Three Levels of Leadership-- Then and Now

Three Levels of Leadership-- Then and Now

1. The Priests: Only the descendents of Aaron could be temple priests, authorized to offer sacrifices. In the NT times it was the Apostles. Today, it is the top leaders who have the big picture and provide strategic leadership. They bring international thinking and resources on the table. On their vision and drive depends the entire movement. Flawed vision at this level can corrode the whole system. The best of them Envision, Empower and have an Exit plan.

2. The Ministers: The Levites were ministers who did everything except sacrificing. Timothy, Titus, Priscilla and Lydia constituted this tier in the NT. They are the growth drivers. Their passion and ability for capacity building of the grassroots level workers to implement the apex leader’s vision is critical to success. Frustration, incompetencies and poor connectivity with the top leader can fizzle out the momentum. 

3. The Ordinary People: The ordinary Jews were called to be priests to the nations (Exo. 19:6) but instead confined their activities to their own communities. Today, they are the church members. This is where the rubber meets the road. They are the fruit bearers. They interact directly with the Gentile world and expand the kingdom. Muzzling them can muffle the movement. 

The qualifications for Elders in the NT include:

1. Character traits

2. Hospitality

3. Managing their family well otherwise how can they manage the household of Yahweh? 

4. Sound doctrine which does not mean being a biblical scholar but the ability to convict people of other faiths who contradict.

5. Being fruitful (Tit.1:5-9; 1Tim.3:4,5)  

Champion Kingdom expanders do not necessarily fit into our definition of saints. A person of peace may come consuming tobacco and alcohol, with two wives or five husbands with a non-christian name, strange dress code, food habit and culture.  

The Veil Must be Removed: After the destruction of the Temple the Jews continue to celebrate the Passover. The lamb has been replaced by three loaves of matzah (flat bread), representing the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Only the middle matzah (the Son) is broken and one half is shared and eaten while the other half is  hidden away to be searched by the family and eaten later. This hidden half is called the Afikomen (Greek Epikomen) meaning, “I came”, referring to Yeshua’s disappearance and return after three days in the grave. The death of the Lamb on the cross tore the veil in the temple. The Jews do not know the significance of the Afikomen. We need to share the Passover meal with the Jews and remove the veil from the middle matzah-- Yeshua Messiah, the bread of life. 

The scepter has departed because the church has miserably failed to leverage the powerful symbolisms in the Feasts of the Lord. As it recovers these things it will deliver quality services (salvation) to the lost (2Cor.2:10,11).

The real strongholds are in the mind (2 Cor. 10:3-5). They can be demolished through the Word, binding and loosing, through the blood of the Lamb, the power of the Holy Spirit, miracles and your own testimony. Without being born again you cannot even see the kingdom, much less enter it (Rev.12:11; John 3:3,5). 

There is so much noise in the church that it is impossible to hear Yahweh. Our minds are so occupied with the program that our transcendental part has little chance of connecting with Yahweh.

Sitting in the church, till death do us part, does not remove the veil. One true indicator of the removal of the veil is an abundance of fruitfulness (John 15:8). After his blindness was removed, Paul instantly became fruitful (Acts 9:9-22). The Jews read the blinders remained and they missed the Messiah (2Cor 3:13-15). The Ethiopian read, but his eyes were opened only through Philip. Idolatry is in the heart of man (Eze. 14:3-5; 2 Cor. 4:3,4). Putting anything above Yahweh is idolatry. This includes eulogizing a Christian leader, church building, a denomination, even worship of the Bible (bibliolatry), or music; the family or job can become an idol. After their empowerment on the Pentecost, the disciples burst forth among the people authenticating the gospel through words, deeds and life-style.

The house ekklesia is not putting a steeple on your house or even shifting from the pew to the sofa. It is about being the ekklesia— a relational community of Yahweh’s people on mission to reach the world. (Felicity Dale) 

Discover His Methodology: Yeshua began his ministry by discipling (John 1:37-39). He discipled throughout His ministry on earth, and even after His resurrection he discipled a couple of guys on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13,27). This should send strong vibrations to His ekklesia that making disciples was at the heart of Yeshua’s ministry. He advocated a simple strategy of going two by two, finding a person of peace, eating with him, binding the strongman, preaching through power encounters and planting a reproducible ekklesia in his house (Luke 10:1-9; Matt. 12:29). 

