Led By A Team

Greetings;

God’s government is the visible evidence of His administration that reveals the glory of His kingdom upon the earth. His administration is an administration of grace (Eph. 1:9,10). That grace is a demonstration of God’s power that accomplishes His purposes in the earth. Righteous governors administrate the facilitation of God’s righteous government. God’s government accomplishes the purpose of making His manifold wisdom known to principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 3:9 -12 …and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

What we become by the influence of God’s Spirit will influence the atmosphere of the environment around us. The increasing dominion of God’s kingdom will influence the dominion of the enemy and will dispossess the strongholds of death. The kingdom of heaven in every system will change every system. The kingdom heaven will change human hearts. I believe it is essential to lead any expression of God with a view of advancing the kingdom of heaven in the earth. God’s government has the power to implement and to make God’s glory known in a generational way.

Today I want to write a summary of leadership responsibilities. Leaders lead for the will of God and not for their own will or personal desires. I have been presenting in my last blogs the idea of a corporate letter written by the Holy Spirit to fulfill a purpose of God in the earth. God kingdom and will made known in the earth is the true power that changes the world. It is not merely the good works of mankind, but it is the supernaturally empowered works of Christ that reveal the glory of God in the earth. In order to fulfill this purpose there is a need for God-directed leadership in any aspect of church expression.

In fulfilling this mandate I believe that any team of leaders must rely upon the input and counsel of trusted relationships who are outside of their immediate sphere of responsibility. These could be apostolic relationships that God has given to them to relay objective insights concerning team function from their arenas of God-given grace. In any case, the team sees those outside relationships as a source and resource to the local church body. Those relationships must be both God ordained and God sent to them. Those outside connections give an expanding challenge to any isolated or ingrown tendencies that might arise within a specific group

Every leadership team should also rely upon the council of various prophets sent to the local church by God’s divine choosing. These prophets or prophetic voices must have a relationship with the local church and are not just prophetic voices that come for an event or merely a moment in history. They are fully submitted to the local church authority and the apostolic mission of the ministry. Their concern is for the will of God in that local church expression and not their own prophetic agendas.

There should be a leader of every leadership team. In some forms of leadership this could be a deferring function based upon individual grace and the specific task in any measure. This could mean that several individuals could serve as the leader for various aspects of ministry with an understanding that the grace of leadership for specific tasks could fall upon different individuals in the team at various times. In my own form of leadership and ministry there has always been a ruling leader with the final shepherd’s authority in the local house. Again, the principal of leadership is more essential than the form of leadership.

For the corporate purpose of ministry there should be ruling leaders who serve as pastors or shepherds. Those leaders articulate what God is saying to the church and the team in practical instruction (they are apt to teach). They are apt to set direction for the local church body in regard to God’s corporate instruction of direction. These are apt to serve as shepherds, pastors, or spiritual parents in the local church body.

There should also be other leaders who have a grace to function as facilitators and administrators who serve as leaders in the church by assisting the congregation in walking out the practical instructions given by the ruling leaders. All of the leaders do this, but these facilitative leaders carry this responsibility as their primary role of leadership. They are not the ones who do the practical aspects of ministry for the congregation members. They activate all of the members to do their part. This could be any aspect of ministry from meeting the needs of the poor to laying hands on the sick.

There should be individuals who have a grace to bring spiritual equipping in various areas of the ministry. The equippers train, activate, and facilitate body members into ministry according to each equipper’s God-given grace.  All of the leaders do this as well (apostles, overseeing leaders & facilitative leaders), but the equippers carry this responsibility as their primary role of leadership. Their equipping grace will be according to their specific gift of ministry and call in Christ.

Team members rely upon the input and counsel of one another in all of these areas to help each member walk out God-given strategies and actions for their individual areas of responsibility. The team willingly and diligently seeks to hear God’s voice through every member of the corporate house. This is often discrete and simply a daily awareness of the leaders to recognize God’s voice to the corporate body through every source. This includes paying attention to individual prophecies, dreams, visions, and sense of things. Every member of the congregation has the responsibility of hearing God and sharing what they believe He is saying. All of the aspects of leadership work together to fulfill the full function of leadership.

There are times when the set leader meets with the apostles alone for direction and input to lead the team of leadership. There are times when the ruling leaders meet alone to facilitate the input of the voice of God in practical ways of direction as God has spoken through the team, the congregation, and to them personally. There are times when the ruling leaders meet with the facilitative leaders alone to coordinate the practical ways of facilitating the instruction given by God through the ruling leaders. There are times where the whole team meets together (including the equippers) for the full expression of leadership as it pertains to the will of God and the congregation. There are times when the leadership calls upon various members of the congregation for their sense of things within their own God-given measure of rule. Various aspects of this leadership dynamic can occur in order to practically facilitate the task of responding to the Theocratic rule of God to the local church.

No matter what form of leadership we feel is the God-directed way, we must lead for the glory of God. We must seek to fulfill God’s will as God’s expresses His word in corporate ways in the earth. Leadership is a gift to the body of Christ and it is important to embrace God’s gift in order to fulfill God’s purposes in the earth.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

    leader4 – Monthly Audio Concerning The Leadership Form

     Leader4 – Monthly PDF file for Audio Teaching

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