What does biblical church leadership look like and how does it function? This is probably the number one question I get asked. Biblical Church Leadership by Beresford Job is one of the best books I can recommend concerning this topic. Below is a short excerpt concerning eldership.

We must make an extremely important point now by way of a vital qualification. Although we are seeing that permanent, local church leadership (eldership, as scripture terms it) carries no executive or positional authority, we are not saying that it is therefore merely “a token affair.” As already established, the major default of biblical church leadership, in contrast with leadership as found in most unbiblical churches, is that of invisibility, as opposed to being high profile, and visitors to such a church would not, under normal circumstances, know if there were any elders or not, let alone who they might be. Remember, there are no services led from the front in a biblical church because, as we have seen, all present are free to take part as the Spirit leads them. Indeed, being also home-based, there isn’t even a front for anyone to be up at anyhow, and people are just sitting around in a circle in someone’s sitting room. Furthermore, any elders present just think of themselves as being “one of the lads” and would not for one moment be sitting there thinking in terms of them being a leader. However, this is not to say than any elder present would shrink from taking a lead if any developing situation required it, and as publicly as necessary too.

The fact that church government is consensual does not in the slightest mean that elders do not know when to step forward, or when they must be somewhat more definitive than usual about something, or when it is appropriate for them to give a strong lead concerning anything that is pressing. They would also, in any such circumstances, expect the church to give serious consideration indeed to anything they were saying as a result. As I have already noted, there may be times when there is no consensus over an issue that just cannot be shelved and, in such cases, if the eldership has a clear idea of the necessary way forward, then the church would be strongly advised to go that way. Being also guardians of the church, as we have also already clearly seen, elders have the serious duty of protecting it from attack, from both outside and from within, however the attack might manifest itself. We earlier saw what Paul wrote to Titus concerning elders, that an elder “…must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine, and refute those who oppose it.” (Titus 1:9) The Greek word Paul uses means “to refute in such a way as to put the person to shame.” Indeed, it is appropriate to think of elders, and church leaders more widely, by making a parallel comparison with Jesus being designated both as the Lamb of God and as the Lion of Judah. Wise and godly church leaders fully realise that there is a time to roar, just as there is a time for gentleness. This is the type of wisdom and discretion that (even more-so than the other leadership qualifications) primarily defines them, and stems from exceptional character and sound, godly living.

It is not, therefore, the case that biblical church leadership, such as I am advocating for, is in any way token, or merely some kind of toothless rubber stamp. Elders may not have executive or positional authority, but they have still been recognised by their church as having been fitted by God for the task because of their exemplary Christian walk. They have therefore been recognised precisely because they have proved themselves over the years, by personal example, to those they lead, and that, as I have already stated, gives them something arguably even more powerful than executive authority; and that is moral authority. It is the moral authority of being able to freely and effectively carry people along with them because of the profound trust engendered between all those concerned over the many months and years of close, personal fellowship.

Beresford Job can be reached at…

Website: www.housechurch.co.uk
 Blog: beresfordjob.wordpress.com
 Email: talk2ccf@hotmail.com

Don’t miss a post, sign up for my bi-monthly newsletter below.

If you’re a good swimmer you might want to take a deep dive into The Pastor Does He Exist? by David H.J. Gay. This book, at about 350 pages is not for everyone. However, if you like church history, this book contains details of how the church fathers introduced error and how future generations exacerbated this error.

The great causality in the corruption of the New Testament system, about which I have been writing, is not church life, or men. Far from it. Most damage has been done to nothing less than the glory of the person of the Lord Christ himself. Really? Yes, indeed!

The grievous consequence of this pastor business, the grievous error in it, is not some technical point of church order and structure. Certainly not. No! Rather it is this: When men invent a third order of minister, when they invent the notion of the pastor, they are in fact – albeit unwittingly – fulfilling a basic instinct ingrained in fallen man; namely, the need of every sinner to find a priest to represent him before God, and a visible priest at that. The widespread existence of a priesthood is no accident. Men and women all over the world, in all sorts of cultures, in every culture, crave a priest. It takes various forms, but the craving is there.

Let me stick with Christendom. How rife is the need for a priest in Christendom! I say ‘need’, but throughout Christendom, men demand, crave, hanker after such an individual. Many think they need a priest for their babies as they enter the world, so that he, with his ministrations, can get these babies right with God, will give them their so-called Christian name by sprinkling drops of water on them, and muttering some hocus-pocus over them. Some of these babies as they grow up, take it further. They need a priest – or even a bishop – to confirm their spiritual status in some way or another, and bestow the Holy Spirit upon them through the laying on of his hands. They need a priest to administer the communion to them. They need a priest to make their marriage ‘proper’. They need a priest to offer them words of comfort when they pass through affliction. They need a priest to absolve them from their sins. They need a priest to tell them the words of God. Above all. they need a priest who will make sure that all is well at their death, and will ensure their safe and certain passage to the realms of bliss. Men hanker after a priest, I say; they crave the comforts of a professional minister and his religious ministrations. At all stages of life, they want a priest to perform the rites of passage for them.