Thousands of books have been written on the life and work of Yeshua but hardly any on the methodology of our Master strategist. He focused on the few for the salvation of the multitudes. The church needs to do the same to reach the multitudes in the valley of decision (Joel 3:14). Sadly, the church herself has become a valley of dry bones whereas it was designed to be an empowerment institute (Matt.9:36; 10:2).

There is an urgent need to rescue the pew squatters suffering from low image and tell them that our Lord can draw a perfectly straight line even with crooked people like us.

The Pope Recants: On the 7th of February 2007, Pope Benedict announced that Priscilla and Aquila type of house ekklesias are authentic ekklesias because Paul sends greetings to them (1Cor. 16:19). The Pope further stated that all the activities of the church, including baptism and the Eucharist, could be served there without the presence of a priest.

While the institutionalized churches are recording zero growth, the decentralized house ekklesias dominate the evangelical landscape the world over. They have grown from 70 million apostles in 1970 to 700 million strong apostolics with a vision for reaching the rest of the planet in their own generation. 

The Catholics call house ekklesias as Basic Christian Communities (BCC) or Small Christian Communities (SCC) and have produced several excellent resource materials for training. Earlier, Pope Paul called it the true and concrete expression of communion and the church. It has the potential to start a new church culture in the community. They think it is the most effective way of “being ekklesia” and the surest way of shifting the paradigm from a “church over there” to “the ekklesia in the neighbourhood.” The Protestants could learn a few lessons from them. 

The Catholics consider the house ekklesia as “The New Way of Being Ekklesia” and the way forward for the Third Millennium.

Deconstruct the Church: The Great Commission empowers every believer to go and make disciples and to baptize them. Yeshua was baptized in the Jordan, Paul in a home, Lydia in the river Gangates, the Ethiopian eunuch in a roadside pond, the Philippian jailor in the prison tank and thousands were baptized in pools in Jerusalem. No one was baptized in a church baptistery and never by a professional priest. 

Jewish boys and girls were sent to different Madrassas (schools), prospective couples hardly met until shidduch (betrothal), men and women were separated by mechitza (partition) in the synagogue, and the Pharisees closed their eyes on the street to avoid eye contact with women. Therefore for men to handle a wet woman in baptism would be considered adulterous. Naturally women baptized women. If women can be baptized with the Holy Spirit, there is no earthly reason why they cannot dunk each other in water. According to His promise, Yahweh is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, including women (Joel 2:23; 28,29). 

When ordinary housewives start baptizing each other in significant numbers, then you can be sure that a mass movement is on and the latter rains are not far away. Like Priscilla and Phoebe, women must fulfil their Yahweh-given creative role and apostolic ministry, to disciple, baptize, plant ekklesias and transform lives, because they will not be saved by the righteousness of their husbands.

Nowhere in the Scriptures does it say that the priest served Holy Communion or conducted weddings or buried the dead. Jewish Kahen (priests) were forbidden to come near the dead. For this reason even today, they are prohibited from entering the medical profession (Matt. 10:8; Lev. 21:1). In order to see a true priesthood of all believers, we need to deconstruct all the unbiblical traditions and give all believers back their fundamental right to minister. Ministry must involve the whole Body for the perfecting of the saints and for the edification of the Body (Eph. 4:12). 

The Saturation Principle: Yeshua preached and practiced the saturation principle. He went to every village and town of Galilee and the gospel spilled over into Syria, Decapolis, Judea and Trans-Jordan. He sent seventy disciples in teams of two to carry out a saturation blitz in “every place.” His parables illustrate the saturation principle. A little yeast can permeate and transform the whole dough (Matt. 4:23-25; 13:31-33; Luke 10:1,2). The disciples went to the Temple and broke bread from house to house, and the Lord added to their numbers “every day” (Acts 2:46,47). “Every knee and every tongue” has to confess the Lordship of Yeshua (Rom. 14:11). Paul asked Titus to appoint elders in “every city” (Titus 1:5). The ekklesias must “grow in numbers daily” (Acts 16:5). 

