You See Bones, I See an Army (cont,)

Continuing with Chapter 3 by Floyd McClung.

It's About Bonding and First Impressions
The challenge in church today is that people are imprinted by other people who don't have the DNA of radical New Testament church.  They have bonded to meeting-oriented church, to church done for them by pastors, and to church that is conducted in a building one day a week.  They have a DNA of dependency on the life-support systems of Sunday school, youth programs, and men's and women's ministries.  I often picture this kind of churchgoer as a very sick patient in an ICU ward, in isolation, hooked up to a life-support systems.  And that is what conventional church does for many people.  They are dependent on the ministries of the church.  church for these people is not a radical movement where they are leading people to Christ and baptizing their converts weekly, but something that exists to serve them, to keep them alive.

If the leaders and members of conventional churches are busy maintaining the business systems and structures of the church and don't have time to be winning people to Christ, the people will bond to the Western business-oriented DNA of their leaders.  If their leaders don't reproduce followers of Jesus, the people won't believe it is a high value in the church.  If the leaders see themselves as the ones who run the church instead of those who preach to the lost and disciple new believers, then the people will be imprinted with that DNA.  The DNA of a church at the deepest level sets the pattern of who the church becomes.  It is that pattern that determines how everything else grows and reproduces, or doesn't grow at all.

Like Jesus, we don't have the right to say who can and cannot do things for God.  We cannot set limits on people's spiritual authority.

God distributes authority in simple-church communities to each person.  People who lead do so without needing permission or position to get on with carrying out the Great Commission.  One's covering is found in his or her position in Christ, and not in human positions above them in the chain of command.  It comes from heart-level humility that others recognize and accept.

The dangers of the top-down hierarchical model of command-and-control-type leadership is that it ties people to a chain of command and creates dependency on other people for empowerment and permission to minister.  A codependency is developed that is unhealthy and will not lead to reproducing churches spontaneously.

Many people fear that without the top-down model of leadership there will be no clear authority.  This is a false assumption based on bad experiences or lack of experience, or worse, a lack of understanding of how God designed his church to function.  The strongest authority one can have is spiritual authority.  If a person's life does not warrant them influence in the lives of others, then they won't be respected.  But if they speak with wisdom and insight, and serve with a humble attitude, people will notice and will follow them, regardless of the person's title or position.  Jesus led in this manner.

I have personal experience in this area.  I was once removed from ministry by the person above me and was no longer allowed to disciple anyone.  I knew at the time this was very wrong, unhealthy, and unbiblical.  But, wanting to submit to my authority and keep peace in the church, I obeyed.  Looking back, I wish I hadn't.  Floyd explains above how our ultimate authority comes from our position in Christ.  I see many loyal church-goers struggling in this area.  Their scope is limited to the immediate church, not the Kingdom of God.  They put their Pastor above their God in making decisions.  Is it because the ramifications of not obeying the Pastor appear more immediate and threatening than the wrath of the Almighty?  What if the Pastor is wrong?  Greg encourages all our leaders to question his direction, to line up what he says with what the Bible says.  He tells them to obey the Bible if he's wrong.  He expects that.  He has always done that.  Once it cost him his job as Associate Pastor, but he did the right thing. 

Do you have the courage to do the right thing?  I wish I had.