Tag Archives: church leaders

One in a Million?

Dear Sovereign Redeemer and other friends,

About a year ago, I raised my hand to say I wanted to lead the planting of a church, to be set aside to labor in the word (1 Timothy 5:17), to be fully dedicated to a local church. You can image the checking of motives that happens when a person starts to have those rumblings in the soul. Is there anyone who doesn’t suffer from occasional moments of self-aggrandizement and delusions of grandeur?

At the end of the soul searching, our family pressed forward with eyes wide open. Though I have some gifts, they are not more in number or degree than those of most other men. I will never be the “draw” that brings together a large church. But that isn’t what the body of Christ needs anyway. So while I happily acknowledge that my limitations keep me from being “one in a million,” I can be “one of a million” as God raises up many, many men of normal ability who have been forgiven much and therefore love much. By and large, these are the sort of men that God is giving the church to help and care for His people. I see it happening. I frequently meet these men from all around the country. I am daily with some of them in our own church body. I thank God for His kindness to His people.

So while there is a trend towards “one in a million” mega-pastors (please read this incredibly insightful post), God is leading a mighty but less visible counter-trend, and I am so happy to be a millionth of it.

Kevin DeYoung, a pastor associated with The Gospel Coalition, commented on this in late 2010. The entire post is well worth reading, but I’ll give you my favorite line, where he defines an ordinary pastor as “the pastor who flies under the evangelical radar, the pastor who labors in an ordinary place with ordinary people who don’t give a rip about the evangelical radar or if their pastor is on it, so long as he is with them.”

I recently finished Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor, and Baxter noted a similar move of God in his own day, the mid sixteen hundreds, where he witnessed a dramatic shift within little more than a decade of time:

“Sure I am, the change is so great within these twelve years, that it is one of the greatest joys that ever I had in the world to behold it. O how many congregations are now plainly and frequently taught, that lived then in great obscurity! How many able, faithful men are there now in a county, in comparison of what were then!… And, in particular, how mercifully hath the Lord dealt with this poor county of Worcester, in raising up so many who do credit to the sacred office, and self-denyingly and freely, zealously and unweariedly, lay out themselves for the good of souls! I bless the Lord that hath placed me in such a neighbourhood, where I may have the brotherly fellowship of so many able, faithful, humble, unanimous, and peaceable men. O that the Lord would long continue this admirable mercy to this unworthy country!”

A hearty “Amen!” to that, and may God make this our truthful testimony as we look back on this decade and the next.

May God give His church a million faithful, hard working shepherds. Men who know their limitations and can cheerfully say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:10a). Men who know it is God’s church and that He is mighty on behalf of His people. And for all such men, may there be an abundance of Christians who have an insatiable appetite for the kind of walk that is so wonderfully helped along by such shepherds.

Peter continues to exhort: “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away” (1 Peter 5:1-4).

To close by repeating the words of Richard Baxter, “O that the Lord would long continue this admirable mercy to this unworthy country!”

Blessing Awaits Those Who Cross Two Lines

Dear Sovereign Redeemer and other friends,

This series of posts about church membership has focused primarily on Scripture, providing Biblical underpinnings for the practice.  Now a few personal observations, based on three decades of church life spanning a number of different churches.

Observation 1:  Two Critical Questions Form Two Critical Lines in the Sand

When I look at how casual local church life has become, with people drifting from church to church in far less time than it takes to be genuinely shepherded and involved in the lives of the brethren, I see two questions going continually unanswered:

  1. Can I submit myself and my family to the doctrine and authority of these leaders?  This is a BIG decision, and it shouldn’t be made overnight.  You have to know the doctrine.  You have to know the men.  And then you have to decide whether or not it would be a good thing for you and any in your charge to be under that teaching and authority over the long haul.
  2. Can I commit myself to these people?  Let’s face it – there are groups of people where you can see yourself making a thirty year investment, and groups of people where a pleasant afternoon together is both nice and enough.  And you know in your heart of hearts that the long term destination will be very different, depending on which you pick.

When we don’t stick around long enough to answer these questions, there are corresponding lines in the sand that we never cross, and it means that we never really commit.  We become the Christian equivalent of that forty-five year old guy who has dated so many women and will only ever do more of the same.  He has lots of great jokes, but everyone understands how pathetic his life really is.

As quickly as possible, we should find a home where we can answer “yes” to both questions and run-not-walk across those lines.

Observation 2:  It Matters

This is no intellectual exercise, the parsing of a fine point that has little impact on real life.  Whether you will or will not answer those two questions, cross those two lines, and send roots down deep into a good local church will determine so much about the welfare of your soul.

The person who carefully chooses a local church home where they can joyfully submit to godly leaders and invest in the lives of other sincere believers, and then stays on that track for decades, becomes a very different person than the counterpart who never really lands.  Being in serious, committed fellowship with both authorities and peers for a long period of time has a transforming effect.  There is no substitute.  The transformation requires the investment.

The “me and Jesus” mentality has not been good for the church.  We need more “God and His people” in both thought and life.

Observation 3:  Those Who Dare to Cross the Lines Are Blessed

Those who cross those lines find themselves really shepherded, really taught, sometimes rebuked, really encouraged, really known.  They find themselves really loved and cared for by God in the everyday means that He has ordained for His church.  And they have the privilege of responding in kind, both to God and to their brothers and sisters.

