Baptist Leadership (2022)

INTRODUCTION

Since there is no one set model for church leadership within Scripture, it is not possible to speak of only one ‘right’ way of church leadership, nor is there only one ‘biblical’ way of leadership that churches today should adopt. We also need to remember that the early church grew in a culture and a context that was very different from our own culture and context today, so we need to be very careful about unthinkingly transferring ideas and practices from the book of Acts (or anywhere else for that matter) into our modern day setting.

Looking at churches in the UK today, it is possible to wonder what drives and motivates some of those congregations. Do they want to know Jesus and know him intimately, or are they merely holy social clubs? What do they seek when they come together? Is church just about being “right”? Do we look to correct those people that we deem to have “wrong” theology?

Perhaps one of the most important issues is to ask what the members of Baptist churches expect of their leaders. Often Baptist church members can have the strange but common idea that their church is run on the democratic lines of ‘one member one vote’ when, in fact, that is not the true Baptist model at all. Members can often demand that their leaders can do little more than blow their noses without authority from a church meeting, while others fear their church becoming a cult if too much power is given into the hands of leaders. The latter tends to be more true when the church is led by one man – and I do mean man.

Leadership within Baptist Churches can be a really thorny issue that raises raw emotions and low voices on every side of the debate. This paper seeks to think, to reflect, and to raise issues in a calm and measured way that allows for thinking and that enables some gentle discussion. It is my belief that serious and lengthy discussion about leadership in Baptist churches is needed if we are to be churches that meaningfully represent Christ in the communities in which we live and move and have our being.

CONGREGATIONALISM

Congregationalism is the form of church government that many Baptist churches have historically adopted, although Beasley-Murray said that “No thinking Baptist would claim that the congregational model is exactly patterned on the New Testament church [since] it is clear that church structures varied from place to place”. Congregationalism is not democracy, but rather it is theocracy – at least in theory. Congregationalism is the model of church government in which the congregation comes together to discern the heart, the mind, and the will of God, through the church meeting together.

Historically, the newly emerging Baptist churches of the seventeenth century were opposed to the kind of top-down and authoritarian practice of leadership that they saw in other denominations where strong leaders became virtually cult leaders. While the Baptist churches were far less prone to falling under the powerful leadership of one man, it could nonetheless happen that one man could exert more influence than was perhaps sensible.

According to Wilkerson-Hayes, Baptists in those days were insistent on the need for “independent assembly, unencumbered by … the intervention of bishops and other authorities”. Fiddes said that the early Baptist vision of church was that “There is no chain of command, no pyramid of power. Christ alone rules, and the task of the local church gathered in covenant community together is to find the mind of Christ”.

In those early Baptist churches, the responsibility for church leadership lay with every believer to do their part to fulfil the vision of congregational government. Such Baptist church leadership would be free of external influence, it would not be subject to the whim of one man – whoever he may be – and it would unite the congregation in following the mind of Christ. While this sounds good practice, the realization of such a vision was to prove far easier to say than it would be to implement.

The early Baptists did believe that their churches should have leaders who would be the pastors, teachers, elders and deacons that would oversee each Baptist church. Yet, for some reason, apostles, prophets and the like seemed to have been dropped from the type of leadership that God provided.

Congregational church government in modern day Baptist churches is frequently a source of deep frustration to its appointed leaders who often feel that they have been elected to lead the church, but that they are not actually allowed to do so. Democracy stands in the way of leadership, and democracy demands to be heard. “We haven’t voted…” Thus, church leaders who have debated and prayed long over issues can find their plans rejected by a church membership that is not in possession of everything that the leaders knew in order to make their plans.

Is the ‘one member one vote’ system of Government naïve in treating every member as equal when, in fact, some will be more spiritually mature than others, some will be more informed than others, and some will be more experienced than others? Part of the criticism of congregational government is that nothing changes quickly in the church, and yet the churches are living in a time when the world around them is changing very quickly.

STATUS

Baptist churches, along with many others, have had the historical experience of leadership within the churches being equated with status. Leadership was often about a person or persons being elected to a position of status, rather than to a place of servanthood. This caused leaders to lord it over the congregation instead of serving them for Christ, in direct violation of Christ’s own teaching.

When the apostle Paul referred to himself as an apostle and leader, he did not do so with the titles that indicated status and seniority, since those terms were allied to a kind of leadership that indicated superiority. Instead Paul used words and terms that indicated co-workers partners, and even went as far as describing himself as a slave.

When people within the churches that Paul oversaw adopted the cultural styles of leadership that Paul himself shunned, the apostle challenged them. The beginning of 1 Corinthians demonstrated that very well. Paul’s leadership was not about control, but was pastoral, brotherly, paternal and for the building up of the body of Christ.

