Where are the Spirit-filled leaders?

Members from the Jonesboro¹ church met with Elder Jackson, the conference president, and complained that their pastor, Elder Smith, was not preaching historical truth. They accused him of being part of a general apostasy pervading the church and demanded that the conference either move him or let them start a new church.

On another occasion, Sue and Shirley approached me with their concerns about their pastor. They hunger to hear the gospel and understand how to walk closer to Jesus. Yet their pastor, they report, presents only legalistic sermons focusing on guilt and external behaviors.

Those situations illustrate scenes that happen every day to all of us in leader ship. We find ourselves frustrated fighting the fires that erupt out of someone else's agenda. We are trapped in circumstances that are really symptoms of deeper problems. Limited time and resources are left to actively address the core issues that really count.

Some probing questions deserve examination: Are we working together as a united body or torn by internal forces? Do we rejoice and hurt together, as described in 1 Corinthians 12? Are we vibrant, dynamic, and Spirit-empowered, or are we guilt-motivated and program-orientated? Are we more concerned that we be identified by doctrinal purity than by relationships to each other? (Remember Jesus said: "All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another" [John 13:35].) ² Do we put God and His kingdom first? Do we accept Christ and find assurance in Him, or do we wander in the wilderness of modern gnostic forms?

Driven by our mission

God's ideal for His organization is that we be recognizably His instead of marred by struggles for power, position, and church ownership. As His movement we are to be mission-driven, not tainted by corporate selfishness or controlled by institutional self-preservation. As the body of Christ we are to be corporately and individually spiritual, not squabbling over theological trifles and/or procedural policies. We are to be vision-motivated and Spirit-empowered, not inclined to an "old-boy network" seeking to maintain itself. We should be known by the fact that we worship God and have "been with Jesus" through time on our knees and in His Word.

Scripture's description of God's church reflects primarily an intimate connection and relationship with Him. The Bible is the history of God seeking to establish a relationship with His people. The promise of the new covenant is: "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people" (Heb. 8:10). Could it be that God is more concerned about having a people who are clearly identified more by their connection with Him than by a set of external lifestyle rules? Is it possible to have the lifestyle without the relationship? Do we really fit the biblical description of His people if we don't know Him?

It is easy to consider these factors and conclude that we can never attain God's ideal. However, God does not present His ideal for His church as an exercise in frustration or guilt, but rather to show us what He can make of His church when we allow Him to work. It may just be that we need to give Him a little more room to work out. His will in His church--and watch Him surpass our greatest dreams.

God prescribed a remedy many years ago: "A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work." ³ Making the church what God wants it to be starts with revival, and that begins with leadership--organizational leadership. We must not only be spiritual ourselves, but we must also know how to lead spiritually. While revival must hap pen in each church, we need revival on a much larger scale, and that depends on administrative leadership. How do we become such leaders to guide our people into such a revival?

Leading for revival

While we cannot create such a revival, we must believe that God yearns for it just as desperately as we do. We dare not attempt to manufacture a revival, but we can open ourselves personally and corporately to the workings of His Spirit. We can respond to His challenge and invitation: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14).

We have already discussed here the fact that the key to revival lies with leadership. Biblically, revival normally happened when leaders led the people back to God away from their preoccupation with self to a focus on walking with God. Even in Elijah's case revival did not take place until the corporate leadership came face-to-face with God on Mount Carmel. In the context of revival, Ellen White wrote: "We have far more to fear from within than from with out. The hindrances to strength and success are far greater from the church itself than from the world."

She continued with the startling statement that these blessings depend on our preparing the way for them: "When the way is prepared for the Spirit of God, the blessing will come. Satan can no more hinder a shower of blessing from descending upon God's people than he can close the windows of heaven that rain cannot come upon the earth. Wicked men and devils cannot hinder the work of God, or shut out His presence from the assemblies of His people, if they will, with subdued, contrite hearts, confess and put away their sins, and in faith claim His promise." ⁴

There can be no doubt about it. God's dream for His church calls for us as leaders to walk with Him, and out of that walk gain a vision of what He wants the church to be and do. Rather than trusting in our own wisdom or abilities, we can recognize our need for His guidance and power. As His leaders we can focus our priorities on first seeking Him and His kingdom. We can base our decisions on principles rather than expediency, and thus set the pace spiritually and relationally.

