Understanding Church Leadership 4
By Pastor Raphael Adegoke
16Woe to you, O land whose king is a youth, and whose princes feast in the morning. 17Blessed are you, O land whose king is a son of nobles, and whose princes feast at the proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness. (Eccl 10: 16-17)
Blessed be the name of the Lord for all His grace and favour that we enjoy daily and for the success He grants us all everyday.. May His name be glorified and may all the blessings received remain permanent in Jesus! Amen!
Last week, it was emphasized that just as we have good leaders so we have the bad ones and that our leadership is defined by the traits we manifest.
The foundation of any true leadership is Salvation. Many leaders have come and gone. While some remain leaders even after quitting their leadership positional offices, some become irrelevant, even while still retaining their leadership positional offices. Any leadership not built on Christ or at any point removed from Christ will never last. “
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock”. (Matthew 7:24).
To many ministers, it sounds absurd discussing the subject matter of salvation with
ministers. They often believe that such topic is to be treated among unbelievers, but this has been discovered over the years to be untrue. The worst assumption anyone can make in life is to assume he his saved when he is not saved. It becomes dangerous and terrible if a minister does likewise. The deception is high for us, ministers, because of the gifts we manifest or the workings of the name of Jesus in our mouth. Meanwhile, the manifestations of gifts or the use of the name of Jesus in performing miracles has got nothing to do with our Salvation.
It is possible to heal the sick in the name of Jesus, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, speak in unknown languages, and prophesy without Jesus knowing the one manifesting these. In fact, it is possible to plant churches and embark on evangelistic outreach with the experience of mass conversion of souls without Christ knowing the evangelist. “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine” (John 10:14). All these performances, sometimes, have got nothing to do with the one through whom they are done, but with God who honours the name of Christ and His Word. “You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father” (John 14:30) “ Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11)
Nobody can become an exceptional leader or genuinely receive the spiritual gift of leadership not having been genuinely saved. This is not the kind of salvation measured by the amount of what one does for Christ, but the amount of works one allows Christ to carry out on him. It is not measured by the crowd that follows a man, but how much of Christ he follows. It is not the type measured by the amount of gifts displayed but the fruit displayed. So, if you cannot be led by Christ, then you are not qualified to lead Christ’s sheep.
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1)
Pastor Raphael Adegoke is a Pastor in Christ Apostolic Church (Nigeria & Overseas) and a Lecturer in Christ Apostolic Church Theological Seminary.
