CHURCH
CHURCH
CHURCH GOVERNMENT

The role of kingdom leaders, is to encourage believers to personally seek and follow God's will for their own lives, rather than follow the vision, or join the church or organisation of a human leader, no matter how godly that person may be.

Last week, we saw that a fundamental difference between church and kingdom eras, is centered round whom we are to follow. In the church, people are expected to follow and help implement the vision of the pastor or leader of the church.

In the kingdom - the will of the Father for the individual.

The hardest, often most thankless, job in God, is that of leadership. To overcome the difficulties, leaders have effectively gone back to the Old Testament concept of an (although often poorly) paid priesthood, trained (with a theological qualification) to again become intermediaries between parishioners and God. I fully understand this and have a great sympathy for those in this position.

(Compare this picture of Pope Benedict with the photo of the High Priest below.)

However, in kingdom understanding, we are brought back to God through Jesus and guided by the will of the Father, as expressed to us through the Holy Spirit. The role of the pastor therefore changes to one of encouraging and helping others fulfill the visions given to the individuals rather than recruiting people to his or her vision.

This role of leadership is described as;

In church culture, it is accepted that the highest calling is to be a fulltime minister of the Gospel. This has led to a 'we' and 'they' division in the church. This is often encouraged by the laity, the 'theys', as they see it is a convenient way to pass over their responsibility to the 'spiritual professionals'. It is therefore natural for this superior/inferior mindset to develop.

Once again, this is not Biblical. For the Bible emphasises servant leadership. Sadly, I have seen so many start out with the calling of servant leadership, but almost inevitably it seems, we fall back into the worldly patterns of human leadership.

However, servant leadership - of going down rather than up - is the leaders call.

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus changed the balance of power in the church away from the paid priesthood of the Old Testament to the priesthood of all believers working together, in the New.

Personally, I know how hard it is to resist the spiritual hierarchy. If you want to have influence in the church you need to follow the system of the particular grouping you belong to. I have had much soul searching and heartache balancing the Word on one hand and the system on the other. Of course I want to be effective. Of course I want to be accepted. But more than all, I want to follow the Word and revelation of the Lord.

I have been truly blessed to share the principles of the Lord in many different situations, from Lutheran Seminary to Anglican Nunnery, to Pentecostal Bible Schools, to poor villages in Africa and Asia where the people are illiterate and struggling too much to survive to be worried about theology.

I have seen, and still, see the Holy Spirit move and minister to the people in all these situations. More than once I have had Doctors of Theology and Bible teachers, at first very skeptical, come up and say that although they have had years of theological training, for the first time they truly understood the principles of God, the reality of what Jesus has done, newly grounded in them by the Holy Spirit - not me. Doctor or peasant, Jesus reaches out to each one of us personally.

There is no educational or positional hierarchy in Jesus. In His kingdom, both on earth and in heaven, whether prince or pauper, we will simply be rewarded for our obedience to the will of the Father for our lives.

.....with a look at the relationship between God and the church.

Servant leadership cannot come from a human heart. It must be implanted in a person by God, for it is not a natural world trait.

"Lord, change my heart to become like Yours" I pray.

Chief Priests, Priests, and Levites

THE OFFICE OF HIGH PRIEST

The office of high priest carried with it a number of unique privileges and responsibilities. He alone was permitted to enter the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement to atone for the sins of the entire nation. As head of the Sanhedrin or Jewish supreme court, he presided over the nation's highest administrative and judicial body. His daily life was governed by the strictest rules of ceremonial purity. His death was viewed as an act of atonement and was marked by the release of a condemned murderer. Even if he retired from office he continued to wield great influence.