Yahweh’s vision for “every tongue” and “every tribe” can only be fulfilled through the Saturation principle. (Joshua Pillai)

House ekklesias are an attempt to get back to the form and function of apostolic Christianity. They are part of tight networks for health and growth, like a spider’s web of interlocking strands. (Rad Zdero)

House ekklesias are a living room revolution for empowering every believer. This is critical to the effectiveness of the saturation principle for finishing the job of discipling the nations. The Great Commission is not an abstract teaching but the Action Plan of our personal and corporate daily existence. It is time for a shift from being church to the saved, to reaching out to people of perverted principles and values and a warped worldview. Unlike Cain, we must become keepers of our brothers. 

With seven million more churches to go worldwide, the Saturation Principle is Yahweh’s strategy for discipling all nations. (Jim Montgomery)

Patrick of Ireland converted every Druid priest in Ireland and baptized 120,000 people. The Irish missionaries then went everywhere and changed the world. John Knox prayed, “Give me Scotland or I die.” Queen Mary was more afraid of his prayers than of all the armies of England. In the Philippines, they are trying to plant an ekklesia in every barangay (village). George Muller told the captain of the fog found ship to speed up. The captain replied that it was impossible as visibility was zero. George prayed and the fog cleared instantly. It was the captain who was  fog (problem) bound while George was focussed on Yahweh.

The church has everything she needs for the final push: global instability, a committed Christian workforce, and an abundance of resources including frustrated men and women and angry youth who want to do something better than just sit in the pews. All the church needs to do is to plug them into the Power Point.    

The current world turmoil is nothing but the birth pangs of a new world. Yahweh is poised to give to His Son the nations as an inheritance and the ends of the earth for a possession. 

The day when people from every nation, tongue and tribe gather at the foot of His throne cannot be far away. (Ngwiza Mnkandla)

How Many is too Many in a House Ekklesia: The Holy Spirit empowers everyone, including seekers, to participate.  Hence it is crucial to keep the numbers to a manageable minimum. Scripturally, where two or three families gather together, an authentic ekklesia exists because she has all the power in heaven and earth (Matt. 18:18-20). The primary function of the ekklesia is to worship Yahweh by discipling unbelievers who will say, “Truly Yahweh is among you.” There are no permanent members. Everyone is out making disciples (1Cor. 14:24-26). Ten righteous people could have saved the sin-saturated cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:22,32). When Yahweh and the Lamb tabernacle with men (Rev. 21:3), every worshipper will have ten men from different nations hanging on to his kanaph (sleeve) saying, “Truly Yahweh is with you” (Zech. 8:23). Every believer should carry at least ten sanctified sinners into the kingdom. You cannot get married alone and you certainly cannot go to heaven alone either. 

It is not stability or even sustainability but flexibility and fruitfulness that are the benchmarks of a successful ekklesia.

Faith Goals: The time has come to open up all sectors of giftings within the ekklesia. The more hierarchical bureaucracy we have, the more entrepreneurial talent will be trapped in worthless activities. Rules are designed to protect the institution and not necessarily to fulfil the vision. Every ekklesia must leave footprints that lead to where Christ has not been named and change their destiny. Unfortunately most churches do not leave any footprints beyond the parking lot. The church and missions must realize the strategic role of the local leaders. It is not the missionaries but the competence and commitment of the local leaders that expands the kingdom. We are not called just to be security guards but also soldiers who march out and expand the kingdom. 

Sending missionaries who are committed to laptop ministry and attending innumerable meetings, is not the answer. We are in the final assault era and need innumerable ekklesia planters.

If purely human intelligence is used, then there will be little growth or at best inorganic growth driven by an organizational mindset. It will die out with the demise of the charismatic leader. The human mind is finite which is why men try to limit the infinite Yahweh in a church building. But if we pray both with the Spirit and with our mind (strategy based on facts), then faith goals can be accomplished—way beyond what we can think or imagine (1 Cor. 14:15; 2Tim.1:7). A true ekklesia should be cracking the whip and shunting the rulers of darkness out of the territories illegally occupied by them. It should not go hiding in rabbit burrows of committees, meetings, conferences and conventions.  

