Loving Leadership

https://odb.org/MY/2023/05/14/loving-leadership

When I accepted Christ, the first church I joined was a Methodist outreach in my small town of Pasir Puteh, Kelantan in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. There were 3 of us local students who accepted Christ during those days through efforts of outstation Christian teachers stationed in our small town. It was a memorable experience, and I was there for around 2 years before my shepherd introduced me to the charismatic movement.

My second church, which was based in the capital city of Kelantan, had a more teacher-disciple or master-student leadership style. It was a branch of a group of churches headquartered in Petaling Jaya. The motto of this church is that as believers, we are an army of God. Thus, discipline and obedience were core. While most churches comprise of 20% core and 80% peripheral in terms of commitment of members, this independent church believes in 80% committed and 20% peripheral. I recall, for example, that it was mandatory for those in the core to pledge 20% of their income to the church, 10% for tithes, and 10% for offerings as the former was exclusively for those in full-time work, while the former was to cover overheads and incidentals like rent etc.

During my 8-year stint in the second church, I learned a lot about God, at times appeared forced or in conformity to the in crowd, but which I still cherish till today; for example, being faithful to a given task no matter how small or insignificant it might be. We used to take turns preparing communion, from the cooking of the unleavened bread to the preparation of the fruit juice. Or cleaning up the worship hall and arranging the chairs for the weekly worship service. There was no need those days to hire cleaners as we had a significant core who did all those work for the church.

Later, a group of us left the church and started our own, and as a breakaway group, we had to do everything ourselves. With all of us, then holding day jobs, we worked for the spiritual good of ourselves and our fellow members in the congregation. It was certainly not to the extent of Paul working tirelessly to provide for the needs of the Thessalonians as was stated in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12, but we had to fend for ourselves with no more support from the mother church. Any independent startup church will go through this phase, and I will not be surprised if they need to support the church lile Paul did – working tirelessly so that we may provide for the needs and survival of the new church.

I think there are pros and cons to the different church leadership styles, whether authoritative and even dictatorial or conciliatory, and by consensus. In the present day, the latter appears to be more prevalent as people are generally more educated, well informed, and exposed even if we are new to the faith. But too much flexibility means slower transformation of our lives as people tend to postpone and delay making faith commitments even to God despite hearing the call and prompting of the Holy Spirit. A firmer push by the church leadership may sway things a little quicker, but in the end, it is still the work of God and the Holy Spirit in our lives.

I am touched by Paul’s love, resolve, and determination in the way he cared for the congregation in Thessalonica like a mother loves her child, giving everything he has to see them through their spiritual journey. I am sure there are still leaders like that in our midst, and I pray that more of us will be like Paul when we care for those under us.