The Principle of Emergent Leadership

Credit: https://bible.org

An important question is this. How do we go about selecting the right men for the ministries of elders or dea­cons? This is an important question because it involves motivating the flock to under­stand and act on key biblical concepts which lead to the flock’s ability to do two things: (a) select the right men, and (b) respect and respond to the leader­ship and ministries of those men who are chosen to serve as spiritual leaders of a con­gregation.

Though Scripture gives clear guidelines concerning the spiritual qualifi­cations of elders and deacons and con­cerning the func­tions of the elders, we find no clearly stated instruction for the process of select­ing elders or deacons.

(1) Acts 6:1-7 is often used as an example and does provide us with some important insight, but those selected at that time were never given an official title like dea­con. It was undoubtedly a temporary ministry but it still pro­vides us with a biblical example of selecting people for impor­tant ministries through the guid­ance of the leadership, but also through involving the congregation in the selection process according to certain spiritual qualifications.

(2) Acts 14:23 is another passage dealing with the appoint­ment of elders. Scholars are divided, however, down the mid­dle on the precise meaning of “appoint” (ceirotonew, “to vote by stretching out the hand”). Some emphasize its literal meaning while others its derived meaning. Being divided on the meaning, they are also divided on the proce­dure used by Paul and Barnabas. But proba­bly, they used a proce­dure similar to that of Acts 6 which involved the recogni­tion of spiri­tually mature and growing men through input and involve­ment of the congre­ga­tion in the process because it was the people who knew them and had seen them in action (cf. Acts 16:1-3 where Paul seems to have chosen Timothy based on the report of the people).

In this regard, there is an important principle that we need to keep in mind. Acts 20:28 clearly teaches that it is really God who makes or appoints and qualifies men for ministry by matur­ing them, by gifting them, and by giving them a burden for such a ministry. In Acts 20:28, the word “made” in “made you overseers” is the Greek tithemi, “to place, set.” But it often carries the idea of “appoint” and is so translated six times in the NASB (cf. John 15:16; 1 Cor. 12:28; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 2:11; Heb. 1:2; 1 Pet. 2:8).

Since God is the one who appoints men to the min­is­try of elders (and this would apply to deacons also), what exactly is the re­spon­si­bil­ity of the church? What is it that the church does in the selec­tion pro­cess?

It is the respon­sibility of the church to recog­nize the emer­gence of those men whom the Holy Spirit has pre­pared and appointed by the qualities of their lives from the stand­point of (a) their charac­ter, (b) their giftedness, and (c) their burden and concern for the body of Christ.

Thus, while the local flock is asked to par­tic­i­pate in the selec­tion pro­cess, its job is not so much to elect or select such men as it is to con­firm the Spirit’s work and thus His appoint­ment and gift of certain men to serve either as elders or dea­cons. How? By recog­niz­ing God’s work in their lives through growth in Christ-like qualities. These qualifi­cations then sim­ply dem­on­strate God’s work and His appoint­ment (cf. Acts 16:1-3).

What then is an emergent leadership?

It is a leadership that gradually emerges or develops like fruit growing on a tree. Selecting an emergent leadership is tremen­dously crucial. Lis­ten to what Oswald Sanders says:

The Holy spirit does not take control of any man or body of men against their will. When He sees elected to positions of leadership men who lack spiritual fitness to coop­erate with Him, He quietly with­draws and leaves them to imple­ment their own policy according to their own standards, but without His aid. The inevitable issue is an unspir­itual adminis­tration.[1]

So according to the New Testament, leadership is to be an emergent leader­ship, a leadership that emerges as a product of God’s work within the flock of God’s people. As an emer­gent leadership, men are not simply elected or appointed by men, but recognized by the qualities of these passages in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. This is why evalu­a­tion according to the criteria of these passages is so impor­tant. This is why finding men who meet the qualifications is so much more important than selecting a certain number to meet a quota even though that number of qualified men are not ready or prepared by the Spirit of God.

The Principle of Balance

As I have sought to demonstrate in the summary of the qualifi­cations of elders and deacons that follows, you will note that these quali­ties may also be seen from the stand­point of all of a man’s funda­men­tal rela­tion­ships in life—to God, to His Word, to self, family, oth­ers (including the out­side world), and things. Why do I call this to your attention? Because it is a way to stress that these requirements, as marks of maturity, en­compass every area of a man’s life. A truly mature man is a well-rounded and balanced man who has allowed Jesus Christ to invade, take charge, and change every sphere of his life (cf. Col. 1:9f ; Josh. 3:13-14).

The point is simply this: Biblical Christianity knows nothing about compartmentalized living. There are to be no areas of the life where the Lord is not allowed to invade and take charge. In other words, there are to be no spiritual “junk closets” or areas we reserve for our­selves. We are to be His lock, stock, and barrel.

The Principle of Two Sides of the Coin

As churches consider these passages and consider men in their light, I believe it is tremendously important to recognize their primary focus so that can become our focus as well. What then is the focus?

(1) Christian character

(2) Spiritual maturity

(3) Well-rounded godliness.

The interesting point is that there is no direct, clearly-de­fined refer­ence to spiritual gifts in these verses. Indirectly we undoubtedly find a refer­ence to the gift of teach­ing in “able to teach” in 1 Timothy 3:2, and since one of the gifts given to the body of Christ is the gift of “leadership,” we proba­bly have an indirect refer­ence to the gift of leader­ship in the analo­gy be­tween managing his family and the church in 1 Timothy 3:5. The word “manage” in verses 4-5 is proistemi, “to lead, go before.” It is used of the spiritual gift of “leading” in Ro­mans 12:8, and of the responsi­bilities of elders in 1 Timothy 5:17 and in 1 Thessalonians 5:12.