Every Christian’s performance needs to be put under the scanner. It is a matter of collective shame to pay hypocritical homage to Yeshua every Sunday while doing nothing during the week for those who are heading for a Christless eternity. 

Vision: Recently at a leaders’ seminar, the attendees were asked to write down their vision. One needed a bigger and better building while another needed a vehicle to bring his flock to church. Yet another needed money to build a boundary wall to keep the Gentiles out. None had even heard of the Great Commission or had any burden for the lost. With these kinds of visionaries, the church can kiss good-bye to Yahweh’s vision of gathering all tongues and tribes (Isa. 43:9; 52:10). We never pray for the sun to rise in the morning because we know for sure that it will. We need not pray for a harvest because it is ready. But we do need to pray for labourers to precipitate a domino effect. We need to put on sackcloth and ashes for keeping all our human assets locked up, instead of maximizing their ministries.   

The ekklesia has the largest talent and material resource pool in the world but the pipelines are choked with traditional sludge and gunk. We need to unclog the supply lines so that the valuable resources can freely flow into every Gentile home. 

Yahweh told the prophet Habakkuk to write down the vision on tablets and run with it for the entire world to see (Hab. 2:1-3). The vision statement said, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). Habakkuk’s commitment to this vision statement was, “Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labour of olives may fail, and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord of my salvation” (Hab. 3:17,18).

The family ekklesia is not a new concept. It is as old as the Mosaic Law when Yahweh commanded Israel to teach the kids while having fun and games with them (Deut. 6:1-9).    

There is an umbilical connection between your vision and your commitment to its outcome, “Where there is no vision, people perish” (Prov. 29:18). Vision casting and capacity building are the primary functions of the ekklesia. Every believer must articulate his Yahweh given vision and make a dying declaration, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). 

The Shift: Shifting from a sacred building to a house does not necessarily produce a house ekklesia. It is only a change of venue. The house ekklesia does not necessarily meet in a house. It could be anytime, anywhere. However, the house is the most convenient place. Paul shared the whole counsel of Yahweh from house to house (Acts 20:20,27).

If the ekklesia plays her cards right, she will cruise to the finish line with a cloud of witnesses from all tongues and tribes, to an applauding angelic audience. But as it is now, she is trotting around to show off her gizmos and gimmicks to captive audiences (Luke 15:7,10; 1Cor. 9:26; 2Tim 4:7; Heb. 12:1,2)

The NT ekklesia is of a completely different paradigm where apostolic teaching through dialogue, table fellowship, prayer, miracles, material sharing, and discipling take place in a completely informal manner. Here the minister is a facilitator, a catalyst, a vision caster, an encourager and a networker. The essential difference is that the Body runs the show, not an individual.

The minister as a father figure says, “It is time for me to shut up and listen and time for you to speak and share your dreams, visions and insights, set goals and implement initiatives.” (Luis Bush)

Yahweh is not a long-bearded dictator giving ad hoc judgments.  He loves dialogue and encourages healthy debate, “Come now and let us reason together” (Isa. 1:18; Job 13:3,15).  

“Visible” and “audible” churches are serious growth inhibitors as they are not conducive to discipling and downright dangerous in many countries. A visible church with a big Cross and an audible E-church with loud music and hallelujahs attract persecution. Lots of singing also eats up discipling time. Diligently preserving cultural complexion through contextualization and indigenization substantially reduces persecution and leapfrogs the movement. The leadership must not be with the big brother but with the “Brethren,” (delphus=womb), which does not mean brothers but “fraternity,” a community of men and women. By the end of the meeting, the ekklesia should have grown in quality and quantity (Acts 2:42-47; 6:7; 16:5; 1Cor. 14:24-32). 

The Sunday service is the biggest time waster. Most leaders arrogantly presume that only their teaching can mature the members instead of facilitating the team to disciple the seekers. 

