NT Leadership
New Testament leadership at its heart is servant based and not dictatorial – however, it is also not democratic.
God through human vessels calls and sets in place leadership.
When a person has God’s call on their life for leadership within the church – they can then say as Paul said of himself, “Paul, called to be an apostle by the will of God” end of story.
With God’s call firmly established, leaders need to lead which may seem obvious but is often overlooked. Leaders work both behind the scenes and out in front. Their mandate is to hear God and prayerfully lead people by example into what God is calling them to do with passion and boldness.
While we are all responsible for leading our own lives – in the church God has established Pastors or Shepherds, (also known as Bishops and Elders interchangeably in the New Testament) and Deacons (servants) to provide leadership and care for God’s people – his flock. These are functional leadership roles and are not purely positional and they are also not titles to become a prefix for a leader’s given name.
We also need to re-think our traditional understanding of Deacons and take a fresh look at the scope and ministry influence of what could arguably be called the “prototypical” or first deacons as found in Acts 6:1-7 (and following chapters) such as Stephen who was used greatly in signs and wonders before preaching his first sermon that ended in his death or Philip who was used to witness to an Ethiopian Eunuch and then not only lead him to Jesus but also see him baptized in water – all in one afternoon.
These leadership roles have been designed by God to be carried out in a team setting and it does not mean that there is a separation between leaders and non-leaders, the New Testament knows of no such division – we are all called a Kingdom of Priests and as such have priestly functions to carry out before God within his church.
If you have any questions that you would like to ask regarding New Testament Leadership then please send us an email at: cityedgechurch@gmail.com
