Lecture 12: Discussion of Two Principles

Course: Leading Healthy Church Culture

Lecture 12: Discussion of Two Principles

So the two questions posed include: how would the church in America be different if our leaders truly embraced the idea of changing their attitudes through trusting and following Jesus’ example. These are seemingly simply principles from the life and teachings of Jesus. How would the church look different? How would our leadership be different? The first group: There would be less burnout in leadership. It would take the responsibility off one group as such. There would be more focus on discipleship building. There would be more emphasis on a sense of priesthood. You wouldn’t have the responsibility all on one person; more people would share the responsibility. A person would more easily become connected to such a church, being able to get quickly involved in it as a person would feel that their involvement is valued and so fewer people would be dissatisfied and thus eventually leaving.

There are many churches, particular larger churches that have been developed almost on a consumer mentality. If this shift was made, the evidence would suggest a temporary dip or a lack of positive response at first. But, instead of just filling slots, there would be a general expression of gifts. I was pastor of a church where the treasurer really hated his job; instead he really wanted to be an elder. So eventually he became an elder and served in that capacity for twenty years. Every single person would be important, would be essential and there would be no hierarchy as such. People would certainly have different functions and they would fill valued and important. The results would be greater than the sum of the individual people. The culture would be really different than what we are normally used to. One of the challenges that we face today is that we are dealing with a whole culture of people who have been damaged in the church and no longer attend church. So, it’s got to be better than what they have experienced. We see that if the church was more Christ centered, people would not end up being as hurt. Everybody would be important and be part of the family; people would want what they see in the church; they would want what others have.