ted4leaders

Greetings,

Leadership is not a matter of control. It is not a matter of receiving things from those being led. Leadership in the Church is a God-given grace given to assist the body of Christ in growing to become a testimony of Christ in the earth. Everyone carries a measure of authority for others. That authority is some substance of life given to them for the sake of making others come alive. When we experience Jesus in our lives there is a measure of living water that flows from within us for the sake of others. It is a substance of life and it is a testimony of relationship with others.

The apostles were the ‘sent ones’ of authority in Christ. They were the source of submission to God in a physical way. Jesus had sent them to the Church as His Father had sent Him to them (Mt. 28:18-20). They illustrated a lifestyle of giving life to others with the power and presence of Christ in their lives. This same truth continued into the generations of leadership in the Church. Paul, an apostle born out of time, challenged his spiritual son Timothy in regard to the responsibilities of leadership.

1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

Timothy was to be an example to those God was sending him to. His example was to be a testimony of the word of God, the conduct of Christ, God’s love, faith, and purity. He was to do the tasks of reading the Scripture, exhorting the believers, in order to assist them in living in the teaching or way of life of a Christ-like community. Timothy was to receive Paul’s instruction and to propagate the same pattern of leadership to the successive generations.

2 Timothy 2:1-2 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

This pattern of leadership was set in the foundation with Jesus and his disciples. At the completion of Jesus life, He prayed a prayer to His heavenly Father. His words were words that reveals a relationship that He had with twelve men that God had given to Him in His earthly destiny as a man. His prayer reveals that His ultimate goal was to give eternal life to twelve men who could also lead others into the eternal life of God in Christ. Those men were to lead others into the same life that Jesus had led them to. Eternal life was not something to start when they died, but it was a testimony of a personal relationship with Him and with God as their Father.

John 17:1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. Jesus

Jesus had done what every leader is called to do. He had manifested the name of God His Father to those God had given Him. He manifested the character, nature, way, power, and authority of God to those He had been sent to. This is what all leaders are called to do.

John 17:6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.”

Everyone has been sent to someone. Parents are sent to their children. Leaders are sent to those they lead. Even friends are sent to their friends. Life is about relationship and our goal in life is not evangelism of the world, but evangelistic relationships of life. Jesus influenced thousands in His journey of life, but He was called to reveal God to twelve men who also had relationships with others. We can learn a good lesson from the life of Jesus. If Jesus was sent to twelve, what makes us think we are sent to thousands. We may influence thousands, but we are only sent to a few. It is a matter of relationship, not influence. Prayers of relationship are prayers of love. They are knowledgeable prayers of intimacy concerning individuals known by us.

John 17:9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

Who are those in our lives that we are called to give life to? Jesus was glorified in the testimony of His disciples. Who has been sent to us that inspires us to become who we should be in Christ? Who are we sent to for the glory of Jesus name? The commission and the pattern is one of relationship. Like Jesus, we are called to give God’s words of life to those God gives us.

John 17:14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

The disciples of Jesus were being sent to the world in the same way that Jesus was sent to the world. They were being sent to find those God had given them so they too could lead them into eternal life, a personal relationship with Jesus and God their Father. They in turn would propagate this same pattern to the generations that would follow.

John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

The leaders of the New Covenant Church were men sent by God to bring release to the Church with the grace of the laying on of hands and the authority of Christ. We must position ourselves to receive all that is being given so that we can in turn give all that we have in order to release life to others. We are sent to a few and a few are given to each of us that we might affect many. We are set from relationship with God and one another and to relationship with others. This is the way of the Spirit of Counsel.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

We were born to be loved by God! This makes us come alive in our hearts to God’s goodness and to His presence in our hearts. When we know we are loved by God we become empowered in our hearts to demonstrate our love for God and for others through the works of our lives. When we receive a revelation of God’s Word and the Spirit given to us by the power of Christ in us it is easy for us to become a testimony of Christ in this world. His gifts given to us demonstrate His judgment of love towards us and they invoke responses in our lives that demonstrate a judgment of love towards Him. These attributes are ones of repentance, faith, and Holy Spirit empowerment. These attributes are foundations for a life-giving family of authority. The repentant, faith activated, Spirit empowered Church of the first century continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine (Acts 2:42). What does it mean to continue steadfast in the apostle’s doctrine?

