In the last year or two, I’ve been talking a lot about the topic of church leadership. I was asked recently if that was the most important sticking point for me when evaluating the health of a church. Here was my answer…
For me, I wouldn’t say the priesthood of all believers is any more important than any other essential doctrine. But it’s also not less important either.
I think it’s just a bigger issue and comes up more in our local context at this time generally speaking than, say, the deity or incarnation of Christ.
So it may seem more important because it’s constantly needing to be addressed in the time and place we currently live. This does get old and frustrating. But I’m sure it’s not more old and frustrating than having to constantly address other essentials in other contexts like we see in some NT letters, for example.
For me, to not live out the implications of the priesthood of all believers practically shouldn’t be any less concerning to us than not living out the implications of any other essential doctrine.
It may sound radical, but to me, not living that out is just as non-Christian as not living out any other essential doctrine. But most churches I encounter in my time and place don’t treat it as such.
People are always weighting convictions according to their own scale. To the average American, smoking a cigarette is a much worse offense against the body than gluttony. We even have holidays where gluttony is the goal of the day.
So no, how a church thinks about leadership is not the most important sticking point for me. But I believe it’s importance is extremely underestimated in my time and place.
An honest, biblical review would show that worldly leadership philosophies and structures being executed in churches are a major stronghold in our time and place. To really be Christian, this needs to be dealt with just as much as a church that held to every sound Christian doctrine except the deity of Christ would need to be dealt with.
I hope this brings some light on why that topic gets so much attention from me.
Michael Fleming
Mike Fleming is the creator of Finding Healthy Church. Over 20 years ago, he was sparked by the frustration of failing to experience what the biblical story claimed a healthy church was like. He caught a vision and passion for seeing local churches be what they were designed by God to be. He shares what he's learning along the way so the health of local churches around the world are improved. He’s currently working on an eye-opening book that will help better understand what it means for a church to be healthy.