We cannot begin to make a difference until we realize we are part of the problem as well as part of the solution. We must confess our own failure to give God room to work organizationally as He wants to. Only as we personally implement spiritual renewal and are open to revival can we lead our church back to God and integrate that spirituality into our minis try of corporate leadership.

Temptations of leadership

Confronting the common temptations of organizational leadership is one of the prerequisites of revival. This involves resisting the urge to control His church and instead yielding to and depending on His Spirit. We must confront the allure of worry with a constant awareness that this is His church, and He is able to protect it, empower it, and make it what He wants it to be. We must resist the seduction of coercive leadership with the assurance that "only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient for good." ⁵ We must turn our backs on the enticement to "go it alone" and instead seek a constant awareness of God's presence and the infilling of His Spirit.

Revival also requires that we model an unswerving loyalty to God and His principles. We cannot be effective spiritual leaders while knowingly violating biblical principles of behavior or leader ship. Just as important, we must also be willing to step out and lead, and there are some practical implications for doing so.

The predominant secularization of the church, the growing materialism among members, the increased pluralism, the increasing levels of apathy, and the escalating polarizations within the church are only symptoms that call for leadership action. It is time for us, transformed by the empowering presence of God, to be come transformational leaders.

Here are four foundational principles that, when integrated into our lives and ministries, will shape and transform us corporately and individually.

1. "Seek first the kingdom"

From the top of Mount Sinai, God asked His people to have no other gods. Now He asks us to love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul. That means passion a response to His passion for we have been His consuming passion ever since Creation. To the degree that He is not our consuming passion, we practice a form of idolatry for something or some one else. Is Jesus the passion of our lives, or do the kingdoms of this world, or even the church, excite us more? Our people know our passions, do we?

It is easy for some of us to be more concerned about "the work" than we are about the Master. We can get more ex cited about "the truth" than we become about Him who is the truth; about the "church" than about the Head of the Church; about the nature of Christ than Christ Himself. Some of us are more interested in power and leadership than in Jesus as the only One who can empower our leadership; in policies and programs than in Spirit-controlled lives.

Our passion for Him comes from a realization of what He has done for us. Only as we daily experience His redeeming grace are we prepared to lead. As we live by faith, sure of our own standing with God, He becomes our passion, and other things fall into place.

Being where God wants us to be and doing what He wants us to do are more important than achieving success in our own or others' eyes. The life lived in conscious awareness of and connection with God is the ultimate success. All other accomplishments are mere by-products of what is at the core of the life. Trust God! Either He is who He says He is, or what we call Christianity is all an empty farce. He is able! This is His church! He is big enough to control it; and even better, He can and does take care of it. Our worry or attempts to make it what we think it ought to be may only get in His way. In trying to solve another's problems, we may fail to care for our own.

2. "Tarry until you receive power"

Intimacy fuels and nurtures passion in any relationship. We need the regular quality and quantity of time with God that will assure the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Can God trust us with leadership of His church if our own devotional lives are not fervent? It is the time alone with God, corporately and individually, that sharpens the focus of our priorities and opens us to receive God's presence and power. The scarcity of consistent devotional time is the primary reason for our lack of power, and the intimacy of our lives with Christ is the measure of our power for God. It is in this intimacy with the Master that we by faith accept His promised Spirit. As we ask Him to open our lives and control them with His Spirit, He fulfills His promise and comes to us anew in the Comforter. By faith we individually accept what He poured out on His church on the Day of Pentecost--the Holy Spirit in "former rain" power. Daily we yield anew to His control, accepting the promised infilling and praying for the "latter rain." As we yield to this infilling of the Holy Spirit, we discover that He first brings the presence of Jesus and then convicts of sin and righteousness. Thus the Holy Spirit guides us while empowering us.

Our connection with Christ must be our first priority. God can remain the passion of our lives only as long as we keep Calvary in focus through daily devotional time. Perhaps we could even follow the example of the supreme biblical administrator, Daniel. He thought it critically important to have three established daily times of communion with His God. We need to guard the personal time with God with greater care than any other appointment or schedule. A secretary or family member can help us protect that crucial time with God.

