Many good points here, I have still been pondering this issue as our own fellowship is in transition. “What is my role?” 

  For me, I feel that at least in part the answer drives us to the basic core of what we are. Knowing what I do about history I can see the pernicious hand of the enemy slowly transitioning us into a form other than what the Father wanted. I’m not going to bother going deeply into this sense so many others on this platform have already done a good job exposing various parts of it.

  So I bring this up only for context.

  We need a basic rediscovery of what we are, not what we are told we should be. Case in point in a typical brick-and-mortar congregation, everyone's eyes are on the pastor. They are watching the show, and despite how they dress up their motives, they have come for the entertainment. Yes, this is the case in mega churches and to a lesser degree smaller ones… but it is still there.

  So with that in our mind, we try to re-create the same dog and pony show when we plant a new congregation in a house. Have we escaped the problem? No, we have not. The reality is, our total focus needs to change. 

  Modern congregations are created in the image of a corporation, not a community. In this model everything and everyone attends to serve the center, to keep the monster breathing and well-fed. Yes, I am being very blunt here as to my true thoughts.

  But this is not the way I believe it was intended. The Apostolic calling as I believe Paul put it was to “We proclaim Him, admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ. For this purpose I also labor, striving according to His power which works mightily within me.” Colossians 1:28-29. This and other scriptures paint a different picture, at least to me. 

  If we have been adopted into a royal household, then the purpose of leadership is to raise up all the heir-apparent’s in adulthood so that they may take their place. And if we are to be raised up like Paul says one chapter later “…in Christ you have been brought to fullness…” 2:10 then is not the mission of leaders to make us not only complete in Christ, but also leaders? Because, are not the children of earthly kings expected to have duties to perform when they are of age?

  And if we are all to be leaders in fullness, then perhaps Paul's letter might make more sense if he was addressing it to all of us on the same level.

  We have been taught to see a divide in Christian culture between the leaders and everyone else. I think this is a false concept, a lie from the pit of ****. If you can not consider a word of correction from even the newest Christian then your view is rooted in “Priest vs Laity” thinking and not a community of saints.

  Leaders have a role. We plant, we water, and as God makes the people grow. In doing this we struggle to raise people up into adults, present them to Christ and then get out of the way. I have often called this the John the Baptist model, “That I may diminish so that Christ may grow!”