Leadership and Followership
By, John Wimber
(Taken from Equipping the Saints- 1995)
Some pastors and church leaders mistakenly think
ministry is about people keeping. “We got to keep these people coming every
Sunday. We got to keep these people giving. We got to keep these people
listening to our messages. And most of all, we got to keep these people from
going anywhere else.” As leaders, we’re not in the people keeping business.
We’re in the people processing business.
Some are like raw lumber still out in the forest
when we first meet them, or they may be in the mill or on their way to the
factory. Wherever we find them and in whatever state they’re in, our job is to
bring them in, and with God’s help, make them thoroughly Christian. We need to
find out where these people are in this process of maturing and help them
along.
As church leaders, we have little control over who
shows up in our churches. It would be nice if we could form a “dream team” of
capable, happy, well-adjusted, disciples who are willing to do anything
necessary to conform their lives to the teachings of
Christ and to His church- and give ten percent of their income. Sorry, it’s not
like that…unless you want to have about three people in your church. Consider
the apostles. They had walked with Jesus for three years. They saw him
crucified. They stood inside the empty tomb. And yet, when Jesus appeared to
them after his ascension, these same men had to be commanded by Jesus to “Touch
me and see.” Why? Because …”they still did not believe.”
Yet Jesus gave the church to these men!
Pastors and leaders don’t have a draft like the
NFL. Just because First Baptist had a lousy season last year, doesn’t mean they get the first round draft choice of
available converts. When all is said and done, the Lord of the harvest adds to
our numbers those who are being saved…. those whom he chooses.
Spiritual children are like natural children. Each
one is a surprise. When they come into relationship with Christ, it’s like
being handed a newborn. You rejoice in the new life, but before long you
realize someone has to change the diapers and feed the baby. Someone has to
protect the baby. Having babies is hard…but rearing children is where the real
work begins. Likewise, winning people to Christ is exciting, but nurturing and
loving them to a state of mature Christian adulthood is hard work. Yet, that’s
what leaders do.
Unfortunately, everyone who comes to Christ, also
come with all kinds of emotional and spiritual baggage. In some cases that
baggage will make the job of spiritual formation extremely difficult. They come
angry, confused, and bruised. Some of them have been chewed up and spit out by
life’s difficulties. Many people come from very nominal church background. They
may mistrust the church. They may be individualistic, cocky, and arrogant when
they walk in the door.
That’s the raw material we deal with. Furthermore,
as leaders we have what seems like an impossible goal. In describing his labor
for the church, the apostle Paul writes: “We proclaim Him, admonishing and
teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in
Christ” (Col. 1:28, emphasis added). Paul wasn’t interested in presenting
everyone reasonably OK in Christ. His goal wasn’t to present everyone sort of
together in Christ. I’ve been tempted at times, to write off some people, but
Paul aimed to present everyone he had any degree of influence over perfect in
Christ.
Paul said to that end he labored and struggled. But
Paul’s strength was not his own will, but “his [Jesus’] energy, which so
powerfully works in me” (Col. 1:29). As he told the Philippians, “I can do
everything through Him who gives me strength.” When you start working with some
of the people the Lord brings to you, you’ll need His strength.
How will we measure disciples? First, they
demonstrate commitment through service; they’re willing to do things. We help
followers understand that we’ve been called to lay our lives down as an act of
worship (Rom. 12:1-2).
These are men and women in the Vineyard who have
gone half way around the world a dozen times, using their own money to serve
the purposes of God. They learned how to serve at home long before they got on
a jet. Back in 1978, Todd Hunter, a Vineyard pastor, came and told me that he
wanted to go to
Finally, the Holy Spirit said it was time for him
to go. I knew I could send him, not because of what he knew, but because he had
demonstrated his commitment through practical service.
The second measurement of disciples is whether the
Church life is at the center of their life. Loving Christ is only part of the
picture. We also need to love what He loves, which is the church. Disciples
love the church because God loves the church. He doesn’t look down from heaven
and see divisions of churches, he sees a bride preparing herself for marriage
to His Son. The church is the only thing Jesus is coming back for.
If the people who come to our churches only get
connected with Christ, they may or may not stay. But if they get connected with
Christ and with other brothers and sisters in Christ- they’ll probably stay-
unless the Lord moves them out. They’re looking for relationship and identity.
They’re looking for reality and something that will get them through life.
Many years ago, C. Peter Wagner and I traveled to
different churches to consult with the Fuller Evangelistic Association. I must
have heard Pete say a hundred times, “If I lived in this city, I would come to
this church.” Every time he said it, he meant it. He loves the church in all
its many-faceted expressions. Pete would sit and cry in the various worship
services we attended. I thought he was crying from embarrassment, but I soon
realized that it was joy.
Third, we measure disciples by the way they think.
Following Jesus should affect our thought patterns. Are the people you’re
training thinking in disciplese? The fundamentals of the gospel become more
important to a committed disciple’s spiritual life as the heart and lungs are
to this physical body. The following chart sketches the differences in those
who have an immature faith, and those who have a mature Christian faith.
IMMATURE FAITH MATURE
ADULT FAITH
Good Christians don’t have pain or disappointment God uses our pain and disappointment to make us better Christians
God helps those who help themselves God helps those who admit their own helplessness
God wants to make us
happy God
wants to make us into the image of Jesus
Faith
will help us always explain what God is doing Faith
helps us stand under God’s sovereignty even when we have no idea what God is
doing
The
closer we get to God, the more perfect we become The closer we get to God,
the more we become aware of our own sinfulness
Mature
Christians have answers Mature
Christians can wrestle honestly with
tough questions because we trust that God has the answers
Good Christians are
always strong Our strength is admitting our weakness
We go to church because
our friends are there,
we have great leaders, and we get something
out of it We go to
church because we belong to the body of Christ
We want to engender a
deep spirituality in our disciples that rejects a facile triumphalism.
Disciples realize there will be hard times ahead. The journey we’re on is
fraught with pain, difficulties, and the onslaughts of the enemy. Mature
Christian’s also learn we can benefit from trials. From my reading of the Bible
(and church history), Christianity doesn’t guarantee heaven here on earth.
We’re going to Heaven- But we may go through hell here on this earth!
Maturity
doesn’t not automatically come with the passage of years;
some of the people we work with may be spiritually
much younger than their chronological age. A prayer I pray often is: “Lord, let
me grow up, before I grow old.”
Used
by permission only. Please Contact dsjwimber@aol.com
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