Am I saying that those who won’t cross those lines, in the form of church membership, aren’t blessed?  Yep.  Not blessed.  Not in the same way.  Not to the same extent.  Can they still be Christians?  Of course, but not the Christians that they should have been, would have been, could have been.

Brothers and sisters, go for the blessing!  Go see the beauty of God working in your life and the lives of your brothers and sisters, in a faithful community, for a period of decades.  With very few exceptions, this is what God has called His people to, for His glory and our good.  May we be faithful!

Serious Obligations Require Order

Dear Sovereign Redeemer and other friends,

Even a cursory glance at the relationships described in the New Testament brings us to an irrefutable conclusion – the local church is serious business.  God has called us into weighty accountability with our leaders and meaningful obligations with our brothers and sisters.  He requires these relationships to function according to His word, and we not only ignore what God has said to our own peril, we also miss out on the richness of a life that transcends the shallow connections of the “normal” church.

The obligations of those who lead and those who follow

Hebrews 13:17 is striking:  “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account.  Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”  If that doesn’t give you pause about  your choice of a local church, you haven’t thought about it very deeply.  Obey.  Be submissive.  Give an account for souls.  This should make leaders and followers equally sober-minded.  This is no baby shower, where we show up, chat awhile, eat cake and then go home.

And that admonition is far from isolated.  Paul says, “And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.  Be at peace among yourselves” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13).  We see a theme developing.  There is very real structure and authority in the church, but it is intended to be anything but adversarial.  It is serious but affectionate.  Those who follow recognize and highly esteem their leaders in love, and those who lead work hard on behalf of those in the church.  Souls are being watched out for.  Honor is being rendered.

1 Timothy 5:17 continues the theme:  “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.”  Diligent oversight.  Labor.  Honor.

So the obligations are serious.  No one could deny that.  Question:  What initiates all this?  Attendance?  On the first Sunday, or the fifth, or the twelfth? How do we decide? For now, let’s simply agree that we must decide.  There must be criteria.  It cannot be that you have an accountability for my soul, being over me in the Lord, and I am obligated to obey you, on the first Sunday and without knowing each other.  That flies in the face of any description of New Testament church life.  There is something real and significant here, and the very nature of the obligations requires some mechanism of order, some way to understand when this leader/follower line is being crossed.

The mutual obligations of  the “one anothers”

The seriousness isn’t limited to the relationships between leaders and followers.  In fact, the greater weight may be in the mutual care we should have for one another.  This is less than half the list, but here are my favorite “one anothers”:

  1. Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10)
  2. Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)
  3. Be kind to one another, forgiving each other (Ephesians 4:32)
  4. Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19)
  5. Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ (Ephesians 5:21)
  6. Do not lie to one another (Colossians 3:9)
  7. Encourage one another and build up one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
  8. Stimulate one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24)
  9. Do not speak against one another (James 4:11)
  10. Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another (James 5:16)
  11. Keep fervent in your love for one another (1 Peter 4:8)
  12. Be hospitable to one another (1 Peter 4:9)
  13. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another (1 Peter 4:10)

Now, there is no arguing that these “one anothers” are to be restricted to only those in our particular local church.  Clearly we owe a debt of love to everyone in the body of Christ with whom we come into contact.  But look at the list! How many of these can be accomplished to a meaningful degree outside of the week-in-and-week-out rhythm of healthy church life? Not many.  I need people sowing into my life through the months, years, and decades, and I hope to have the privilege of doing the same.  Few things are as frustrating as investing a year or two into a “we’re not sure who we are” church, only to find out that there are the most fundamental incompatibilities in doctrine or practice.  Back to square one.  Better luck next time.

We need to be thinking in terms of decades, not weeks or months, and that requires a reasonable basis for longevity.  What is my family going to be taught? What is expected of me? What can I expect? People who intend to invest for decades have a right to solid, explicit answers.

All churches have membership 

Here is the reality:  all churches have membership, even the ones that don’t.  What I mean is that there are commands to be obeyed, based on the serious obligations that exist in the local church, and this requires us to order our life together.

I’ll never forget my first weeks as a deacon.  Four of us were appointed as a brand new deacon team, none having prior experience as a deacon.  We had read the books but not yet served in the office.  To shorten the learning curve, we connected with a very experienced deacon from another church.  He was so kind to talk us through issues we might face and provide the working documents their team used to keep on top of their duties.  Since theirs was a Brethren church, I was more than a little surprised to find a “member since” slot on their benevolence form.  When I asked him about it, he explained that they didn’t really have members, but that they needed a way to prioritize the people who had been committed to the church, and this was a way to identify them.

Benevolence isn’t the only area that requires understanding who is who.  What about appointing leaders? Do you know of a church that appoints leaders with whoever happens to be present? Would that be consistent with the New Testament admonition to carefully qualify candidates (1 Timothy 3:1-10), not laying hands on them hastily (1 Timothy 5:22)? Of course not.

When you don’t have official church membership, you may very well end up with ill-conceived, informal, impromptu membership.  But when matters like these arise, you will have membership, by that name or another.

The punch line is that leaders ought to know with clarity who they are leading and who has actually made the commitment to follow.  Implied commitment in either direction is a lousy substitute.  And we ought to be on record as being ready and willing to “one another” our brothers and sisters in the local church for the foreseeable future.  Nothing less than this forms a sufficient basis for the serious obligations that are part and parcel of the New Testament church.

May God give us such a life together! And may we be faithful to these relationships that have been given to us as a blessing.

Soon I will discuss Argument 4:  The Regulative Principle Requires Church Membership (not precludes it).