The apostles were the ‘sent ones’ of authority in Christ. They were the source of submission to God in a physical way. Jesus had sent them to the Church as His Father had sent Him to them (Mt. 28:18-20). They illustrated a lifestyle of giving life to others with the power and presence of Christ in their lives.  If this was true in the beginning of the Church, shouldn’t it be even more true in a growing and maturing Church? Those apostles were not men of control. They were men sent by God to bring release to the Church in the glory that she is called to walk in. They were sent to give authority to the Church to walk in the grace of the laying on of hands with the power of the Spirit of Council. This is a testimony of light to darkness, healing to sickness, and all manner of life to death. We need this submission level of life in the Church like never before!

A glass has no water unless it placed in a position beneath a pitcher filled with water. A pitcher has no water to give unless it is placed beneath a spout that fills it. A spout has no water unless it is connected to a reservoir. The principle is simple. It is called a submission level of relationship. The reservoir never takes water from the spout, the spout never takes water from the pitcher, and the pitcher never takes water from the glass. Authority is a ‘giving’ thing and never a matter of ‘taking’. Authority is a receiving thing in order to in turn give away more. Every fountain must willingly release its water to the container that comes to receive. Every pitcher of water willingly tips in the direction of every empty glass that comes to receive water. Every glass of water is not afraid to be lifted above a thirsty mouth and then tip in the direction of the thirsty. This is the way of life! The earth turns toward the sun to receive its light. The sun never takes light from the earth, but rather makes all things light. The vine grows from the ground to receive the light given. The fruit comes on the vine to receive the life that is being given. The earth takes in the rain to germinate the seeds hidden. This is the Spirit of Council and principle of the laying on of hands. We must position ourselves to receive all that is being given so that we can in turn give all that we have to release life to others. Just look at nature, for every act of receiving there is an act of giving and for every act of giving there is an action of receiving. This is the way of life!

How do we identify those who give us life? We didn’t choose our parents, nor did our parents choose us. Of course this is not true in the case of adoption, but perhaps adopting parents and adopted children are really a matter of destiny as well? Perhaps the choosing of children is not really a choice but a matter of embracing destiny? Whether we were born into a family or adopted into a family, our family is our family. We don’t migrate in search of what we think is best for us. We are placed into families that can become the best for us when all the family members embrace the grace of life-giving authority given to them by God. There is a lot of confusion in the body of Christ in regard to anointing and authority. When someone has an anointing it doesn’t mean they have the authority, but those with God-given authority are given access to God’s heavenly anointing.

Authority is very real and it is what gives us the ability to rule today. Ruling is not about control. True authority brings life to others. Power alone can manifest control, but only authority produces life. Each of us has a measure of authority and authority is a continual growing reality in our lives. Who we are today determines the measure of life we give to the world today and it will also affect our ability to give life to the world tomorrow. As authority grows in our lives we are able to give more life to those around us. It is connected to who we are and who we are enables us to carry the responsibility of authority for the sake of others. The most valuable measure of authority in our lives is the authority we walk in each and every day. Who we are called to be tomorrow is not more valuable than who we are today, it is just a greater measure of life given to us for the sake of the world.

We must seek out and know those who are in authority in our lives. God wants us to receive what is being given to us by those He sends to us in life. Who we are called to be tomorrow is not yet a measure of life in our lives. We cannot give life where we have not received life to give. Tomorrow’s authority is not today’s authority. It is merely a calling upon our lives. If we grasp to function in tomorrow’s authority today it will produce death and dysfunction in our lives and in the lives of others. When Samuel anointed David to be the king, that anointing was not the right for David to be immediately installed as the king of Israel. David was destined to be a king, but when Samuel anointed him his authority was still to keep a few sheep. He grew in his authority. His authority to keep the sheep anointed him to kill the lion and the bear while protecting the sheep. His anointing was kingly, but his authority was that of a shepherd. His authority to deliver a few cheeses to his brothers in the front line of battle brought him to the place of increased authority in his journey to become the king. His inquiry for permission from King Saul to battle Goliath authorized him to kill the giant. His authority to kill the giant Goliath gave him an invitation to serve in the courts of King Saul. His authority to serve Saul empowered him to manifest his authority of worship and bring peace to Saul’s demonic harassments. His authority to hide from Saul’s anger empowered him to walk in honor to the king. His honor to the king took him on the journey of becoming the inheritor of Israel. He grew in his authority, as he was faithful in each step of his destiny. He had an anointing, but it was more important to walk the journey of authority than to grasp for power through a demonstration of anointing. His journey involved a process filled with faithfulness in his daily appointments with the increasing draw of tomorrow’s calling. Throughout the journey he walked with the anointing of a king, but his authority was specific to each step of his path. He was a shepherd with the anointing of a king, a cheese deliver with an anointing of a king, a giant slayer with the anointing of a king, a worshipper with the anointing of a king, a dodger of javelins with the anointing of a king, a builder of armies with the anointing of a king, and finally a king with the anointing of a king. It wasn’t the anointing that gave him his authority. It was his faithfulness in the responsibility of each day.