Reader, do not make the mistake of thinking the above paragraph applies only to those churches which openly speak about having a priest. Far, far from it! Many believers and churches are guilty of it in some form or another – not excluding those who are most vehement in their dislike of the word ‘priest’. Of course, most dramatically is it seen in the Roman abomination, with its so-called Vicar of Christ, and his priestly legions. But, distressing to report, the principle is not only a feature of Popery. It is alive and kicking in the evangelical world. Oh, we may have jettisoned the gaudy trappings of medievalism, yes, but we have replaced them with our own Reformed and evangelical trappings and props, right enough!

My point is, by breaking Christ’s ordinances on this subject, evangelicals (including the Reformed) pander to this craving. Ordinary – what a dreadful word – ordinary believers, so they are told, are lay people; they really do need a member of the special class – one of the clerics – to lead and preside over their worship, to minister holy things to and for them.

And it is but a short step from this for the ordinary people to let their clerics ‘do’ their worship on their behalf. Ordinary Christians cannot be expected to learn directly from God’s word, can they? They need the professional expert, the man of God, the Lord’s servant, the Lord’s sent-servant, the Lord’s anointed to teach them, don’t they? They need a professional minister to pray for them, not infrequently to pronounce (if not to bestow – but not, as it should be, to ask) God’s blessing on them as they leave the meeting house. It is not unknown for Reformed or evangelical men to pronounce the aaronic benediction (Num. 6:24-26) upon a congregation at the close of a service, even with uplifted hands, palms facing the congregation – copying Aaron who addressed the people, not God, with this benediction (Num. 6:23). Do such men not fear they might be trespassing on Christ’s prerogative (Luke 24:50)? Or, worse, are they aping him? No man today has this right or power. If 2 Corinthians 13:14 is thought to justify it though it needs proof that Paul was not simply praying there – it was an apostolic blessing. Compare Romans 1:7; 15:13; 16:20,25-27; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 16:23; Galatians 1:3-5; 6:18, for example.

For many ‘ordinary’ believers, in their need, their professional pastor counsels them. In their ignorance, he guides them. In their sin, he intercedes for them. Nothing wrong with this, of course. Except… when the pastor takes the place of Christ. And, not infrequently, he does. Hackles will rise at this, but I say it again. For the ‘ordinary’ believer, too often the visible pastor is more real than the invisible Christ. Yet all these vital ministries belong to Christ. They are properly his, and only his. He is the Pastor of his people. But, once the human priest has got his feet under the table, he will eventually replace the Son of God.

Don’t miss a blog. Sign up below for my bi-monthly newsletter. Thank you.

Below is the second excerpt from Safe Houses of Hope & Prayer by R. Maurice Smith. You can find out more about Maurice by going to his website risingrivermedia.org. The first excerpt can be accessed by clicking here.

I would dare say that most Christians in traditional institutional churches never achieve or experience genuine fellowship (what I would prefer to call genuine community). Why? Because genuine fellowship is messy, takes work and requires perseverance. For time pressed leaders, it is much easier to teach people to death with impressive Bible notes in PowerPoint presentations than it is to work through the personal issues which stand in the way of genuine community. And lectures you can control are easier than dialogues which you can’t.

Our English word translated “fellowship” is the Greek word koinonia which comes from the Greek word koine, meaning “common.” Fellowship is the holding of certain things in common. In the life of the organic house church it is a mutual sharing of our lives together. We share a common life in the Kingdom of God and drink from a common River of His Spirit in the bond of Christ.

The desire for genuine koinonia was not new in the ancient world, nor was it exclusively Christian. The Classical Greek philosophers had envisioned a utopian fellowship that they described as koinonia. But all classical attempts to achieve this koinonia by human effort had failed miserably. But now, through the death and resurrection of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God had accomplished in the Church and the Kingdom of God what the efforts of men throughout the ages had never achieved: genuine fellowship. And this fellowship, this genuine koinonia, was manifested in the organic house churches of the New Testament where believers shared their lives with one another. They shared meals together in one another’s homes. They prayed together, endured persecution together, worshiped together and, at times, they even died together. They preferred one another’s company above all others and gave sacrificially to meet each other’s needs. To express it in contemporary terms for today, these early house churches were made up of people who loved to hang out together. They shared an affinity an attraction based on common interests – that surpassed the natural – it was supernatural. True koinonia or fellowship means that as Christians we share a common life in the Kingdom of God.

A quick word is in order at this point about genuine koinonia or community versus pseudo-community. In genuine community the reality is that baggage happens and this frequently results in conflicts. But mature believers look past the conflict and work together to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2) and help each other unpack their baggage and resolve their conflicts. Unfortunately, this is a new experience for many people who have only experienced the pseudo-community of most churches (traditional and otherwise).

