04.01.08
Leadership Structures in the Bible
- Leadership in the Bible
- Leadership Structures in the Bible
- Leaders: Appointment and Accountability
My last post ran the risk of sending a wrong message: that it takes one key super-leader to shepherd God’s people. No, it takes a definite leadership structure to lead well. I have very painful personal experience with this–experience that drives me to do my best to help prevent the same kind of thing from ever being repeated.
I was one of a small group that were planting a church in Pasadena, California in the early 1980s. What incredible fellowship we had! It was in many ways the ideal church. I’ve never been in another such tight-knit community of believers. We encountered sudden change, though, change that we thought at first was really good for our church. It happened when another church in the community switched pastors, and several members thought the new man was too liberal. Many of them came and joined us, all at one time.
They actually assimilated into our church quite nicely. But the church outgrew our ability to be just a great fellowship. Where once we could all get together–every one of us–for meaningful discussions about the church’s direction, now we were too many for that. We weren’t large–only about 100 people–but we were too big for our old ways to work.
To keep the story short, the pastor didn’t adjust well. He didn’t succeed in setting up a leadership structure for the next phase of our growth. Small disagreements turned into large dissension. Conflict arose between the pastor and the key elder. We ended up donating away all our assets to other Christian groups, and we closed the church. Be assured that there’s a world of hurting contained in that short summary.
Moses started out with a very poor understanding of how to structure leadership among the Israelites. His father-in-law saw this and counseled him in Exodus 18 (ESV):
13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” 17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”
24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.
The idea was to delegate responsibility and authority among a number of leaders. As Jethro pointed out, that was the only way leading a large company like the Israelites could have been remotely possible. Note that this wasn’t just good family advice. It was one of many examples of delegated authority in the Bible. Others may be found in:
Whoa… that list could get really long! Let’s just focus on two more very significant Old Testament passages and three from the New Testament.
Judges 2:16-23. The main message here is that when the people followed God’s appointed leaders they fared well. Otherwise they fell into idolatry and other sin, and “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” In those days the result was that they were oppressed by neighboring nations. There’s no telling what the result of the Lord’s anger might be in regard to a body of his people today–but you can count on this, it won’t be something pleasant or desirable.
Nehemiah–the entire book. One good test of this is to read the book aloud. Notice how many names are there–or, how many times you have to pause to figure out a pronunciation! Most of these are leaders–”nobles and officials,” many of them heads of households or clans–among the people. Nehemiah did a masterful job of assigning responsibility for different sections of the wall they were rebuilding around Jerusalem. Another great lesson from Nehemiah is the emphasis on prayer–he led spiritually, not just organizationally.
Acts 6:1-7. The apostles recognized it was inappropriate and unworkable for them to be hands-on leaders of administrative tasks. It was not that administration was a lesser calling. The men they chose to fulfill those roles were full of wisdom, faith, and the Holy Spirit, and one of them went on to become the early church’s first martyr.
Acts 15:1-35. On the other hand, when a major, far-reaching decision had to be made, the apostles became very deeply involved, along with an unnamed group of elders. This was the controversy over whether Gentile converts would need to be circumcised and follow other Jewish law. This was decided in council. It was a council of spiritual leaders, however, and not of all the church. The word “elders” (presbytos) in the New Testament seems to be interchangeable with “overseers” (episkopos), by the way. This was not, at the time, a formal office in the same sense it is in some churches today (”episkopos” eventually become transliterated to “bishop”). It seems rather to have been a matter of appointing to leadership those who were recognized as spiritually equipped for it. We get a hint of this in our final passage today:
Acts 14:19-23. Paul re-traced earlier paths on his missionary travels and
when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
This is not just a principle for ancient times. The modern world hasn’t outgrown it, and there’s no reason to think we’ll ever “move beyond” this any more than we would move beyond any other principle of Scripture. Lyle E. Schaller did considerable research on church leadership and structures for his book The Very Large Church. Seaford, with about 800 in regular attendance, fits his description of “a very large church.” He describes the difference between decision-making styles that work well in
- small churches–where 100% approval of new projects is ideal,
- large churches of 450-700 people–where “broad-based support” of about 80% of members is desirable, and
- megachurches in the 3,000 member range–where support should come from “the majority of leaders, plus the volunteers required to implement [a new project]“
Our church falls in the cracks between the second and third group, but this example nevertheless makes clear the importance of a strong structure of spiritual leadership, appropriate to the size of the congregation. It was already clear in Scripture, so it should come as no surprise that it works that way in actual churches still today.
I’ve lived through one church’s experience with a leadership structure that didn’t match its size. I’ve never wanted to go through that again! Thankfully we have both Scripture and other churches’ experience to guide us to wise approaches to this crucial matter.