It is unfortunately true the ‘one man’ model of church ministry makes it easy for that pastor to assume control of the church and lead it in an authoritarian way. Such a leader does not give equal weight to the voices and concerns of his fellow elders, but lords it over them by working to get his own way. Of course, church secretaries are not immune to the temptation of seizing control of a church.

When power, position and pet projects are more important than the people in a church, a cult is forming. Leaders are called by God because of his qualifications, not because of the leader’s qualifications. God calls those leaders to serve him within the context of a local church, not to serve themselves. Indeed, the leaders are not to serve people either, if that only means pandering to their wishes and trying to fulfil their expectations.

Paul also recognised leaders because of the way that they were already living and serving. For Paul, leadership simply recognised how a person was already functioning in a Christ-like manner. Leadership was never about calling an individual to a position of status and expecting them to fulfil that position by leading. Leadership was never about status that elevated one person above another. All leaders are role models, but what kind of role models they are is another question entirely.

THE BODY

While it is certainly true that the New Testament never elevates one person above another but regards all God’s people as priests and members of the king’s royal family, it is also true that the New Testament recognises that God calls leaders of various types because:

1. The church needs to be led or else it will drift or stagnate.

2. Some people have maturity and experience that needs to be used in service.

3. Some people are young in the faith and need to be discipled accordingly.

4. Every member of the church is not ready for leadership at the same time.

5. Every member has different qualities and it is God alone who sees how best to use people.

The church meeting of many Baptist churches today is a travesty of how it was originally practised when it was a worship gathering in which the heart, mind and will of God were discerned in the context of communal worship. For many Baptist churches today, the church meeting is now little more than a democratic exercise in which leaders seek the agreement of the congregation in the context of discussion and – frequently – argument. Whether the leaders get that agreement is another question.

Personal preferences and prejudices must be laid aside for the church meeting, but, all too often, they are the weapons of choice at such a meeting. This causes the meeting to seek not so much the mind of Christ as to agree the will of those with the loudest voices and most persuasive arguments. Such meetings are most un-Christ-like and will, by definition, never discern the mind of Christ. The body is in great danger of having cancer.

DISAGREEMENT

Amongst Baptist churches, as in every area of life, there will be disagreements. On that we can all agree! Disagreement is not in itself a problem for Baptist Churches. The problem is in how disagreement is handled. Closely related to this, is learning how unhealthy disagreement can be avoided.

While leaders may not be able to tell a congregation everything that is going on in relation to a particular issue under discussion, the wise leadership will never spring important decisions on a membership unannounced. Consultation and discussion should precede the church meeting – certainly by weeks if not months. Disagreement arising at the consultation and discussion stage can be listened to, considered, and taken into account by the wise leadership. The congregation needs to own the decisions that they are making – not just tolerate them.

SERVANTHOOD

Christian leadership as modelled by the apostle Paul and others of his day was far removed from the leadership patterns of Greek and Roman culture that was prevalent around them. Servant leadership is not weak leadership, but servant leadership serves Christ for the good of the people.

Everyday life for many people today is filled with the Greek and Roman styles of leadership that is all about self-promotion at the expense of others. Little wonder, then, that there is a tendency to bring those styles of leadership into the church.

Perhaps many Baptists do not know what Godly leadership looks like, because they have never experienced it. Perhaps they do not realize that Christian leadership is not the exercise of power but the practice of servanthood. Perhaps too many people have only ever known the kind of leadership that lords it over others to the benefit of self.

Perhaps only the church can truly model the kind of servanthood leadership in which the leaders care first of all for the people and the people respect and trust their leaders enough to let them lead. This is altogether an important subject that needs much thought, discussion and implementation if church is truly to be the body of Christ.

---

SUGGESTED READING

-Adair John, The Leadership of Jesus: and Its Legacy Today. (Norwich, Canterbury Press, 2001).

-Adair John, Effective Leadership, (London, Pan Macmillan, 1998).

-Ascough Richard S, Cotton Sandy, Passionate Visionary. Leadership Lessons from the Apostle Paul. (Ottowa, Novalis, 2005).

-Banks Robert, Paul’s Idea of Community. The Early House Churches in their Cultural Setting. (Massachusetts, Hendrickson, 1994).

-Beasley-Murray Paul, Power for God’s Sake. Power and Abuse in the Local Church. (Milton Keynes, Paternoster, 1998).

-Beasley-Murray Paul, Radical Believers. The Baptist Way of Being the Church. (Didcot, BUGB, 1992).

-Beasley-Murray Paul, Dynamic Leadership. Making it work for you and your church. (Eastbourne, Marc, 1990).