There is a principle here. Clearly such gifts are necessary to some degree if an elder is going to be able to fulfill the func­tions and responsibili­ties of an elder. Without these he would be working in areas of his weak­nesses rather than in areas of his strengths as gifted by the Lord. Giftedness is important to every believer’s ministry, and especial­ly to the ministry of church leaders. In other words, what God has called you to do, He has gifted you to do, and what He has gifted you to do, He has called you to do (1 Pet. 4:10).

But the important point is this: The Apos­tle does not tell us to look for men who have the gift of teach­ing or leading or exhortation. Further, he does not tell us to look for men with dynamic personalities, or who are regarded by people as great pulpiteers or men of oratory, or for men who are successful busi­ness­men. God’s emphasis in this passage is not on giftedness, or on dynamic personalities because such things in them­selves never qualify a man for lead­ership in the church. The empha­sis is on godly character. The body of Christ needs men who are first and foremost men of God.

How far removed this is from our day and age and from, unfortunately, the think­ing of the average believer or church goer. When most people think of a church leader, they think of such things as pulpit ability, a dynamic and glowing personality, or of someone who looks good in a blue suit and is a leader in the commu­nity. We tend to focus on the outside and we give little emphasis to spiritual character.

There needs to be balance. Ability, skill, and a man’s outward impression are not unimpor­tant nor are they completely ne­glected in these verses, BUT THEY ARE NOT GIVEN OR HIGH­LIGHT­ED AS THE PRIMA­RY CONSIDERATION. In­stead, God is telling us in no uncertain terms that the key to a man’s suc­cess in leading the church is not his skills, meth­ods, person­ality, nor even his gifts. Instead, the key is in his emo­tional, men­tal, and spiritual maturi­ty.

The ministry of overseers in the local church is like a coin with two sides and both must be included. But you know what we do? We tend to ignore or depreciate one side or the other. Both sides are important and neither should be neglect­ed, but the side of the coin God has turned up for us to see, the side needed the most by the em­phasis of these qualifi­cation passag­es, is the side I am calling spiritual maturity for no matter how gifted a man is, if he is spiri­tually immature, he will be a poor leader and the church will be in trouble.

Hebrews 13:7 teaches us the same lesson. The readers are told to remember those who had taught them the word of God, but it was not their giftedness or skill in preaching that they were told to consider or imitate. Instead, it was their conduct and their faith.

The coin principle does not stop here. Giftedness is impor­tant, and for truly qualified elders a number of gifts un­doubtedly come to­gether to enable men to shepherd the flock of God—gifts such as teaching, exhortation, showing mercy, leading, and adminis­tration. In other words, there are (a) communication skills and abilities, and (b) shepherd­ing, leading skills and abilities. We tend to over empha­size one to the exclusion of the other, or we find a board of elders functioning primarily on administra­tive matters rather than on other aspects of ministry.

On any board of elders, some will be more skilled and gifted in one area and others in another. One of the needs of the board and the flock is to allow men to work in their areas of giftedness so that the men on the board are able to complement or integrate their gifts together for the benefit of the church.

Conclusion

One of the designed results of these marks of maturity is that such men become examples of the Christian life and of the power of God that is avail­able in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The responsibility of the church is to select those men who are models, examples for the flock to follow as we see in Hebrews 13:7 and 1 Peter 5:3.

I once saw a bumper sticker that said, “Don’t follow me, I’m lost too,” That’s the state of the world and, unfortunately, of many well meaning Christians and leaders. They are like the commer­cial pilot who told his passengers, “I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we are lost, but the good news is that we are making good time.”

Motion in itself never means direction just as activity in itself never means effec­tive­ness. We can be like the cowboy who rushed into the corral, bridled and saddled his horse and rode off in all directions. We need quality lives with quality motion aimed in the right direction with specific, biblical objectives.

Effective ministry to others is often equated with dynam­ic per­sonali­ties, with talent, giftedness, with train­ing, with enthusiasm, and with charisma. But these things alone are inadequate. Much, much more is needed.

Howard Hendricks, in his unique style, tells the story of a student who came to him with a problem.

“Hey prof., I have a problem.” Hendricks, “Yea, What’s your prob­lem?” Student, “Why did the Lord choose Judas?” Hendricks, “Ah, that’s no problem. I have a bigger problem than that.” Student, “Yea, what’s that?” Hendricks, “Why did the Lord choose you?” And I think he also added, “ Why did the Lord choose me?”

His point was, look at the disciples. How would you like to launch a world wide cam­paign with the likes of Peter and his companions? Yet, with these common, average, uneducat­ed men, the Lord launched a campaign that has reached the world and turned it upside down. Why? Because of their methodology? No! Because of their dynamic personalities or pro­grams? No! Because these common men intimately knew the Lord and began to experience His life and character in theirs by the Spirit of God. He took common men and made them into great men who became spiritual leaders because they were experi­encing Him. Our need? The selection of godly men!

If we must choose between giftedness and godliness, let us choose godliness. If we can choose both, that’s great and that’s the ideal, but let’s keep the emphasis where God puts it!