. However, for a majority the real issue is “diversity in leadership.” It appears that almost everyone or every interest group wants a piece of the church’s leadership pie. Not surprisingly, there are calls for “bold and creative” leadership in the church.

In the same vein, some churches are also electing youth as “junior elders.” Advocates argue that since young people have many wonderful talents and abilities to be harnessed by the church, appointing them as “junior elders” is the best way to mentor spiritual leaders for tomorrow’s church.

Others, borrowing from the leadership models in today’s megachurches, have embraced certain notions of “anointed and visionary” leadership. In some cases, pastors with dictatorial tendencies have made themselves the sole leaders and CEOs of their local congregations or administrative levels, and are unilaterally or arbitrarily imposing their wills and agendas on the constituencies of the church units to which they have been appointed. Pastors who are more benevolent have practically marginalized the church-appointed board of elders and have replaced it with their own handpicked “leadership facilitators” and “leadership committees,” making these new “leadership teams” the spiritual leaders of the church.

Leadership is also the new banner under which feminist interest groups are now campaigning subtly for their agenda. In the name of “inclusiveness and gender sensitivity or gender diversity” there is a renewed push for “women in leadership”—by which they mean “women elders,” “women pastors,” and “women clergy.” Carefully crafted “women in leadership” seminars, conferences, certification programs, and study materials are being widely promoted to “empower” and “advance”women as “partners in leadership.”

When egalitarian philosophy is applied to discussions on Biblical leadership, advocates claim that anyone should be allowed to serve as a spiritual leader in the church, even if there seem to be Biblical restrictions against such a move. For those who do not know what the Bible actually teaches, when the egalitarian ideology is married to certain interpretations of the Biblical concepts of “equality” and “the priesthood of all believers,” the push for “inclusive leadership” can be very seductive. Know more about this at Eaglesonline website.