-Bebbington David, ‘An historical overview of leadership among Scottish Baptists’ in Rollinson, Andrew (ed.), Transforming Leadership. Essays exploring leadership in a Baptist context. (Glasgow, Baptist Union of Scotland, Undated), p15-20

-Black Alasdair, ‘Leadership that is truly Baptist and truly leadership’ in Rollinson, Andrew (ed.), Transforming Leadership. Essays exploring leadership in a Baptist context. (Glasgow, Baptist Union of Scotland, Undated), p33-38

-Blythe Stuart, ‘Leading to where?’ in Rollinson, Andrew (ed.), Transforming Leadership. Essays exploring leadership in a Baptist context. (Glasgow, Baptist Union of Scotland, Undated), p26-32

-Boff Leonardo, Holy Trinity, Perfect Community. (New York, Orbis Books, 2000).

-Bonhoeffer Dietrich, Life Together, (London, SCM, 1954).

-Bridges William, Managing Transitions. Making the most of change. (London, Nicholas Brealey, 2003).

-Briggs J H Y, The English Baptists of the Nineteenth Century, (Didcot, The Baptist Historical Society, 1994)

-Brown Raymond, The English Baptists of the Eighteenth Century, (Didcot, The Baptist Historical Society, 1986)

-Clarke Andrew D, A Pauline Theology of Church Leadership. (London, T&T Clark, 2008)

-Clarke Andrew D, Serve the Community of the Church: Christians as Leaders and Ministers. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2000).

-Clarke Andrew D, ‘A strange silence? Leadership in the New Testament’ in Rollinson, Andrew (ed.), Transforming Leadership. Essays exploring leadership in a Baptist context. (Glasgow, Baptist Union of Scotland, Undated), p8-14.

-Clinton J Robert, The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development, (Colorado Springs, Navpress, 1988).

-Collins Jim, Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A monograph to accompany Good to Great, (London, Random House Business Books, 2006).

-Cormack David, Change Directions, (Crowborough, Monarch, 1995).

-Creswell John W, Research Design. Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches. (California, Sage, 2009)

-Creswell John W, Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design. Choosing Among Five Approaches. (London, Sage, 2007)

-Dowley T. ‘Baptists and Discipline in the 17^th Century’ The Baptist Quarterly, Vol XXIV No.4, October 1971, p157-166.

-Dunn James, The Effective Leader. A Biblical Guide. (Eastbourne, Kingsway, 1995).

-Enger Malcolm J. ‘Whatever happened to the Covenant Community? Baptist church meetings in the nineteenth century’ Baptist Quarterly, Volume 42 Part 1, Oct 2008, p519-538.

-Feldman LH, ‘Diaspora Synagogues: New Light from Inscriptions and Papyri’ in Fine S (ed.) Sacred Realm: the emergence of the Synagogue in the Ancient World (Oxford, University Press, 1996), pages 48-66.

-Fendall Lon, Wood Jan, Bishop Bruce. Practicing Discernment Together. Finding God’s Way Forward in Decision Making. (Newberg OR, Barclay Press, 2007).

-Fiddes Paul S, Tracks and Traces. Baptist Identity in Church and Theology. (Milton Keynes, Paternoster, 2003).

-Fiddes Paul S, Participating in God: A Pastoral Doctrine of the Trinity. (London, Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd, 2000).

-Fiddes Paul. A Leading Question. The Structure and Authority of Leadership in the Local Church. (London, Baptist Publications, Undated).

-Finney John, Understanding Leadership, (London, Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd, 1989).

-Frykholm Amy Johnson, ‘Out of Silence. The Practice of Congregational Discernment’, The Christian Century, 3 April 2007, p34-38

-Giles Kevin, ‘Models of the Church’ Evangelical Review of Theology, 25 No.1, Jan 2001, p81-85.

-Gill Robin & Burke Derek, Strategic Church Leadership, (London, SPCK, 1996).

-Glick Sally Weaver, In Tune with God. The Art of Congregational Discernment. (Scottdale PA, Faith & Life Resources, 2004)

-Greenleaf Robert, Servant Leadership: a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. (New York: Paulist Press, 2002).

-Greenslade Philip, Leadership. Reflections on Biblical Leadership Today. (Farnham, CWR, 2002²)

-Groves John, ‘Spiritual Authority in the Church’ New Frontiers Theological Papers, (London, New Frontiers, Oct 2007).

-Hahn Celia A, Growing in Authority, Relinquishing Control. A New Approach to Faithful Leadership. (Bethesda, Alban Institute, 1994)

-Harper Michael, Let My People Grow: Ministry and Leadership in the Church, (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1977.

-Haymes Brian, Gouldbourne Ruth, Cross Anthony R, On Being the Church. Revisioning Baptist Identity. (Milton Keynes, Paternoster, 2008).

