House Church Talk - Questions concerning leadership

[Dan Beaty]

Glenn,

This is coming in a bit late, but I hope you are still interested in this
discussion. You wrote:

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Glenn Frank" <glennfrank at earthlink.net>
To: "House Church Talk" <House Church Talk  at housechurch.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2004 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: House Church Talk -  Questions concerning leadership

> But now... I guess I am having trouble seeing how the truths I have
learned
> about eldership / team leadership / servant leadership etc are walked out
in
> a house church setting. We want to see all people participate in the group
> and grow and contribute and be an active part of the body... But it seems
we
> have set aside any kind of leadership structure altogether. I almost
wonder
> if we threw the baby out with the bathwater in regards to leadership
because
> I agree that the Lord is not apposed to leadership. (Leader-less in the
> human sense is not what the scriptures describe).
>

Your experience was similar to ours. Our previous church believed in plural
eldership for a while, but eventually drifted back towards the one man
pastor concept. We also then went to the other extreme in our HC meetings
for a while. We needed to sort of regroup, especially those of us who
formerly "led worship," or in teaching.

By simply coming together and waiting on the Lord, some of us restaining
ourselves a bit, we learned and continue to learn how to relate to the Lord
and one another in a way that hopefully pleases Him.

There have been times when the reluctance to lead has been a handicap, IMO.
While all are responsible to the Lord in exercising their gifts, that does
not do away with leaders.  I cannot give a formulae, I do believe that when
the leadership is functioning properly, our freedom in the Spirit will not
be hampered but increased.

Dan B.