In his excellent book The Different Drum Dr. M. Scott Peck describes pseudo-community this way:

“The essential dynamic of pseudo-community is conflict avoidance. The absence of conflict in a group is not by itself diagnostic. Genuine community may experience lovely and sometimes lengthy periods free from conflict. But that is because they have learned how to deal with conflict rather than avoid it. Pseudo-community is conflict-avoiding; true community is conflict resolving.”

Genuine community, genuine koinonia requires intimacy, vulnerability and conflict resolution with both God and men. Genuine koinonia requires a willingness to work through differences, baggage and conflict. If we are to be successful as organic house churches and as Safe Houses of Hope and Prayer, then we must pursue genuine community in our house churches and create a safe place where it can take place.

Sign up for my bi-monthy blogs below. Thank you.

I really enjoyed reading Safe Houses of Hope & Prayer by R. Maurice Smith. His writing is down to earth, comedic and full of wisdom. The excerpt below addresses how relational gatherings can transform messy people. You can find out more about R. Maurice Smith by going to risingrivermedia.org. Another excerpt from this book can be accessed here.

Let’s face reality, shall we. For several years now I have taught a simple maxim in our house church network: “Life is Messy.” If we look with honest eyes we quickly see that people’s lives are a mess. Their families are a mess; their marriages are a mess; their finances are a mess. And that messiness is most often (but not always) caused by sin and its ripple effects. This is true of the non-Christian as well as for the believer. For those of us seeking a Jesus-shaped spirituality in organic house church, our challenge is how to respond to the messiness of life (particularly other people’s lives) when it shows up in our living room. Over the years we have had just about everything from divorce to demonic manifestations show up in our living room. That’s the challenge (and the blessing) of organic house church. But the messiness of life raises issues of how we deal with issues of sin and its consequences in the lives of those around us as we seek to lead people into the Kingdom of God.

Generally speaking, there are two basic ways such messes can be addressed: 1) We can attempt to create religious rules (“Do these ten things and God will love you and we may let you back into our house church!”) designed and intended to clean up messes and prevent sin, or 2) we can seek God for the inward transformation of the heart and life which overflows in obedience to God.

The choice between these two approaches for dealing with issues of sin and the messiness of people’s lives, the choice between outward religious conformity to rules versus trusting God for the inward spiritual transformation of the individual, will eventually confront every organic house church. And how you respond will define your ministry and your walk.

I want to urge you to believe God for the inward spiritual transformation of people’s hearts, in spite of the messiness of their lives, rather than allowing yourself to walk in a spirit of control and religious legalism. Every ministry, including the organic house church which meets in your house, will eventually be defined by two things: What it stands against, and what it stands for. As organic house churches and Safe Houses of Hope And Prayer, we must stand against sin and the kingdom of darkness in all of its manifestations, and against any spirit of control and outward religious conformity which believes and teaches that you can fight spiritual darkness with man-made religious rules. We stand for the Kingdom of God in all of its righteousness and holiness, and for the genuine spiritual transformation of the individual heart which will overflow in obedience to God.

Here is where life gets complicated and messy. You see, in order to deal with or prevent the sins which they see in others, people and ministries are constantly tempted to create rules of outward religious conformity. We fail to comprehend Paul’s description of the Law in 2 Corinthians 3 as representing a ministry of death and which offers only a fleeting, temporary glory. All too often we fail to realize that, if the Law of God brought only death and condemnation, any laws and rules of men can only do worse! Religious legalism is like fools gold. In the end it is a worthless disappointment, but one which leads many people astray before the truth is discovered.

But because men are sometimes desperate for any kind of glory, however fleeting, they will pursue even a temporary and fading glory which they can control, rather than a greater abounding glory which only God by His Spirit can give. And there’s the rub. A religion-shaped spirituality made up of legalism and outward religious conformity places trust in ourselves to conquer sin and to clean up life’s messes by our own efforts. But a Jesus-shaped spirituality seeking spiritual transformation must always trust God, for He alone gives His Spirit without measure.

What does this mean for Safe Houses of Hope And Prayer and organic house church? And why is this an issue? It means that in both word and deed our message MUST be that we are not here to call anyone to obey our set of rules. We are here to proclaim the Kingdom of God and liberty to the captives. We are here to proclaim that God wants to transform people from the inside out, to deliver them from the ministry of death and condemnation and to introduce them to the abiding and abounding glory of God in the face of Christ. To the extent that we impose our man-made rules of outward religious conformity, we short-circuit the work of God’s Spirit and offer the fool’s gold of believing that personal transformation will come as the result of keeping a set of rules.

Sign up below to receive my bi-monthly newsletter. Blessings.

Timothy Germain has created this great little PDF, 69 pages with images and graphics. Solid material and easy reading that can be sent to a friend to introduce them to House Church. This can also be used as a study guide for current groups. The PDF is free to download. I have also included a sample page below.

You can find out more about Tim by going to ekklesiajourney.com. Tim is also on Facebook and YouTube.

Never miss a post. Sign up for my bi-monthly newsletter below. Thank you.