We have one Father. He is the one who gives us identity and inheritance. We receive our identity and our inheritance that we might expand it to the generations that follow. Let’s continue steadfast in the apostle’s way of life. When we submit to the sent ones in our lives we also become sent ones in the lives of others. Let’s live to receive the life that is being given so we can in turn give life to all that God sends us to in this earth.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

A big part of being a member of the community of God is revealed in and through relationship. Leadership is not a task of leading people into activities of Christian work, but one of leading in Christ-like community. God appoints leaders to inspire each member to find a personal connection with the Holy Spirit that empowers them to grow in maturity and the destiny of Christ. Submission in the community of God is not a matter of control or the implementation of some form of hierarchical order. It simply a testimony of God joined members that grow together in the maturity process of being a community of God.

1 Peter 5:5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 

Submission is a matter of releasing the flow of relationship. It is important that those growing in their relationship with God receive those who have been sent into their lives as examples of faith. They are not only examples of faith, but activators, facilitators, and releasers of the life of Christ within their God-given sphere of influence. This is accomplished through life-giving and life-receiving relationships in a community expression of Christ. Relationship is the key ingredient in the community of God to being a testimony of Christ rather than a testimony of self. Relationship is the key, but God is the one who joins us together and then He expects us to figure out the relationship part. The disciples of Jesus didn’t pick Jesus; He chose them and then challenged them to follow Him. The disciples didn’t pick one another; Jesus chose them and then He expected them to figure out how to become friends.

Even in the organic flow of the community of God we look to one another as examples of true life and as inspirations to our own walks with God. We look to one another in the activation of our faith, but we never look to any human as the one who solves the challenges of our lives. We each have a relationship with God and God is the only one who holds the responsibility of the ultimate care of our lives. Leaders set an example of the shepherd, but they only serve to assist those they lead in finding their connection with Jesus, the Chief Shepherd of their souls in all things.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

A leader must know how to cast their cares upon Jesus and then lead others to doing the same. People very often want to make the pastors of the church or the leaders of a church the ones who solve their challenges in life. They seldom go to them when wanting to exercise their own freedoms, but often go to them when facing a crisis of some kind. They seldom give leaders credit when things are going well in their lives, but often blame them for their own failures. These things would not be so if we each embraced the responsibility of humbly submitting to the mighty hand of God as the one who cares for each of us. We must each accept our own responsibility of maintaining and embracing a process of growing in maturity in our relationship with God. That maturity is also made manifest in our relationship with one another. It affects our family, our marriage, our community, and every aspect of our everyday lives. Leaders must embrace this process of growing in maturity in relationships first and then they must lead others to do the same. The devil is an intimidator and he seeks to devour the weak through his pretenses of strength. He is not a lion, but he pretends to be one. Leaders must set an example of resisting him and teach those they lead to do the same. We resist the devil when we remain steadfast to God and one another in the midst of sufferings. It is our faith that overcomes all the things of the world and that faith comes by hearing God in our hearts in the midst of every situation in life. We can expect to face resistance so we must be watchful in our relationship with God and with one another.

1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 

Suffering is part of the process of growing in the grace of God. It is by faith that we enter into grace and it is in grace that we experience resistance to the power of Christ that is within us.

Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

We can expect to face tribulations in our lives that require us to persevere. Our perseverance is a cheerful endurance to allow the power of Christ within us to transform the character of our lives to be Christ-like. When the character of Christ becomes real in our lives we experience the true hope of life. That hope is the power of Christ in us and it continually reveals the increasing glory of God in our lives. It is from glory to glory that He changes us from within. Leaders in the community of Christ must set and example in this and lead those within there measure of rule to do the same. This is the testimony of God’s grace at work in our lives.

1 Peter 5:10-11 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

God wants each of us to know that suffering is part of life. The fatherless cultures of the world often believe that suffering is a testimony of abuse, but suffering is part of the process in growing in the grace of God in our lives. Even Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered.

Hebrews 5:8-9 … though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…

Embracing the grace of God in the midst of suffering will perfect our lives. It is the process of God’s perfection in our lives that will establish us in all things. As we are established we also become strengthened and we come to know the steadfast, immovable, always present love of God. We are settled in our confidence in Christ in us and in our midst as a community of His life. We are here for the glory of His name in all things!

I pray that we each of us find the grace of God in our journey together as communities of Christ. May leaders lead those in their responsibility to find the true life that comes from dependency upon Christ in all things. May we all grow as a community of relationship with God and with one another for the glory of God’s kingdom come and His will being done in the worlds in which we live.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Church government is not by one-man rule, congregational rule, nor dominating control of a head office. There is a head presbyter (elder), but his decisions are based upon the function and input of the entire leadership team in relationship with the work of the Holy Spirit in their midst. Together the members of a leadership team advise and assist one another through a heart connection of relationship that brings a Spirit led balance in order to lead, protect, and mature the sheep in God’s purposes in their lives. The ruling elders are those who shepherd the flock. Their rule is not a rule of control, but a leadership of activation, facilitation, and release led by the example of Christ at work in their own lives for the sake of those they lead. The Greek word for “shepherd” is “poimen”. This word can also be translated as “pastor” when referring to the responsibility of elders in the role of oversight. This term is not that of the five-fold expression of Ephesians 4:11 and it is not referring to the equipping function of five-fold ministry. “Poimen” rather refers to the responsibility of the ruling elders in their role as shepherds of the flock. In view of this responsibility, each of the ruling elders may be referred to as pastors. This term does not refer to their equipping function of the saints, but rather their corporate responsibility in shepherding the flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2-3). This term also implies an honor of authority given to them by God on behalf of those entrusted to them to lead.

The laying down of one’s life for the sheep is a prerequisite for the true shepherd of God. This is also the attribute of a true father. The local church has to be viewed as a family. In many ways, local church elders represent the parents in the house. Together with the God-sent authority, they bring a tangible expression of God as their life-protector and life-giver. Elders must exhibit the attributes of spiritual fathers and mothers in the house of God.

The presbytery of the local church fulfills their role of leadership by giving to the flock, not by taking from them. The apostles of the first-century set an example to the elders of the early Church though their own willingness to give their lives freely for the Church. They were even willing to provide for their own necessities and proved through their own lifestyles that attitudes and actions of giving are better than those of taking from others (Acts 20:33-35). The lifestyles of the early apostles demonstrated that a priority of the eldership is to ‘feed the flock’ of God and not to take from them. It is honorable for a church community to take care of the needs of those who lead them, but it cannot be a demanded right in the heart of those who lead.

God requires leaders of His congregations to be sound examples within the family of God. Their attitude toward God’s flock must be that of parents, thus their character must be proven to be the character of parents and not merely servants nor opportunists. This is why Paul told Timothy that the character of the “bishop” (ruling elder) must be proven in his own family (1 Timothy 3:2-5). Embracing the responsibility of leadership means embracing the responsibility of taking care of people. The words ‘take care of’ involve the direction of the mind toward the object cared for. This term is both a term of interest in someone and a protecting of them because of their value. No one will ‘take care of’ the family of God better than a ‘family man’ or a ‘family woman’. Church leaders must assume the passion and the responsibility of spiritual parents in the house of God. Every dad and mom comes to know the basic responsibilities of parenting when they are faced with the responsibility of parenting. The heart of any loving parent is to protect, direct, and correct their children so they will grow to be well balanced, happy, and successful adults.