It is easy to become so busy doing the "Lord's work" that we forget our need to spend time with Christ. Committees, pro grams, and simple busyness can replace the communion time with God. We can be so active that we lose the tranquility of quietness with God the source of our only power. "But the word busy is the symptom not of commitment but of betrayal. It is not devotion but defection. The adjective busy set as a modifier to pastor should sound to our ears like adulterous to characterize a wife or embezzling to describe a banker. It is an outrageous scandal, a blasphemous affront." 6 From the depths of our devotional experience, the intimacy with God permeates every area of our lives and transforms every act into a sacrament of grace springing out of our continual walk with Him.

Those of us in organizational leader ship also need to assume our responsibility for helping pastors implement this principle. We can first challenge them with our own example, then invite them to join us in a commitment to time daily with God. We can remove some of the "busywork" that we too often ask pastors to do, and we can help our church members understand that too often they expect their pastors to "wait on tables" (Acts 6) instead of being spiritual leaders dedicated to "prayer and the ministry of the Word." We must also help our pastors surrender some of their control of the church and allow the Holy Spirit to work through others as they function in their leadership roles.

3. "And I will draw all to me"

Joe had served as an elder for 12 years. When he saw Christ lifted up, he was drawn to Him. I was then able to lead him to accept Jesus as a personal Saviour for the first time in His life. He then became a powerful spiritual leader who soon led others to know Christ.

The exalted Christ is the secret of success in ministry. Our power to change others is the sum of our ability to exalt Christ. It is too easy to trust to our many good programs and evangelistic techniques to convert people. While pro grams and methods have their place, the best thing we can offer the secular mind, the "baby boomers," the materialistic, or the indifferent is the reality of Jesus lifted up in life and word. The temptation to depend on some technique or gimmick can often lead us to use unethical or unbiblical methods instead of depending upon Christ. Today's Christianity has failed to appeal to many, not because of the lack of the right programs, but be cause of the lack of the empowering presence of Christ. "Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried." ⁷

When we come face to face with Christ, we may reject or resist Him, but we cannot ignore Him. And if we don't resist, He will draw us to Him.

Have we trusted more in our strength and methods than in His presence and power? Have we tried to convert people to a truth without drawing them to the One who loves them? How can we integrate principles of spirituality into the evangelism process?

4. "Go and make disciples"

As Jesus draws people to Himself, He then trusts us with the responsibility of making disciples. The gospel commission to make disciples is the epitome of Christian leadership. Pastoral ministry reduced to its least common denominator is spiritual formation--the moving of the entire life toward God. That is discipling. While we have tended to focus this aspect of ministry on those who are not church members, it must start at home.

When Jesus sent His disciples out to minister, He told them to "go rather to the lost sheep of Israel" (Matt. 10:6). He understood that evangelism truly begins within the church. We too need to realize that the need for discipling, or evangelism, within the church is every bit as great as the need to evangelize our communities. Only a small percentage of our members truly enjoys a close discipleship walk with God--a walk of total commitment and "seeking first the kingdom of God." Only as they gain a vibrant walk with God do they have something to share. Too often we try to compel members to go out and witness about someone they don't even really know. We must begin with helping our members become disciples of Christ. Then He can reach others through them, for true discipleship means sharing what we have received with others.

Our primary role as leaders in the Christian church is one of spiritual formation, on both a corporate and an individual level: and that, simply put, is the art of making disciples. Wherever we may be in church leadership, we share the gospel commission to make disciples. We each lead others who want to be disciples who want to grow into the passionate relationship described in the first three principles. If we fail to keep active in this process of discipling others, we will begin to die spiritually. We can grow only to the degree that we share Christ with others. This is as true for an administrator as it is for a pastor or member, and public preaching alone does not satisfy this basic need.

The commission to make disciples means more than merely gaining intellectual converts to an abstract set of cognitive truths. Often we limit our evangelism to doctrinal presentations alone. We can make disciples best by reversing the first three principles. We start by making Jesus real and lifting Him up--integrating Him as Lord into every area in our daily lives:

"We must gather about the cross. Christ and Him crucified should be the theme of contemplation, of conversation, and of our most joyful emotion. We should keep in our thoughts every blessing we receive from God, and when we realize His great love we should be willing to trust every thing to the hand that was nailed to the cross for us." ⁸

Then as He draws others to Him, we teach them to walk or "tarry" with Him until He becomes their consuming passion. Once they have fallen in love with the Master, doctrinal and lifestyle presentations become part of the overall discipling of people already submitted to Christ's Lordship.

