You know the paintings of a lone wolf out on a ledge with a full moon behind. The wolf is howling and there seems to be a certain strength to the lonely wolf. In all reality wolves are pack animals. That wolf is probably sick or impaired in some in such a way that he couldn’t keep with the pack. That wolf, while still being effective at hunting will not be as effective or productive as the pack.
The same is true for us. I was thinking about this as I was sitting in our elders meeting last night and I realized how blessed we were to have such a great group of Godly men who give up their time to be a GROUP of servant leaders within the congregation. Sure, being part of a team is more difficult sometimes than being a “lone wolf”. Decisions take more time to make as everybody has to be on the same page, disagreements come up (though in my three years here that has yet to happen within our eldership). We have to sometimes rely on others and sometimes things happen in their lives to make it so they can’t get things done. Yes, that all happens. Publicity does not happen as there is no face to the ministry of Chinchilla Churches of Christ and to be honest good marketing means having a face to that marketing. We don’t have the minister’s name on the sign out front or on the website, because in the grand scheme of things I, as minister, am just part of the body, using my gifts which are one of the many gifts that go into the ministry here. It also means that those looking for a charismatic lone wolf leader, someone to follow as opposed to someone to stand alongside and work alongside go elsewhere (though I must say that to the credit of our community they woudn’t find any “lone wolf” ministries here in Chinchilla.)
In 1 Peter 2 we read that we are a “Royal Priesthood”. A priesthood means a group of priests, and an order of priests. So a “Royal Priesthood” is not a group of people sitting in pews with one “head Priest” or “executive officer Priest” or “Network of Apostle Priests” doing all the ministry. A priesthood of all believers means that every person sitting in the pew is a vital part of the “priesthood”. That in any congregation the people work as a team to serve God, to glorify him, to share the truth of the Gospel, and to love one another.
The sheer people power of a group of people as opposed to a “lone wolf” leader is great. I write this as I think about a previous ministry experience I had in a Church of over one thousand people. We had an executive Pastor. His titles were numerous. First off he preferred to be referred to with the title of Dr. Rather than pastor or Rev. (He had a d.min not a PHD). He insisted on wearing a robe and stated that it was a symbol of leadership. He was “head Pastor” (Despite Colossians 2 which should cause us to reconsider using that title), “Head of Staff”, “Chief Executive Officer or C.E.O.” and “Executive pastor”. To be honest in the end he was a burned out mess. Getting volunteers in that Church was like pulling teeth to the extent that our musicians had to be hired in. Out of a thousand people they could only find enough people to form one worship band, and three of them were hired in. All our cleaning and building work was done by hired people. Our youth group only had three volunteers. Everyone looked up to the “head pastor” rather than looking side to side to see what needed to be done.
Now put that against the Biblical model of the early Church. We had Apostles, Apostles were not stationary in one Church or another. Like Paul and Peter they were teachers and encouragers working with Churches in teaching them and helping them, as a group of people, to do the work they were called to. They were never vision casters, they were never rock stars, they never had their names on the sign in lights. The sign out front of Corinth never read “First Church of Corinth, featuring the Apostolic and Prophetic ministry of the Right Reverend Doctor Apostle Paul or Tarsus”. They were simply teachers, encouragers, and preachers. In fact Paul’s charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 was that he should “correct, encourage, and rebuke” and that he should teach the word of God.
The ministry of the early Church was the model of first Corinthians 12 “one body with many parts” all working together to glorify God and to make disciples of all nations. If I asked someone to name one of the pastors of any of the early Churches I doubt if anyone could do that. It wasn’t about a “lone wolf” at the “top”, it was simply about working together as a body of believers to share the Gospel and to glorify God.
The Church is a community. As simple as that concept is we have had hundreds of years to create complicated systems and hierarchies that divide the Church into classes and hierarchies. We’ve made spiritual gifts into markers for where you stand in the hierarchies of Church power and authority, rather than simply gifts that God gives us so we can do certain work. We even have phrases today like “Vertical Apostles”, “lead Apostles”, “Convening apostles”, “Covering Apostles”, “Spiritual Fathers”, “Executive Pastors”. We have denominations and networks that say you are either “in or Out”, certain Churches are in the network or denomination and others are not and your place either “in or out” determines your worth as a congregation. In my former denomination we had rules set up that said only certain people could officiate Church meetings, only certain pastors with a certain level of education could baptize people, others could only do communion, some could serve the bread but not the wine, only a certain level of elders could pass out the plates containing the communion elements, etc. Where is any of that in the Bible? It’s not, it’s simply our way of complicating something that is actually very very simple. The Church is not a hierarchy divided up into “priestly casts”. The Church is a Royal Priesthood, a community of believers who simply work together to get the job done. To work together to glorify God, to love our neighbours, and to make disciples of all nations.
There are no “lone wolves” in ministry and there are no “heads” other than Jesus. It’s lonely at the top, which is why the only one who can handle the position of “head” is the one who is three in one. Never alone, just as his promise to us, that if we are his servants he will be with us always to the end of the age. Ensuring, so long as we walk behind Him, following Him, with Him as our only leader, He will be with us “always to the end of the age.”
