Gospel Leadership Part 3
What leaders do.
Thank you for bearing with me the last two weeks as I laid the foundation for Gospel Leadership. The next few posts in this mini-series will land more concretely. Today, we will answer the question: What is the job of a leader in the context of the church if the church, as we have previously discussed, is a missional family?
Lead to Unity in Christ
Ephesians 4:13
“To equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son…”
The job of leadership in the church is to unify people around a common Lord—Jesus. This is not merely an affirmation of shared beliefs (though protecting and teaching truth is part of it). Unity in Christ is rooted in a shared experience of the profound love of Jesus.
Consequently, the job of Gospel leadership is not to build institutions, buildings, systems, structures, run budgets, or plan meetings. Those things matter—but they are not the core objective.
For example, families have budgets, chores, tasks, and to-do lists. But those are not the purpose of the family. A family may save for a house or invest in a project, but houses and projects are not the point. The purpose of a family is that every member would walk in the security and joy of being loved and therefore, flourish to maturity.
Likewise, in the church, the job of Gospel leadership is to lead people into a life-changing encounter with the love of Jesus. The deeper question we return to over and over is: are people being unified around Christ so that they can flourish to their greatest potential in Him?
But, to be unified around Christ is also to be unified around his mission. There is an implicit direction in Paul’s words that the family is moving and growing toward maturity in Christ and adding people as it grows.
Gospel leadership moves people toward that mission in a unified, clear, holistic way.
We are constantly tempted to unify around something else—style, strategy, preference, personality. But none of that ultimately matters. Unity around Christ and his mission in the world is the only point around which we must seek unity.
Lead Disciples to Maturity
The second role of Gospel leadership flows from the next verse:
Ephesians 4:14
“Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching…”
In all of our lives, there are those who are weaker in the faith: tossed and blown about by culture, poor theology, bad teaching, circumstances, or whatever they consume online. These are a mark of childish faith.
The mark of a healthy parent is that they can raise healthy adults from children. The mission of a healthy parent is to launch their child into the world as a well-rounded adult. Similarly, the measure of effective leadership is not charisma or spiritual pedigree, but the ability to raise spiritual children into adulthood who can then do the same for the next generation of Christ followers.
Primarily organizational modes of church leadership often result in many Christians remaining children: expecting leaders to feed them, clothe them, and carry them towards greater intimacy with Christ or simply a more comfortable feeling life. As a result, Millions of Christians have been locked into perpetual adolescence rather than released into fruit-bearing adulthood.
Lead Disciples to Reproduction
Ephesians 4:13,16
“To equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ…
From him the whole body… promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.”
Closely connected to maturity is reproduction, the growth of the family.
In this passage, Paul gives us yet another metaphor for the church: a body that grows. It is a building with a foundation, family, and now a living body. The job of leadership is to raise and release the gifts of others so that everyone has a place in the body. It is not a one-man show.
In a church-as-family model, influential leaders work to empower and deploy others on mission. The responsibility of every mature believer is to raise those in their care to the point where they can be sent to take on their own sphere of influence in the body.
Eventually, every disciple must be released to promote the growth of the body. The reproductive responsibility of Gospel leadership is powerful because it means influence flows from fruitfulness, not personality or charisma.
Lead by Laying Down Our Lives
Ephesians 4:15
“Speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.”
The goal is to become like Christ and if our spiritual children are to become like Christ, we must model the love of Christ. This is a bit of a “duh” but it goes far beyond “servant-hearted leadership.” To model Christ’s love is to lay down your life for those you lead and truly place their needs ahead of your own.
Our leadership ought to reflect Christ, who did not cling to his life, even unto death. To belong to the church is not merely about community. It is an invitation to lay down your life and take responsibility for the thriving of others. Gospel leadership requires self-denial, sacrifice, and service.
Lead with the Power of the Holy Spirit
The thing is…none of us are naturally this kind of leader.
Ephesians 3:20–21
“Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Gospel leadership flows from dependence on the Holy Spirit. We cannot love like Jesus, serve like Jesus, or lead like Jesus without Him.
The equipping of the saints for unity in Christ is a gift of his grace.
To raise spiritual children to adults is impossible without the strengthening of the Holy Spirit.
Reproducing disciples is explicitly laid out as only possible when we move in the power of the Holy Spirit
Laying our lives down is only possible because the Holy Spirit is sanctifying us and making us more like Jesus.
Though this might read like a theology post, it’s not. The call to live and make disciples as leaders is an invitation to move in step with the Holy Spirit and allow the Gospel to frame our everyday lives.
I really like the parallel between family and Gospel leadership. It really highlights how we can get stuck/distracted doing tasks that are good and support our mission but aren’t actually our mission.