Week 6

Leadership

Leadership in simple churches is very important, but it is also very different from the leadership that you know in the world or may have known in a more traditional church setting. Read through Matthew 20:20-28 and study verses 25-28 using question mark, lightbulb and arrow pattern.

Read John 13:3-17 and Ephesians 4:11-13 and discuss the following questions:

• What does leadership usually look like in the world? Think of government, army etc.
• Does this differ from typical leadership in the Western church?
• What did Jesus have to say about leadership? How did He demonstrate His leadership?
• What does it mean to be a servant or slave? What could this look like in a church context today? Think of practical examples.
• According to the Ephesians passage, what is the role of leadership in the church? How could this be implemented in your context?

More helpful resources:
“What about Leadership?” by Roger Thoman

Paradigm shifts

As Christians travel along the path of simple, organic or house church, certain concepts totally alter the way you live or think about and practice church. You may have already begun to experience some paradigm shifts. Listed below are a few of the main ones.

Discuss these and any other thoughts your group has about paradigm shifts:
1. Church is genuinely “where two or three are gathered together in His name.” Church is neither buildings nor meetings, but relationship with Jesus and with His people. Church occurs when we come together on a daily basis. We are church anytime we are together in His name, not just because we are in a special building at a special time with special people leading us. And anyone can start a church if it’s just a few friends coming together.

2. Jesus is to be the head of his church. This is not a theory but something to live out in practice in everyday life.

3. Simple things are reproducible, complex things are not. Many churches want to raise the bar or create a higher standard in leadership, teaching or worship. Simple church is about lowering the bar and making it possible for everyone to get involved.

4. Churches are meant to multiply. Every living thing God has created reproduces after its kind. God hates barrenness. Churches are not meant to be sterile. There are more than 50 commands in the New Testament that include the words “one another.’ These commands can only be obeyed within a small group context. We need to multiply the small, not look grow ever larger. If we are getting to a size where these commands cannot be obeyed, it’s time to multiply.

5. The resources are in the harvest. The “person of peace” principle means that workers for a particular segment of society are found within that people group of subculture. It means that if a person becomes a Christian, we do not automatically invite them to our church. We prefer to start a church in their house with the people in their sphere of influence. If the resources are in the harvest, it means that our next generation of leaders may not even be a Christians yet. We love watching a person become a Christian, introduce their friends to Jesus, and end up leading a church under the mentorship of a more mature believer.

6. Non-religious Christianity. Christianity is not meant to be a rule book, a series of laws for which we are punished if we break them. When we become Christians, God gives us new hearts of flesh with his laws written on them. If we live from our hearts, spontaneously, we will find ourselves living a life that is pleasing to Him. God is not sitting up in heaven with a big stick waiting to catch us in some sin. A life lived from the heart is very attractive to unbelievers.

7. The priesthood of all believers. We are a Kingdom of priests (1 Peter 2:9). All the members of the body of Christ are important. Each of us can have direct connection to our Head, Jesus. We no longer need an intermediary to go to the throne room for us. It’s time for the clergy/laity distinction to end. This is not mere theological truth but needs to become a practical reality in our lives together. When we get together, each of us is meant to take part (1 Corinthians 14:26).

8. Leadership is servanthood. Jesus meant it when he said leadership within His Kingdom is not like leadership in the world. He gave us a practical example of how it should look when He washed His disciples’ feet. Jesus literally laid down His life for others. Our lives need to reflect his attitude of servanthood.

Commissioning

We are now at the end of this six-week course on organic/simple church. We hope you have enjoyed it. Obviously there are many other topics we could have touched on—like finances or what you do with the kids. Hopefully, you have not only learned about the basics of simple church, but we have also given you some tools to discover the answers to these questions for yourselves, using the Scriptures as your guideline.

Spend the remainder of your time praying and commissioning each other to go out and reach your community with the good news of the Kingdom of God. We suggest the group pray for each person individually. Gather around the person and lay hands on them. Find out where the Lord may be leading them. Listen to God. Tell of any pictures, Scriptures or words of encouragement that you sense the Lord giving you for them. Expect God to speak to and encourage each person.



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