-Higginson Richard, Transforming Leadership. A Christian Approach to Management. (London, SPCK, 1996).

-Holmes Peter R, Trinity in Human Community: Exploring Congregational Life in the Image of the Social Trinity (Milton Keynes, Paternoster, 2006)

-Houston Tom, ‘Biblical Models of Leadership’ Transformation, 21 No.4, Oct 2004, p227-233.

-Howell, Don N Jr., Servants of the Servant. A Biblical Theology of Leadership (Oregon, Wipf & Stock, 2003).

-Hybels Bill, Courageous Leadership, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2002).

-Joyner, R, Leadership, Management and the Five Essentials for Success, (Charlotte, MorningStar Publications, 1995)

-Jump Phil, Healthy Church Meetings. Discerning the mind of Christ in a Christ-like way. (Wigan, North Western Baptist Association, 2007).

-Kouzes J M & Pozner B Z, The Leadership Challenge, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007).

-Kouzes J M & Pozner B Z, Cedibility: How leaders gain and lose it, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003).

-Lawrence James, Growing Leaders. Reflections on leadership, life and Jesus. (Abingdon, Bible Reading Fellowship, 2004).

-Maxwell John C, Developing the Leaders Around You, (Nashville, Nelson, 1995).

-Means James E, Leadership in Christian Ministry, (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1989).

-Miller Mary, ‘Transforming leadership: What does love have to do with it?’ Transformation, 23 No.2, Apr 2006, p94-106.

-Morris Danny E & Olsen Charles M, Discerning God’s Will Together. A Spiritual Practice for the Church. (Nashville, Upper Room Books, 1997).

-Munzinger Andre, Discerning the Spirits. Theological and Ethical Hermeneutics in Paul. (Cambridge, University Press, 2007)

-Nouwen Henri, In the Name of Jesus, (London, Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd, 1989).

-Okesson, Gregg A, ‘The image of God in Leadership: A contextual exploration in Theology of Leadership’ African Journal of Evangelical Theology 23.1 (2004), p21-46.

-Parker Stephen E, Led by the Spirit. Toward a Practical Theology of Pentecostal Discernment and Decision Making. (Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press, 1996).

-Parnell Chris W, Biblical Church Government, (Roodepoort, Baptist Publishing House, Undated)

-Purves Jim, ‘Leadership and a Baptist identity crisis’ in Rollinson, Andrew (ed.), Transforming Leadership. Essays exploring leadership in a Baptist context. (Glasgow, Baptist Union of Scotland, Undated), p21-25.

-Richards LO & Hoeldtke C, Church Leadership: Following the Example of Jesus Christ. (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1980).

-Rickett Daniel, ‘Becoming the Boss: How to unravel tangled roles and relationships’ Evangelical Missions Quarterly, 40 No.1, Jan 2004, p94-97.

-Rima Samuel D, Leading from the Inside Out: The Art of Self-Leadership, (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2000).

-Rollinson Andrew, ‘Space to Grow. Leadership as empowerment’ in Rollinson, Andrew (ed.), Transforming Leadership. Essays exploring leadership in a Baptist context. (Glasgow, Baptist Union of Scotland, Undated), p39-45.

-Rowell Ed, ‘Operation Courage’ Leadership, 18 No.4, Fall 1997, p112-115.

-Roxburgh Alan & Romanuk Fred, The Missional Leader. Equipping your church to reach a changing world. (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2006).

-Schein Edgar H, Organizational Culture and Leadership, (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2004).

-Schweizer E, Church Order in the New Testament. (London, SCM Press, 1961).

-Sessoms Richard, ‘A leadership model for the suffering church’ Evangelical Missions Quarterly, 40 No.3, July 2004, p340-346.

-Spriggs David, Christian Leadership, (Swindon, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1993).

-Stott John, Basic Christian Leadership. Biblical Models of Church, Gospel and Ministry. (Downers Grove, IVP, 2002)

-Sugden Chris, ‘Mission Leadership and Christian Theological Research’, Evangelical Review of Theology, 28 No.3, 2004, p232-246.

-Vanier Jean, Community and Growth. (London, Darton, Longman & Todd, 1989²).

-Volf Miroslav, After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity. (Cambridge, Eerdmans Publishing, 1998).

-Wilkerson-Hayes Anne, ‘The Lost Art of Congregational Discernment’, Ministry Today, Edition 41, Winter 2007, p25-28

-Wright Nigel G, Free Church, Free State. The Positive Baptist Vision. (Milton Keynes, Paternoster, 2005).

-Wright Nigel, Challenge to Change. A Radical Agenda for Baptists. (Eastbourne, Kingsway, 1991)

-Wright, Walter C, Relational Leadership. A Biblical Model for Leadership Service. (Paternoster, Carlisle, 2000).