Reaching “Ta Ethne” is the Goal: Yeshua commanded us to make disciples of “Panta ta Ethne” (All Ethnic groups/ People groups/ Castes). All the pieces of the mosaic that make up every nation/state are to be discipled. (Donald McGavran) 

In a farmhouse enclosure, chickens, ducks, rabbits, sheep and cows multiply, each according to its own kind (Genesis 1:21-25). It is extremely important to empower ethnic group leaders and release them to work among their own kind. Otherwise fracture zones will appear, as happened between the Hebrew and Greek factions of the Jerusalem ekklesia, even under the apostolic leadership of Peter and John. Premature integration will nearly always result in stagnation and attrition.

Everyone is proud of his or her own roots. The failure of the dominant communities to recognize and respect ethno-linguistic realities has been one of the greatest church growth decelerators.

The early fracture of Hebrew and Greek churches resulted in a large number of priests joining the movement and precipitating its hyper-acceleration (Acts 6:1-7). Yeshua told His disciples initially to go only to the lost sheep of Israel (Matt. 10:5). Later, when they were mature, He sent them to the Gentiles, but even there they had to find a local “Person of Peace” (Luke 10:1-9). While not advocating caste discrimination, it is important to plant ethno-linguistic ekklesias and allow them to grow and multiply along these lines. Early pressure to integrate, disintegrates the movement. Foreign missionaries in Assam integrated Boros, Assamese, Adivasis and others to save themselves from learning different languages. This killed the momentum among all these groups, while neighbouring Nagas and Mizos reached an almost 100% conversion rate. The global ekklesia must finish the task of reaching all the 24,000 people groups of the world, including the 4,685 people groups of India.  

The ekklesia is not a melting pot but a stew pot where potatoes come out as potatoes and carrots as carrots. Gravy (the Holy Spirit) is the only thing that glues them together (Gal. 3:28).

The 153 Big Fish: Yeshua helped Peter and his fishing company to catch 153 “great” fish (John 21:11). The Jews believed that there were 153 nations in the world and by implication they all have to be caught. These nations have multiplied now into 24,000 People Groups (PGs) of which thousands remain unreached and unengaged. Reaching involves intentionally equipping indigenous leaders to carry the movement forward. Traditional methods of evangelism do not work, as most of them are non-literates. Any cross-cultural missionaries need to find out knowledge, skills, attitude and other deficiencies for capacity building and then hand over the baton to the local players. Make sure that like Peter, you catch a big fish with a gold coin in its mouth, and baptize his wallet for your personal support (Matt. 17:27).

We must pray to Yahweh to take to heaven all the Reverends who compel us to come to church instead of letting us go fishing.

The simplest strategy for any ekklesia is to adopt and resource a People Group (PG). Only through PG thinking can all the tribes and tongues of the world be reached in our generation. (Ted Olsen)

The Parking Lot Ekklesia: The effectiveness of an ekklesia can be judged on the quality of fellowship in the parking lot. “Hi and Bye: See you next week,” needs to be converted into caring and sharing over a picnic lunch, where newcomers can be discipled. “Power lunches,” whether in the parking lot or in the office, are powerful tools for discipling. 

The roadmap to world evangelism does not include event oriented crusades, revival meetings, tele-evangelism or the traditional church, but meanders via spontaneously multiplying organic ekklesias. There are one billion non-Christians worldwide who have no contact whatsoever with Christians, but the sad paradox is that there are also one billion Christians who have no contact with non-Christians. This needs to change. 

Every Christian is a change agent, transforming his/her community and city. For a sizzling finish, go armed with the best tackle and hook and catch the biggest fish in town.

Research: Seventy million new souls are added every year to the population worldwide. Twenty million of these are born into Christian families. Four thousand foreign missions baptize only four million non-Christians worldwide; leaving a deficit of 46 millions. In India 50,000 new babies are added every day but only 5,000 get baptized daily. We are accountable for all the millions that perish. Unless the church restructures its operation to baptize additional one million daily, we will never even reach parity. An even higher trajectory will have to be conceptualized to catch up with the backlog of four billion non-Christians worldwide. Every believer needs to disciple and baptize to produce a domino effect to save the perishing world (Eze. 3:17-21).  

Diagnostic tools for growth drivers and inhibitors are necessary. Assumptions go wrong and so do hunches. For precision and clarity in cobbling together an effective strategy, information must be accurate, accessible and actionable. (Dwight Marable)