I have found that the most significant growth in my personal life as a leader is the increasing heart of the Father I find within me. I have been lied about, rejected, wounded, abandoned, and misunderstood, but my love for people is greater today than when I first began in leadership. I believe I began as a leader, but I am growing as a father. I find it most rewarding to see people come to maturity and act as the family of God. I feel proud when I see members of the church grow in their love for God and for one another. I don’t attribute their maturity to my leadership skills. I honestly view them as a father does his own children. I know, because I am a father of three grown children and nothing makes me happier than to see them excel in the things of God and life. I would rather see them flourish than even myself. My attitude toward the Church is continually growing in this manner also. I praise God for His increasing grace. I believe that having a father’s heart makes me a better leader than having the skill of leadership. I want this same revelation and attitude in the hearts of those who lead with me in ministry. May my children and my children’s children inherit this quality of life!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Peter wrote to first-century church leaders in regard to the responsibility of caring for the flock of God. His words were words of wisdom and truth to the foundation of the Church, thus they are significant to the building of God’s Church in the generations of men. Peter, a sent authority (apostle) to the Church, understood that he was not just a sent authority, but also a fellow worker with those who held the responsibility of caring for the community of God. He saw himself as a fellow presbyter (elder) in taking care of those in the community of God that had been entrusted to his care. He wrote letters of instruction to the responsible leaders of his day, setting a foundation for instructions to the leaders of our day.

1 Peter 5:1-4 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

When someone has been given the responsibility of leading in the community of God it is important for them to embrace all that goes with the task. Leaders must embrace the suffering of Christ and a partnership with the glory of God to be examples to and leaders in the community of Christ. Every leader must set an example in embracing the process of God’s grace in their own lives so that those they lead can also do the same. The suffering of Christ is not suffering for our own needs, but a willingness to lay our lives down for the sake of others. Leaders set an example in giving their lives for the sake of others. This empowers those they lead to do the same.

Suffering and pressure is part of the process of walking in the grace of God. As leaders in the body of Christ we are not just gifted to lead by the grace that is given to us in Christ, we are to also be examples of the character of Christ to those we lead. This is perhaps the greatest testimony of our leadership to the lives of those that we stand before in the spheres of our influence in life. The process of God’s grace in each of our lives is one of revealing the testimony of Christ in us. This means that the character, nature, way, power, and authority of Christ must become embodied in each of our lives. Whether it is the promises of God or the pressures of testing, both are part of a process in our lives that makes us partakers of God’s divine nature. The promises are the substance of life that He gives us and the pressures of testing are the proving of what is being given to us by God within our lives.

Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;  and perseverance, character; and character, hope.  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The true test of what is in us is made known by the pressures that come against us from the outside sources of our lives. This dynamic of the inward life of Christ and the outward pressures upon our lives causes the testimony of Christ within us to become a force of life that changes the character of our lives. In this process of grace we face tribulations or pressures in life. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

2 Timothy 3:12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Leaders must set an example that members of the community of Christ can follow. When we face the pressures of persecution we choose to persevere. Perseverance is not just a holding on to something in pain. It is a position of attitude from within our hearts. It is a choosing to cheerfully endure in the midst of the pressures that are against us. This is not just a thing of our soul. It requires us to draw from our spirits to receive the life of the Holy Spirit within our hearts. In the presence of the Lord there is the fullness of joy and true perseverance is drawing upon the presence of God in our hearts in order to see His life flood our souls with the testimony of true endurance. It is not a thing of misery, but a decision to embrace the life of Christ that is within us. True perseverance always carries the substance of a choice to be cheerful and to endure. It is a cheerful endurance. When we find the secret of true perseverance we discover the key to seeing the character of Christ in us manifest. Our own character changes by the life of the character of Christ within us. The beliefs of our hearts become transformed by His life within us and this empowers our actions to be those of the character of Christ. Those inspired actions activate the imaginations of our hearts. Our imaginations begin to create the truth of Christ and His kingdom that defy the pressures that oppose us. This in turn releases an influence of the change of character in our lies. This is seen as hope – a testimony of Christ in us revealed through the substance of our lives.

