A Blog Forecast...

...alerting my vast readership (and you three know exactly who you are) to coming posts, some of which may prove a little lengthy and others ponderously dull. Nevertheless I hope to follow up on some earlier discussions and even express some things that I have been perhaps too timid to say up to this point—in pieces, broken up something like this, open for discussion:

The Church

WHAT IS ESSENTIAL? Mere Church
WHAT ABOUT LEADERSHIP? Christ is the Head
WHAT IS THE PATTERN TO FOLLOW? Learning from History
WHAT ARE THE PITFALLS? The World in the Church
WHAT ABOUT EVERGREEN AND GCM? Why We Left
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WHAT IS ESSENTIAL? Mere Church

Read the Bible. Study the Bible and talk about what it says. Obey it. Pray. Break bread. Notice each other’s needs. Meet them if you can, pray for them if you can’t. Recognize each others spiritual gifts and allow them to be used. Keep pointing to Christ.

WHAT ABOUT LEADERSHIP? Christ is the Head

Lead by the recognition and call of the whole gathering, recognizing that you too are just one member of the body and that Christ is the Head. Lead by example and persuasion, and by faithfully pointing to the person, majesty and sufficiency of Christ.

Resist any attitude of superiority and refuse to encourage any substantive division between clergy and laity, between leadership and body. In the living Body of Christ, leadership is one function and one gift among many, not a priestly office. Refuse to allow a quasi-priesthood to develop within the priesthood of believers. Remember, there is only one Head.

Do not permit undue reverence by members of the church in any form. In authoritarian groups where the official structure dictates that leaders answer only to each other and exercise total control, the problem is obvious. But even in healthier churches when a kind of CEO status and an aura of celebrity develop, leaders can be insulated and isolated from the larger body of which they are a part. None of this is consistent with the character of Christ, or the commission He gave.

Be sure that in your theology you apprehend the full meaning of the priesthood of every believer, and the nature of the Church as Christ’s Body. In practice, be sure that you allow the Holy Spirit to speak and lead through the entire body, in the way your church is governed and in the way it works. Remember, there is only one Head.

To be continued...