“Genuine authority knows that
it is bound in the strictest sense by the words of Jesus, “you have one
teacher, and you are all brothers” (Matt. 23:8). The community of faith does
not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus and of one
another…The question of spiritual trust, which is so closely connected with the
question of authority, is decided by the faithfulness with which people serve
Jesus Christ, never by the extraordinary gifts they possess.” Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Life Together, Fortress
Press, 2015 (Reader’s Edition), pages 85 - 86.
How unlike our models of
leadership today, whether from the top down or from the bottom up. Leadership
gurus within the church often look outside the church for models, which they
then import into the church. Congregations clamor for successful leaders who
will grow the church numerically, no matter if it be a mile wide and an inch
deep. Just a week ago I read the multi-page profile of a pastor of a local
church, detailing his numerical success in the places he has been prior to
coming to our area. I recall nothing about Jesus, nothing about discipleship,
nothing about mentoring others, nothing about the spiritual maturation of
congregations. Charisma and numbers are the measure – but is this Biblical?
A growing leader ought to have
growing people around him or her, and they should have people growing around
them. They should be different and not the same, why not a fisherman and a tax
collector and a zealot and a member of the establishment? Why all the same? Why
all the same education and social and economic and racial background? Why all
the same temperaments? Why all blue collar or white collar?
Bonhoeffer lived at the center
of political, economic, and theological power – he was accustomed to circles of
power in his well-connected upbringing and in his academic and professional life.
Bonhoeffer knew and engaged with world-famous theologians based in Berlin and
elsewhere in Europe. Bonhoeffer did not write as person outside circles of
authority and power, but as an insider – and as an insider he wanted to save
the church, to strengthen it, he desired that the church discover life together and this entailed a
Biblical view of leadership and authority.
Why do we not desire to hear
what a janitor has seen in the Word of God? Why do we not want to hear what a
shy person has to say? Why do we functionally dismiss those who have nothing
apparent to offer us? Do we not see the glory of God in those people? As C.S.
Lewis wrote in what is surely his greatest message, The Weight of Glory, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal…Next to the
Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your
senses.”
Biblical leadership not only
sees the glory of God in others, it draws that glory out, it encourages it to
fly from the nest, to soar, to catch the thermals of the Holy Spirit. There is
a sense in which Biblical leadership looks to Jesus and says, “He must increase
but I must decrease.” And then it looks to others and also says, “They must
increase but I must decrease.” Biblical leadership takes joy in seeing the
Bride and Bridegroom united, in seeing them take joy in each other – when the
Bride takes her eyes off Biblical human leadership and beholds Jesus…then
Biblical leadership has fulfilled its calling.
Biblical leaders want to hear
Christians talk about Jesus, about the Word of God in their lives; not the Word
of God as it has been filtered down to them. Yes, of course there is a vital
place for hearing and reading the Word as it has been given to others for the
church; but if that is the main diet, if that constitutes the life of the
believer – then we have a life mediated by others, lived by others, experienced
by others. We ought not to speak or write to make others dependent on us, but
to encourage others to engage the Word of God so that they can contribute to
the conversation and to life together.
We have all been given grace, we have all been given glory – is it not a tragedy
that so many live life without ever knowing the glory of their Lord within them,
without ever sharing the Word, without ever venturing out of the nest?
As Lewis wrote, “There are no ordinary people.” Biblical leaders know
that, how do we know that they know? Not by what they say, but by how they live
what they say.
“Authority in pastoral care
can be found only in the servants of Jesus who seek no authority of their own,
but who are Christians one to another, obedient to the authority of the word,”
(page 86). These words conclude the chapter titled Service. The chapter envisions a fully functioning community in
which all members matter, all are valuable, all are accountable, all speak the
Word, all submit to one another, and leadership within the community washes the
feet of all.
Is such life messy? Of course
it is. Are there problems in such a life? Of course there are. Bonhoeffer tells
us that challenges will come, he doesn’t teach that they may come, they will come. He wants us to prepare for
them by Biblically thinking ahead as to how we will respond.
I have a friend who is about
to assume the role of interim pastor for 18 – 24 months. The pastor who had
been at the church had been there many years, at least 20 as I recall. The
church leadership expects there to be a significant drop-off in attendance as a
result of the pastor’s retirement. I have another friend whose church is
between pastors, during the tenure of a recent interim pastor attendance and
offerings took a nose dive, now they are seeking another interim pastor. These scenarios
are not atypical; if we are experiencing life
together then how can these things be?
As I have written before, I
seldom see a book exploring just what the Biblical church is. There are books
about church growth, there are books about programs (including small group
programs), there are books about denominational polity, or polity related to
certain theological traditions – but the fact is that the heart and soul of the
church is something that we seldom think about, talk about, teach about. The
Bride for whom Christ died is shut in a closet. We think and live
organizationally, pragmatically, and according to our various religious
traditions – but the Wedding Supper of the Lamb will not be about Pentecostals,
or Presbyterians, or Methodists, or Anglicans, or Roman Catholics, or Eastern
Orthodox, or any other group that, more often than not, claims our allegiance (including
non-traditional groups such as house churches) – it is about the Bride, the
Church, that wonderful Woman whose heart beats for her Bridegroom, and whose
Bridegroom yearns for her.
One day Jesus will set her
free and she will dance and sing and smile and weep and look at herself and
say, “Oh my, is this who I have been all this time…and I didn’t know, I didn’t
realize it. I had no idea how much, how very deeply, He loves me.” Perhaps she
will be in holy shock and it may take a while for her to gain her composure.
Can we hear her heartbeat? Can
we sense it? Are we listening for it above all the religious noise surrounding
us?
What beautiful music surrounds
her! See the angelic attendants escorting her.
“Listen, O daughter, consider
and incline your ear; forget your own people also, and your father’s house; so the
King will greatly desire your beauty, because He is your Lord, worship Him.” Psalm
45:10 – 1.
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