“We love following the Pastor’s vision!” “We’re working to fulfil the Pastor’s vision!”
These are dangerous words that I heard it from multiple people from the same Church. I worry when I hear that sort of language for a number of reasons. First, I think it elevates the authority and voice of the pastor to a level of unbiblical power. Second, it disempowers the people in the team from having ownership in the vision. But, also, I think this sort of attitude misses the opportunity that comes from corporately discerning the will of God. It may be less efficient and, almost certainly, slower to listen and discern together and, no doubt, leaders should be seeking God’s will as a first priority. But, there is power in listening together and an assurance that becomes important when things get tough and we’re tempted to swerve from the vision.
Some years ago, a block of land in Forest Lake was for sale and the Church leadership thought we should investigate it. The price was reasonable and the block was good. But, we had no certainty that God was in the move. So, we took it to a prayer meeting of the Church. At the start of the meeting, I called for a show of hands: 1/3 were in favour of buying the land; 1/3 were against buying the land; and 1/3 were uncertain. We spent a significant time in prayer. At the end of that, I called for another show of hands. This time, 100% said God was not in this and we should not buy the land. In hindsight, though we didn’t understand it at the time, it makes sense why we weren’t to buy the land. First, it was unexpectedly flooded in the 2011 floods. But, more than that, if we had taken out a loan for the land then, we would not have had the available funds to call Geoff Eggins as Pastor some years later. Personally, I’m glad we invested in Geoff rather than a block of dirt!
I give that as an example of the power of discerning God’s will together. If the leadership had made that decision independently of the congregation, there would have been no ownership in it. But, because we made that significant decision together, we could celebrate together when we saw the outcome of God speaking to us.
The early Church knew the importance of team ownership in the process of discerning God’s will in areas of vision and mission. When the decision was made to replace Judas in Acts 1, the Twelve didn’t carry out that process in private. We read that Peter spoke “among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty).” (v15) Additionally, when it was time to send Barnabas and Paul out on their missionary journey, that decision was made during Church worship (Acts 13:2).
We make a serious mistake as leaders in we fall prey to this idea that we must be the vessel through which God must speak. As leaders, we’re not God’s sole mouthpieces. We believe in the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9) and we believe every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). Consequently, we should take advantage of the privilege that is the community of believers and seek God’s will together.
Every team must have a vision and that vision must come from God.
God will often surprise us by the people through whom He chooses to speak to us. I was part of a prayer meeting once where one of the other people brought their kids and they just sat over against the wall and read a book while “the grown-ups prayed.” We were praying to hear God’s voice. At the end of the prayer time, one of these kids spoke up and said something they thought was an obvious statement. In fact, it was a word from God in reply to our requests.
Never underestimate others! God LOVES to speak TO His people THOUGH His people.
So, as FLBC leaders, how can we be good at listening to God together? Here are some thoughts:
- Make sure you make prayer a priority as a team. Every ministry in our Church, every action, every purpose should be bathed in prayer. We cannot do anything of eternal value without God so why would we try? There are many leaders in our Church that make prayer a priority in their ministry but one who does it particularly well is Michael Lee in worship. He leads the team in prayer before practice and then after the service. As leaders, we must lead in making corporate prayer a priority when we’re together as a team.
- Deal with any sin or other barrier that might stop your group from hearing from God. One of the most common barriers is disunity or unresolved conflict. Make sure you create a culture of confessions, reconciliation and dealing with sin.
- Expect God to speak through your team members. Ask your team to share what they believe God has been saying to them. Get your team thinking about praying for the ministry. Grow in your team an expectation that they will hear from God. Let them know you expect them to hear from God.
- When you are looking to set a vision, include others in the process. One of the biggest mistakes I made when I was new in ministry was thinking that the “vision had to come from me.” I thought that the process should be that I take time away, come up with what God was saying and then come back and unveil it to the team. I expected they would then get on board because they would trust me. I thought that is what was meant by “releasing leaders to lead.” But, I was so wrong and yet I still hear this sort of attitude at pastors’ conferences. Now, my process is to take some time out by myself but also lead the leadership team in deliberate time to seek God. Last year, we decided to take it a step further. Instead of unveiling what we believed God was saying to the Church, we called the Church to a “Week of Prayer and Fasting” and then asked people to tell us what they believed God was saying. It was incredibly affirming that God said the same thing to others as He said to us. We could be confident that we were hearing God well and, as we press into this new year, we are doing it with assurance that we are doing it together.
- Be expectant that God will speak through unlikely people. Sometimes our pride gets in the way as leaders: “Why would God give that word through that person first and not through me – I’m the leader!” Get your pride out of the way and listen for the God who once spoke through an ass! (Numbers 22:30).
- When it is clear God has spoken to the group, act. One of your key roles as a leader is to be courageous to act when God has made His will clear. Conversely, nothing will so undermine your authority as not acting once God has made it clear. It will erode your team’s trust in you if God speaks and you lack the fortitude to lead them in action – even if the action God has commanded is to wait. In 2015, the leaders of FLBC were keen to plant as were quite a few people in our Church. As we took the process to prayer, God clearly said, “Wait and prepare.” If we had ignored that and pushed forward with a program of planting, it would have said to our team that, either we felt our plans were more important than God’s, or that we didn’t really think the group had heard from God and we knew better. The more you show courage to act when the clear word comes, the more you will grow an expectation that your group will hear from God and actively seek Him.
- Nothing happens in a vacuum. Our Church’s vision has to fall within the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Our Church will have a different vision to another Church but we must never act outside the Biblical mission of God. The ministry you lead will have a different vision from other FLBC ministries but it must stay within the wider vision of our Church and the Great Commission, to become a planting, sending, multiplying, equipping Church that shows people that every person is important to God.
This is all a small part of what Jesus meant when He told His disciples, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:7-8) We often think of this passage as Jesus telling us each to abide well individually. But, I think that misses the corporate element of Jesus’ command.
We are actually to abide and ask TOGETHER. We do it TOGETHER so that we will bear fruit TOGETHER, see God answer prayer TOGETHER and show ourselves to be His disciples TOGETHER.
“Everyone really does win when a leader gets better.” (Bill Hybels)
God said to the Israelites, “Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.” (Jeremiah 3:15) Part of being a great under-shepherd is realising we are also part of the flock and we all need to hear the voice of the Great Shepherd together.
Lord, please speak to your people, make your will and vision clear, and then give us the courage to carry your purposes out by the power of your Holy Spirit. In the powerful Name of Jesus. Amen.