You Will O-bey Or You Will Be Exter-minated!

Ok, so the truth was bound to come out sooner or later... I have to confess to being a bit of a geek... just a bit...

And so inevitably I couldn't help but discern the similarity between the Daleks' mantra of 'obey or be exterminated' and the 'submit or be excommunicated' way of operating espoused by some christians. Christians and Daleks with so much in common! Who would have thought? See what I did there ;)

Anyway, as I shared in Part 4 of my story, the concept of enforced submission played a large part in the conflict I experienced as an elder in our church. One man had been  proclaimed by the board to be ‘God’s anointed’, a message he desperately wanted to believe. That same man seriously wanted to be seen as the leader, to be the one in authority over others. So regardless of his behaviour, or how he treated those ‘under’ him, I was expected to submit to him.

No matter how many times I tried to spell out the pain and distress his behaviour was causing, no-one wanted to know. (There are none so deaf as those who refuse to hear!) The board member who delivered the ‘submit or leave’ ultimatum to me said at the time, “If there had been any impropriety involved it might have been different.” I could only assume he was referring to sexual misconduct and, as crude as it sounds, all I could think was that obviously screwing someone’s wife physically was regarded as 'bad', but screwing them emotionally was just fine!

Sadly, this attitude is not new. Teaching that unquestioning submission is somehow 'godly', coupled with the insistence that this will guarantee some sort of spiritual 'covering' (protection) has caused untold pain and suffering throughout the body of Christ. It places one brother over another in terms of authority, it demands submission and it threatens dire consequences to those who do not comply. (How godly is fear-based submission anyway!?) And yet, this teaching is still being employed by countless leaders who insist on absolute submission to their authority, their vision, their rule.

As there is extensive teaching on this subject available on-line, I won't even attempt to replicate it here. But the following article is a great place to start: Under Cover: Authority, Obedience (& Abuse?). Another very useful website which explores this topic quite extensively is Covering and Authority.

Let me finish with one last thought. Throughout the New Testament, christians are encouraged submit to one another (mutually). It is a seen as a gift, something we can offer another, but not something to be demanded. Once we step over into that territory it becomes coercion, and that makes us just like the Daleks.

Leadership

If you were to ask any random group of people to define leadership, I imagine you would find most answers would be framed in terms of title, power and position. If you posed that same question within the church, my guess is your results would differ only in the use of the word ‘servant’ as a prefix.

Yet I suspect you would find that the addition of that word makes precious little difference to the observable behaviours of many in leadership. Personally, I have seen and heard of too many instances where leaders are willing to use their position to coerce, constrain and compel. Playing the authority card, pulling rank and enforcing conformity are all too common in the church today.

However, Jesus was quite adamant that we were not to operate in this way. When the mother of James and John started lobbying for position for her sons, Jesus actually disclaimed the authority to make that call. (See Matthew 20:20-27)

He then went on to say, “You know that foreign rulers like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over everyone they rule. But don’t act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest.”

He challenged his followers to put aside their desire for high position and prestige, and he set the example by assuming the posture of a servant. He was willing to abase himself before his own creation. He who could claim the throne of heaven stepped down in humility and love, serving those he could rightfully have claimed as servants.

Why?

Because he wanted us to understand that in the Kingdom he was establishing leadership is serving. Simply serving.

Am I Missing Something Here?

“Everyone will know that you are my disciples

because of your love for each other.” John 13:35

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Seattle's Mars Hill Church, is famously (or is that infamously?) quoted as boasting, “There is a pile of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill bus, and by God's grace, it'll be a mountain by the time we're done.... ‎You either get on the bus, or you get run over by the bus. Those are the options."

I have to admit that when I first heard those words, I was shocked. Surely a pastor, a ‘shepherd’ of God’s people, wouldn’t really think this way, let alone speak it out! And then I got to thinking; at least he had the guts to be honest – there’s no ambiguity about the way he intends to run things. Buyer (or at least, sheep) beware!

But how many others in church leadership act out this attitude, one way or another, without maybe even seeing it - or being willing to admit to it? How many broken, battered people have been ‘run over’ by leaders who love ‘their’ church more than the people in it?

What is it that makes us so blind that we willingly damage our brothers and sisters - seemingly without conscience or regret? How do we possibly justify behaviour which inflicts such deep, sometimes mortal wounds?

Seriously! Am I missing something here?