God appoints leaders in the expressions of His community in the earth to be shepherds of His flock. They are an example of the testimony of all that God is doing in their midst and they are those responsible to lead for the purpose of God in the community. Five-fold ministry should be a part of the governmental leadership of the local church. The character of elders and responsibility as the sent leaders to the local church body are what qualifies governmental leaders to lead. It is likely that the lead individual of a ministry could be an apostle and not a pastor by grace gift, since God is restoring the element of inheritance and the ‘sending forth’ of ministry to the church body. There may be many apostles by grace gift in the local house, but there is only one lead elder. Tradition has made the lead elder the senior pastor while other ministers within the local church have been known as associate pastors. It is perhaps more proper to refer to other five-fold elders as associate ministers or individual terms that describe their function in lieu of the traditional term “associate pastors”. There may be many associate ministers, but there should be one who is the senior leader. In the sense of responsibility, all of the overseeing elders are given the responsibility of pastors (shepherds) to the local flock and therefore are associate pastors together. It can be said that they collectively carry the responsibility of providing pastoral care to the flock and they work with one another in bearing that total responsibility.

Elders are a team called a presbytery. That presbytery is a team of proven leaders who have been appointed by God to govern the local church by serving them in ministering of the Word of God, the ministry of the Spirit, and the practical daily functioning of that body. They lead the local community by whole heartedly embracing all that the Holy Spirit is doing in the local community. This includes the direction of the Holy Spirit in becoming a corporate expression that releases a heavenly influence to and through the lives of those who have been joined together by God for His will and the influence of His kingdom to come into the earth. It also includes the character change and the substance of the expressed word being written by the Holy Spirit in their midst. God sends a leader to the leaders for this purpose and the leaders serve together in leading the community in a response of cooperation with the work of the Holy Spirit in their midst.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Last week I wrote in regard to God’s desire for ministries to be established as written letters of His Spirit at work in the hearts and minds of men and women in the communities of the earth. Today I want to present a personal testimony from a book I have written, New Covenant Leadership. For some of you this will be a reminder to what I have written before, while others will find this a testimony for the first time. This is a lesson from my past meant to inspire an embracing of all the Holy Spirit wants to write in the corporate expressions of His community in the earth.

For twenty years I was the senior pastor of a local church in an area that was affected by and saturated with self-focused and self-concerned people. In 1990 God revealed to me that one of the strongholds of our city was a spirit of greed. It appeared to me that this influence of greed upon the hearts and minds of people caused the community and its members to often exhibit actions of what I call ‘small minded thinking’. People were often concerned with themselves and little effort was ever given to meet the needs of others. This was especially true in the late 80’s and early 90’s, when I first started ministry in the area. In those days we would call a church potluck dinner and would usually have to send out to Kentucky Fried Chicken for more chicken and run to the local market for all the other ingredients of an established meal. Those who came to eat simply came to get what was being offered, but they had little concern for giving to the needs or desires of others. The mindset of the people was not one of ‘generosity’. This was a mindset found in the general public of the community. Our church body was just a common expression of the community. It was merely a piece of the pie. It was just a slice of the common ingredients found in the general population. One of the things that God began to have me do was to address the strongholds of the hearts and minds of the people in regard to a spirit of generosity and hospitality. God instructed me to schedule outside guest speakers to minister in our church on a monthly basis, to whom we sowed generously in offerings. When the people didn’t give, I would set the example with personal giving and corporate sacrifice in order to be a blessing to those that God had sent us. God began to change the hearts and minds of the people by the influence of His Spirit. We eventually became known as the ‘hosting church’ of the community. When we called for a potluck dinner, the leftovers were enough to feed plenty more. The spirit of generosity had overtaken the spirit of greed as God had written a corporate letter in the hearts and minds of the local body of believers. For many years we hosted a monthly prayer gathering of leaders in the community and fed them a feast fit for a king. We hosted an annual conference for fifteen years and received numerous comments in regard to the hospitality and generosity of the church body. A corporate gathering of poverty minded people became a corporate expression of God’s generosity and abundant life. I believe it also affected the spirit of the community. The credit is to God and His work of government in the church. This influencing force of generosity could only be effective through God joining of individual members for this corporate cause. Strength and power of change is found in the force of God’s corporate letter being written. God gathers a people together for His purposes in the earth and then He writes a letter of life upon their hearts and minds to bring change.

