Messiology by George Verwer

Author:George Verwer [Verwer, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2016-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

THE LEADERS GOD USES

Iam typing this chapter in a special place on the west coast of Wales, called the Hookses. This is where one of the great Christian leaders of the twentieth century—Dr. John Stott—did a lot of his writing. He became a close friend, and his books to this day have global influence. It’s sad that, especially in the US, if you mention John’s name some people will bring up how he denied the existence of hell (particularly eternal punishment), which is not true at all. He believed people outside of Christ were lost. I spoke to him personally about it. In one of his books, written especially to answer the tough questions that some liberal theologians were asking, he touched on the possibility of some kind of annihilation and we also spoke with each other about this. Many great men and women of God have struggled with exactly what hell is like. I remember Billy Graham saying it was mainly separation from God.

I have tried to live my entire life since my conversion in the light of this truth, which I still don’t fully understand. I have been helped by meditating on the justice of God. Universalism is more popular than ever, but John Stott did not go down that road, and I am sure it’s one of the reasons he was so committed to global missions. I heard him say in a missions message that one of the great battles of the church in our day was the exclusiveness of the gospel. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father but by Him (John 14:6).

That leads me to the main thrust of this chapter. Consider the wide range of people God uses in leadership, both men and women. Can you imagine the number of leaders I have met and in whose churches I have spoken? Add to this all the different kinds of leaders I have known in missions agencies and other organizations. Yes, it’s in the thousands, and yes I have listened to thousands of messages. This doesn’t even count the leadership messages from the Bible!

We have a huge range of books on leadership and endless autobiographies and biographies of men and women of God right back to the beginning of time. They are now coming at us faster than ever and one of the most important parts of my own ministry is speaking to leaders and also distributing outstanding leadership materials. My two top books at present are Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders and Leading with Love by Alex Strauch.

I have expressed some of my views strongly in Grace Awakened Leadership, which in fact is two key chapters taken from my book Out of the Comfort Zone.

Again, if you don’t embrace what I call messiology you will probably not agree with what I am trying to share here. I am strongly convinced that God works mightily through a wide range of different leaders and different leadership styles.

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