The same is true for us. I was thinking about this as I was sitting in our elders meeting last night and I realized how blessed we were to have such a great group of Godly men who give up their time to be a GROUP of servant leaders within the congregation. Sure, being part of a team is more difficult sometimes than being a “lone wolf”. Decisions take more time to make as everybody has to be on the same page, disagreements come up (though in my three years here that has yet to happen within our eldership). We have to sometimes rely on others and sometimes things happen in their lives to make it so they can’t get things done. Yes, that all happens. Publicity does not happen as there is no face to the ministry of Chinchilla Churches of Christ and to be honest good marketing means having a face to that marketing. We don’t have the minister’s name on the sign out front or on the website, because in the grand scheme of things I, as minister, am just part of the body, using my gifts which are one of the many gifts that go into the ministry here. It also means that those looking for a charismatic lone wolf leader, someone to follow as opposed to someone to stand alongside and work alongside go elsewhere (though I must say that to the credit of our community they woudn’t find any “lone wolf” ministries here in Chinchilla.)
In 1 Peter 2 we read that we are a “Royal Priesthood”. A priesthood means a group of priests, and an order of priests. So a “Royal Priesthood” is not a group of people sitting in pews with one “head Priest” or “executive officer Priest” or “Network of Apostle Priests” doing all the ministry. A priesthood of all believers means that every person sitting in the pew is a vital part of the “priesthood”. That in any congregation the people work as a team to serve God, to glorify him, to share the truth of the Gospel, and to love one another.
The sheer people power of a group of people as opposed to a “lone wolf” leader is great. I write this as I think about a previous ministry experience I had in a Church of over one thousand people. We had an executive Pastor. His titles were numerous. First off he preferred to be referred to with the title of Dr. Rather than pastor or Rev. (He had a d.min not a PHD). He insisted on wearing a robe and stated that it was a symbol of leadership. He was “head Pastor” (Despite Colossians 2 which should cause us to reconsider using that title), “Head of Staff”, “Chief Executive Officer or C.E.O.” and “Executive pastor”. To be honest in the end he was a burned out mess. Getting volunteers in that Church was like pulling teeth to the extent that our musicians had to be hired in. Out of a thousand people they could only find enough people to form one worship band, and three of them were hired in. All our cleaning and building work was done by hired people. Our youth group only had three volunteers. Everyone looked up to the “head pastor” rather than looking side to side to see what needed to be done.
Now put that against the Biblical model of the early Church. We had Apostles, Apostles were not stationary in one Church or another. Like Paul and Peter they were teachers and encouragers working with Churches in teaching them and helping them, as a group of people, to do the work they were called to. They were never vision casters, they were never rock stars, they never had their names on the sign in lights. The sign out front of Corinth never read “First Church of Corinth, featuring the Apostolic and Prophetic ministry of the Right Reverend Doctor Apostle Paul or Tarsus”. They were simply teachers, encouragers, and preachers. In fact Paul’s charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 was that he should “correct, encourage, and rebuke” and that he should teach the word of God.
The ministry of the early Church was the model of first Corinthians 12 “one body with many parts” all working together to glorify God and to make disciples of all nations. If I asked someone to name one of the pastors of any of the early Churches I doubt if anyone could do that. It wasn’t about a “lone wolf” at the “top”, it was simply about working together as a body of believers to share the Gospel and to glorify God.
The Church is a community. As simple as that concept is we have had hundreds of years to create complicated systems and hierarchies that divide the Church into classes and hierarchies. We’ve made spiritual gifts into markers for where you stand in the hierarchies of Church power and authority, rather than simply gifts that God gives us so we can do certain work. We even have phrases today like “Vertical Apostles”, “lead Apostles”, “Convening apostles”, “Covering Apostles”, “Spiritual Fathers”, “Executive Pastors”. We have denominations and networks that say you are either “in or Out”, certain Churches are in the network or denomination and others are not and your place either “in or out” determines your worth as a congregation. In my former denomination we had rules set up that said only certain people could officiate Church meetings, only certain pastors with a certain level of education could baptize people, others could only do communion, some could serve the bread but not the wine, only a certain level of elders could pass out the plates containing the communion elements, etc. Where is any of that in the Bible? It’s not, it’s simply our way of complicating something that is actually very very simple. The Church is not a hierarchy divided up into “priestly casts”. The Church is a Royal Priesthood, a community of believers who simply work together to get the job done. To work together to glorify God, to love our neighbours, and to make disciples of all nations.
There are no “lone wolves” in ministry and there are no “heads” other than Jesus. It’s lonely at the top, which is why the only one who can handle the position of “head” is the one who is three in one. Never alone, just as his promise to us, that if we are his servants he will be with us always to the end of the age. Ensuring, so long as we walk behind Him, following Him, with Him as our only leader, He will be with us “always to the end of the age.”