Designed to Lead: The Church and Leadership Development by Eric Geiger & Kevin Peck

Author:Eric Geiger & Kevin Peck [Geiger, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion/Christian Church/Leadership
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2016-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

The Household of God

For any organizational culture there is a set of beliefs that tells members who they are, how members ought to interact, and who is a part of the group. The local church is not different in that regard. Building on assumptions about the realities of creation, the local church must share a set of convictions about cooperation within the body. The results in church culture that embraces the beauty of belonging to God’s household will be expressed in oneness, ownership, and accountability.

Oneness. If a church is to build a culture that develops leaders, she must have clarity around her sense of self. The most impressive organizations in the world at developing leaders develop them out of a deep sense of belonging to something greater than themselves. Whether it is the armed forces or prestigious universities, a strong sense of belonging with connection to a storied heritage is essential for the development of future leaders. Humans, especially leaders, are drawn to glory. We crave belonging to something with gravity. This instinct, we think, is a remnant of our design. So, to pursue a strong culture, capable of producing leaders, we want future leaders to feel the weight of being one with the household of God.

The believer in Christ is now adopted into the family of God as a son or daughter. This is no illustration, but is reality:

All those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:14–15)

This passage not only reveals the intimacy of belonging to God’s household, but also reminds us that God’s people are legal members in the family of God and, therefore, coheirs with Christ.17 This reality entitles all sons and daughters to all the duties, rights, and privileges associated with being a child in God’s Kingdom.18 This truth should never cease to stun us. The local church that develops leaders does so as a father or mother would invest in a child. We are not producing minions, or even legions of soldiers for the Kingdom of God. We are training family.

So what is the family business?

Well, it’s ruling. God has designed mankind to lead, which He is now doing through His Son as the Head of the Church. If you belong to a local church then you are in the family business. Our business is to be ambassadors of our Father’s Kingdom. An ambassador is a citizen of one country representing that country in a foreign land, and Scripture is clear about this identity for those who are in Christ. The local church is made up of believers who, by extension of their oneness with Christ, work together as ambassadors for Christ. Every believer in the local church ought to feel the weight of belonging to a unified family serving as ambassadors. There are no believers in our churches who are not, by identity, engaged in the work of God’s new glorious Kingdom.

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