Leadership is not control, but love – John Benton
Male church leadership is under attack from several directions, particularly because of glaring examples of men whose leadership has been abusive. In churches that take a complementarian view of church leadership, how do we prevent these abuses? We need to think of male leadership in church as father-like, writes Jim Sayers.
John Benton from Aylesbury explored this theme in one of the key sessions at an overnight event for Grace Baptist pastors at High Leigh in March. Leadership should not be about control, he said, but about stimulating, loving, and extending the family. In a generation where young men are regularly failed by the education system, where automation is taking many of their jobs, do pastors understand them? Issues of race, misogyny and gang culture exacerbate the challenge. At the same time, churches need to be places where strong, gifted, and intelligent women are encouraged to flourish. Male leadership that ignores women is both harming them and stunting the growth of the entire church.
Leadership scandals addressed afresh
The continuing ramifications of recent leadership scandals in evangelical churches and the wider Christian world are being freshly addressed by one of the UK’s leading evangelical networks.
Affinity – which links around 1,200 churches and Christian organisations – says it wants to aim towards healthy Christian communities ‘where concerns about pastoral malpractice can be raised and dealt with fairly, and in ways which are honouring to Christ, theologically faithful and legally compliant’.
Getting the large stones in the jar first: Ministry priorities
A lecturer was discussing time management with his students. He brought out a large glass jar and placed it on the table, before filling it with large stones. He then asked his students if they thought the jar was full.
One replied: ‘Yes.’ He then added a number of small stones to the jar, which slipped between the gaps of the larger stones, and then repeated the question.