Working with committees

We can make the spiritual growth of the church a supreme priority, recognizing that evangelistic growth can only truly take place in the context of spiritual growth. Working with committees provides opportunities to nurture corporate spirituality. To do so, we need to bring a spiritual dimension to the committees we chair.

Heeding this counsel, we can make spiritual renewal and revival a personal issue for each member of a committee. We can choose committee members more for their spiritual maturity than for their political clout or financial potential. We can challenge each committee member to recognize his or her responsibility to grow spiritually in order to be a more effective member. This can be done through modeling spiritual priorities, committee spiritual retreats, personal challenges, and the integration of these principles into committee life and function. We must give more than mere lip service to spiritual priorities.

We can make committee devotional times significant and meaningful. Prayer can become more than a token exercise in our committee meetings--asking God to bless our decisions. Instead, we can allow prayer to become such a significant part of our corporate activities that it helps bring the group together to God, seeking His guidance in making decisions. We can explore different ways of giving each committee member the opportunity to pray. That prayer experience can focus on lifting each other up in prayer, praying for divine guidance in specific agenda items, and/or praying for specific re quests or concerns. Two hours in focus on God's Word and vital prayer time before entering the business of a conference committee might transform our commit tees and decisions. Where this has been tried, it has proven to actually save time lost in needless discussion and bickering.

Some conferences are finding strength and renewal simply through fostering a systematic corporate prayer life through daily worships and small prayer groups. Meeting together to pray can be an important step in resolving many conflicts and becoming open to change and the Holy Spirit's work.

If we are going to make revival and spirituality a corporate priority, we must keep it ever in our corporate attention. We can make spiritual renewal and revival a regular agenda item for planning, strategizing, or reviewing. Business as usual is not enough. Let's make spiritual growth an intentional and integral part of our corporate life.

Some of the more important tools for spiritual formation, personally and corporately, are: authentic prayer; study and memorization of the Word of God; meditation on God and His Word; and sharing with others. We can foster and facilitate spiritual growth as we use these tools to increase our openness to the vision and presence of God. They will also help us integrate the gospel and Lordship of Jesus Christ into our daily lives.

"We cannot have a weak faith now; we cannot be safe in a listless, indolent, slothful attitude. Every jot of ability is to be used, and sharp, calm, deep thinking is to be done. The wisdom of any human agent is not sufficient for the planning and devising in this time. Spread every plan before God with fasting, [and] with the humbling of the soul before the Lord Jesus, and commit thy ways unto the Lord. The sure promise is, He will direct thy paths. He is infinite in resources." ⁹

"It is in the order of God that those who bear responsibilities should often meet together to counsel with one an other and to pray earnestly for that wisdom which He alone can impart. Unitedly make known your troubles to God. Talk less; much precious time is lost in talk that brings no light. Let brethren unite in fasting and prayer for the wisdom that God has promised to supply liberally." ¹⁰

Let's lead for revival

Ultimately, our leadership can be an extension of Christ's ministry and leader ship and so it must be if we are to break out of the shackles that bind His church. Only the empowering presence of Christ and His Spirit can solve our problems and transform us as a people. We can base our leadership on the personal experience of God's transforming grace and the enabling power and presence of His Spirit. We can unreservedly accept others and lift them closer to Jesus Christ. We can be more interested in leading people to be come men and women of God than in making them do all the right things. We can understand that true obedience and the finest performance will always be the results of a redemptive experience with Jesus Christ. We can also recognize our role in leading the way to revival, working with people where they are without resorting to sinful methods. We can be so identified with Jesus Christ as to confront others with the presence, power, and vision of the risen Lord.

Christ has called us to His ministry. He is well able to use us in His will. He challenges us to lift people' s eyes higher--to the foot of the cross. In the presence of Jesus we find our greatest ability to minister; He is sufficient for any challenge that comes our way. His church can become all that He wants it to be as we lead the way back to Him and give Him room to work. Spiritual leaders and members as well can trust Him to do all He has said He will do.