This aspect of corporeity in the Church is not only seen in the changing of the character of the Church, it is also seen in the administration of the Church. In order for us to understand the equipping, governing, and functioning aspects of church government, it must first be understood that God’s Church is a corporate Body and that Body is knit together in fellowship, purpose, and destiny.

As a local church, our church experienced a continual increase of diverse expressions of ministry among its members. We had teams that ministered prophetically, teams that ministered healing, and teams that ministered in the spirit of counsel. In worship we had those who sang, those who played instruments, those who danced, those who painted pictures, and those who wrote poetry by the leading of the Holy Spirit. We had various expressions of prayer ministry with people who saw visions, had dreams, and those who saw visually into the realm of the spirit. Every year we saw new expressions of ministry added to the local body as God continued to write His letter among us corporately. This testimony of diversity has carried on to the next generation of our church under the leadership of my son Pastor Jonathan Hanson. It has continued to take on more spontaneous and organic expressions of those things written in the days past, but it is the Holy Spirit that writes the letter of life in the expression of community in the Church.

God desires to write a spiritual letter through divinely joined members of the corporate Church. Unity in the letter comes from the common value in the letter. The letter written by the Spirit of God is diverse in its expression, but single in its purpose. The substance of the letter is written with the heavenly values God desires to bring into the earth. Those values come from a corporate purpose and plan from heaven. God desires to unify each expression of His Body and fulfill a common purpose upon the earth. Leaders have a responsibility to embrace God’s way and purpose in that expression and all of the members of the community are responsible in their response to the letter being written by the Spirit of God.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

We often think of ministry as that of making sacrifices to God, serving Him, obeying Him, following Him, or relating to Him in some way of religious sanctity. Although this is how much of the church thinks, it is not what God desires. God has always desired a body by which His will could be fulfilled. God has always desired a place where He can live among men. He has desired a place of habitation, not merely a place of visitiation.

Hebrews 10:5-7 5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come — In the volume of the book it is written of Me — To do Your will, O God.” (Ps. 40:6-8)

God’s will is not a ‘what must we do?’ but rather a ‘who are we?’ We are the body of Christ and the body of Christ is made up of individuals who have been divinely joined together for God’s holy purpose and glory. These are individual members who have been set apart to be joined together as a corporate expression of God in the earth. They have been set apart for the governmental decisions of the kingdom of God in the earth. Those decisions are not about right and wrong, they are for the purpose of releasing God’s life into the world. The administration of the body of Christ is not based upon a justice system of good verses evil or right verses wrong. The administration of the body of Christ is based upon a justice system of love. This is what God desires to do in the earth through the body of Christ.

A body of saints, people divinely joined together for God’s purpose, is not a new idea. Saints are simply people who are called and sanctified unto God to love Him and serve Him together. This was God’s plan for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. Israel was considered to be a holy nation. Israel was a type and shadow of the body of Christ. The nation of Israel was not just a group of people joined together. They were a nation of people expected to live according to the standards and testimony of all that God was in His character, nature, way, power, and authority. Although Israel was a nation depicting what God wanted, they lacked the internal testimony of the kingdom of God and the life that comes by the Holy Spirit and the Tree of Life. The actions of the nation of Israel were based upon the knowledge of God, but the inspirations of the body of Christ are based upon knowing God.

When considering the body of Christ, its structure and its governmental administration, a syntactical look at the Scriptures reveals a theme of calling, purpose, and destiny. A ‘type’ of the Church in her calling was the Old Testament nation of Israel. Israel as a nation was God’s expression of the Church in the Old Testament. The Old Testament Temple was a ‘type’ of the Church’s structure, and the Old Testament city of Jerusalem was a ‘type’ of the Church’s testimony, influence, and destiny. The Church is not meant to be merely a natural expression in the earth, however. The called out assembly of God in the earth is made of men and women from the natural nations of the world who are supernaturally changed and supernaturally empowered to become expressions of God’s heavenly will in the earth.

