Rev. E. Anderson
Presented to you is a Christian Leadership Course that is purposed to provoke many to embrace the call of Christ to leadership within His Church. The series will come in the form of a study each week, which will be in two parts thus covering two weeks over the site. My prayer and desire is that such will help many in the summons of Christ to serve Him in these tremendous days.
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP COURSE
Study 8 THE SUMMONS TO CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP (Part 1)
Reading Mark 16: 16-20; Luke 5: 1-11; 6: 12-16
· The greatest kingdom to be in is the kingdom of God. It is both a privilege and pleasure to be born into and become an integral member of this divine realm. The reason for the advent and work of Christ was to set up the kingdom of God and to give the right to men and women to become a subject within it as they receive and acknowledge His Saviourhood and Lordship. He is the appointed and anointed Head of this unique spiritual kingdom; through Him it has been birthed and through Him it will be developed and eternally established – Matthew 16: 16-18; Acts 2:29-36; Ephesians 1: 17-23. One could not ask for or desire a greater or better King or be situated in a more promising Kingdom.
· It has to be recognized, the initial and continual role that the Founder and Head of the Christian Church plays in the summoning, training and the equipping of personnel to lead His Church. People must not only have an encounter with Him to be brought into His kingdom, they must have further encounters with Him on a regular basis in order to know the ministry they must perform for Him within it. This is especially so with regard to leadership. There is no greater service and occupation than being called and commissioned by Christ to fulfill a job within Christendom. It exceeds all other callings and employment. He is the One that does the calling, mentoring and appoints to the sphere of work. This has not been delegated to another because He is infinitely capable of raising up and serving each generation with the required personnel and ministries as He ever lives and rules.
· In looking at and observing the divine summons there are lessons and truths to be noted in order to guide us on the all important matter of Christian Leadership in terms and tokens of calling and commissioning. It is something not be humanly assumed or presumed upon. There are principles and procedures that Christ worked upon during His earthly task on this front that still obtain today.
1/. EACH ARE PERSONALLY SUMMONED BY CHRIST TO SERVICE
· Leadership is a call to service and not to a position of power and notability. It is in order to serve Him and serve the people in the way that He reveals and ordains. He is the One that makes personal contact and communicates His mind and will in no uncertain manner to individuals at a personal level. Everyone may not have a dramatic Damascus road experience in Christian conversion like Paul, but all may know and experience some of the things that he spiritually sensed at the outset. He did pray at the start: “Lord, what will you have me do?” – Acts 9:6 and he received an immediate reply – “Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told you what you shall do.” The rest is history. Because he was immediately and continually submissive he was able to achieve what he was personally summoned to be and do. The climax of his life and ministry are worth noting – 2 Timothy 4:7.It is Christ who calls to the ministry and sustains it –1 Timothy 1:12.
· Service is placed highest on the agenda for Christ himself and for all that will be identified with His leadership – Mark 10: 35-45. It is treated with utmost respect and placed into true focus by Christ. He sought to teach and implant right at the outset in His calling to people the chief objective that was labouring in ministry to and for the good of others. It was and is to be regarded as an honourable vocation to be greatly involved in working for the well-being and blessedness of other people. Self had to be forgotten in service; in fact, it had to be sacrificed.
“I have now concentrated all my prayers into one, and that one prayer is this, that I may die to self, and live wholly to him.” Spurgeon
It was to be treated as a noble thing to be invited by Him to serve and the service had to be treated as a distinctive and commendable mission and ministry all men. Paul made himself the servant to all - 1 Corinthians 9: 19.
“When a man turns to God desiring to serve Him, God directs his attention to the world and its need”. Brunnner
“It is high time that the ideal of success should be replaced by the ideal of service.”
Eintstein
2/. EACH ARE TO HAVE A MEMORABLE ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST
· Christ met and spoke to each one individually thus making them feel special to Him and were given a unique experience of His grace and input that became unforgettable. They may have felt very ordinary as many of them were placed in very ordinary professions and lowly circumstances when He confronted them, but somehow, He transformed the occasion by His presence and invitation and prompted a divine response. in and from them. They felt the electric and dynamic of His presence and word. Those who would be involved in Christian leadership and work essentially require an audience and experience with Him from which life and service follows and flows. This is paramount if there is to be any real, effective service and ministry. Being sure of Him and the task to be performed by, through and for Him are vital at the outset.
· This is possibly the most imperative aspect of Christian Leadership: meeting and knowing Christ. It can be justifiably argued, how can we lead others to know Christ and come under His headship and leadership unless He has personally impacted us? The base of operation must essentially commence with the person experiencing Christ before there can be an actual, realistic serving Him. Discipleship and leadership emerge and develop through an initial and continual meeting with Christ. The important factor is not our natural status, whatever that embraces, but our union and communion with Him that has been created by a definite encounter and from which all proceeds.
4/. EACH ARE TO BE INDIVIDUALLY TUTORED AND EQUIPPED BY CHRIST
· It is a choice thing that those who are truly Christian leaders are taught, armed and enabled by Him to succeed in what He assigns. He does not leave it to anyone else to superintend and supervise those who are elected to be His servant-leaders. All His leaders come under His tutorials and are given abilities by Him so that they can perform according to His expectations. He has power not only to impart truth and major instruction, He can and does grace the life and work with divine potential that make the leadership effective.
Illustration: William Carey was but a cobbler in Northampton but then became a great missionary-teacher under the calling, inspiration and empowering of Christ.
· Whilst Christ even employs, uses and aids other Christian leaders to coach and inspire, He is the mainspring behind the whole training and enablement. He does use men of God to summon and issue out the divine call and gift them so they can help to form both character and gift but He is the supreme One stirring and empowering. He is the best, equipped person to perform the rewarding task of imparting and releasing the divine potential in those called to serve Him and the cause of Christendom. There is no way that he is incapable of giving the highest and greatest instruction that prepares for effectual service. What He produced in the band of men called to be His apostles give evidence that He is well able to achieve His role as the principal Teacher and Coach.
· It is encouraging to know that the Lord does not sponsor flops. His servants and leaders may fail at times but He is there to equip with gift and give the essential moral and spiritual boost when required. Throughout the course of Church history, He has laid hold of the most unlikely candidates, inspired and trained them to fulfil outstanding work and they have left a memorable record behind, a testimony to His personal tuition.
Illustration: When Billy Graham first embarked on his major New York ministry, Ethel Walters the famous film star was asked the question with regard to him. Her reply was apt and true: “God does not sponsor flops.”