The various expressions of the Church are expressions of letters written upon the hearts of leaders and upon the hearts of those they lead as divinely joined members for God’s purposes. Leaders in the body of Christ are responsible to the Holy Spirit in His desire to write the will of God upon the hearts and minds of men and women in the corporate expressions of God’s purposes in the earth. Members of the body of Christ must desire Spirit-led leaders who will lead them to become what God desires for them to be in this world. Paul, an apostle of the first century Church, understood this well. He understood his role as a leader and the role of those that God had sent him to in building the Church.

2 Corinthians 3:2, 3 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

Paul confirmed that the purpose of that letter was to express Christ, its source was the Spirit of the living God, and the parchment of the letter was the corporate heart of the Church in Corinth. He professed a dependency upon the Holy Spirit to participate in the administration of this letter and to see the corporate expression of this letter become a living reality.

2 Corinthians 3:4-6 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The letter that God desires to write in any expression of His Church involves the fellowship of divinely joined believers. Without unity and the bond of fellowship there cannot be a full expression of the corporate calling, purpose, and destiny of the Church.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Leaders are commissioned by God to lead us in a way of life, not activities of Christian expression. A personal relationship with God in Christ transforms our lives to become Christ-like in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. Leaders in the community of God set an example of such a change of life and they lead others into embracing a way of life that comes by the kindness and the love of God.

Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Our main focus in life should be to see and embrace the kindness of the love of God in all things. He is the One who saves in all situations. He doesn’t just give us salvation into eternity when we die; He saves us daily in the desires, thoughts, reasoning, imaginations, and emotions of our souls. He rescues us in natural and supernatural ways with interventions of His mercy and grace to keep us in the path of life. Our aim in life is not to be right, but to be in a right relationship with God in all things. One can be right in their actions, but wrong in their hearts. One can be right in the law, but wrong in the actions of love. It is dependency upon God and a relationship of love that leads us into the way of life. We are part of a new generation. We are part of a family that has roots in the Tree of Life and is of the testimony of Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead for all of mankind. The Holy Spirit in our lives is the testimony that our life is no longer bound to the life of the flesh, but we have been grafted into the Vine of eternal life in Christ. The way of our family is eternal life in all things and in all times.

Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

Our focus should be a focus of good works for the sake of others. We are children of God and as children of God our plans should be plans of nobility in this world. We were born for the life of the world and we should live our lives to give life-giving water to those who lack life. We are children of the King and we were born-again for the good of God’s kingdom in this world.

Isaiah 32:7-8 As for a rogue, his weapons are evil; he devises wicked schemes to destroy the afflicted with slander, even though the needy one speaks what is right. But the noble man devises noble plans; and by noble plans he stands (NASB).

Noble plans include the noble works that bring life to those in need. As children in the family of God we must avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law. A leader must not endeavor in the path of such divisive things and they must lead the community of God in doing the same.

Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.

True doctrine is not what we believe about Scripture or our own views of the meaning of the law. True doctrine is our way of life. It is the way we think, the way we act, and the motive our hearts in all that we do. Our doctrine is seen in the character, nature, way, power, and authority of our lives. Our lives should cast a shadow that looks like the things found in the law, but we are not bound to or under the law. We are empowered by grace for real life-transforming change in our hearts and minds. This is what inspires the actions of our lives. It is not our understanding of Scripture, but our intimacy with God in Christ. Leaders must lead the community of God in the things that matter and they must avoid things that are unprofitable and useless in the family of God.

Titus 3:10-11 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

Paul told Titus to deal with divisive people in the community of God, but not to waist time with them. They are not the focus of the community of God, but are a distraction to the real issues of life. A leader must seek to bring life-giving correction to those who are divisive, but not let them determine the agenda of a leader’s time or the important matters in the community of God. Divisive people are twisted in their thinking, missing the mark of true connection with the life of Christ, and thus putting themselves in the consequences of their own condemnation. The main events in the community of God are things of life, so leaders must simply put lesser things in their place. Lesser things are simply dealt with and not allowed to dictate the agenda of a community of God.

Titus 3:12-15 When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing. And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.

Paul understood the importance of relationships and the testimony of life that comes through covenant-keeping, grace empowered lives. He was more than willing to call upon those in relationship with Him to join in the purpose of His life. Leaders must call upon and empower others to embrace the responsibility of bringing God’s people to the place of fulfilling God’s purposes in the earth. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with the leader’s spirit and that same grace will empower all in the community of God to become who God declares them to be.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson