12. Leadership in the House Church

As the Fellowship of Church Planters has seen house churches emerge over the past years, we have had to evolve a new model of leadership quite distinct from those with which we were familiar in traditional church structures. In order for the house church model to survive, there are fundamental structural changes that need to be made in our idea of church leaders and their development.

It would be helpful to mention four levels of identity that Christians in house churches experience. The first and primary identity is the church as it gathers in small groupings usually in the home. The second identity is a network of these house gatherings meeting together, whether these are independent house churches or home "cell groups" of one church. The third identity is a network of multiple congregations gathering together. The last identity is the universal world-wide church. In this paper we will examine leadership in the primary identity of the church, as she gathers together for worship in the home. To get an understanding of the place and method of leadership in the house church, we need to review what the church is as it meets in the home. How leadership functions follows this understanding.

THE CHURCH AS A FUNCTIONING PEOPLE

The N.T. depicts the church as a Christian community made up of "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people" (1 Peter 2:9). One of the essential features of this community is the corporate nature of it's people. God chooses and makes covenant not with individual people but with "a people" corporately who would bear His name and would exist for His purposes. Although the community is entered into individually by faith in Jesus Christ, it is nonetheless the corporate church that is God's concern for us in Christ.

We are corporately the church, "the called out ones", joined together in common fellowship under the New Covenant, with the Lordship of Christ Himself who is the Head of the church. Because He is Head of His church, all other parts of the newly constituted body of Christ function as parts of that body both sustained by Christ and growing up into Him (Eph. 4:11-16). In these verses, the Apostle Paul lays the foundation for body ministry. Paul states that the church has received gifts of "apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers", who have been gifted by God to "equip the saints for the work of the ministry". As the body is equipped for service, its members in turn have the responsibility of ministry to one another. (A study of the one another's in the New Testament, examining who they are written to, would prove helpful).

Within this functional structure of active body ministry, we all, as members of the body, are responsible to function as ministers and priests. All members of the body are gifted to minister within the capacity of their calling. By its very nature, the house church model fosters an atmosphere that affords every member - man, woman, and child - ample opportunity to find his or her own niche in Christianity and minister within those boundaries. It is as every member of that body supplies their unique ministry that the body is able to see and experience the fullness of what is involved in being the earthly body of the living Christ. Because of the size of the house church, it is necessary to employ everyone. Therefore, this model of church is completely participatory.

LEADERSHIP

Although the house church has no professional "clergy", the church still does have identifiable leadership. Their primary functions are nurture and direction. Leadership is viewed as being an equal part of the church body, gifted to perform a certain function necessary for the proper health and growth of the body. Leadership in the New Testament is never seen as outside of or above the people themselves, but simply as a part of the whole, essential in their calling to the health and well being of the body, but also governed by the same set of rules. Their gifts are part of the Spirit's work among the whole people. Because of their sense of corporate life as the family of God, the New Testament leaders did not consider themselves "ordained" to lead the people, but "gifted" to do so as one of many gifts of the body. The emphasis was not on their ordination (especially seen as dictatorial authority) but on their responsibilities within the body. In Eph. 4 we see the leadership preparing and equipping the church for the work of the ministry of serving one another. So we see leadership not acting separate from or over the body but as functioning within the body fulfilling that which they have been called to do.

As leadership emerges in house churches, we must again turn to the New Testament to determine the shape of the leadership structure in the earliest congregations. The foundation of church and church leadership is laid by Christ Himself and the apostles and prophets whom He chose and instructed (Eph. 2:20). We face many practical difficulties in church life, however, simply because of a lack of specific Biblical instruction. There is no "cookie cutter" pattern given in scripture which to model the church. Each local church therefore has latitude in its particular conviction concerning church government, as long as they are within the clear commands and principles found in the New Testament.

In dealing with leadership, the apostles were more concerned with the character and life of the men they put into leadership then they were about some abstract church principles of church governance. What we do see is two kinds of leadership emerging. On the one hand, we see itinerant teachers, such as Paul, who founded churches and exercised leadership in those churches until leaders were recognized, trained, and put in place. His sphere of influence was extra-local and temporary. On the other hand, we see local leadership in the hands of elders, which in every case in the New Testament is in the plural. Their sphere of influence was local and permanent.

The issue of elder's authority at the local level seems to have generated very little interest. Attention is focused not on their "authority", but on their role as those who cared for others. Leaders were basically responsible for all that was involved in nurturing the flock. Church government and authority was exercised by the church as a whole (Mt 18:15-20), with the oversight of the elders. In Mark 10:42-45, Christs' idea of leadership was totally foreign to the thinking of the world and to the religious leadership of His day. Nonetheless, Christ indisputably teaches that leaders will not assume a lordship role or have authority over His sheep. Where then does the authority exist?

Christ answers this question clearly when He stated, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me". (Matt. 28:18; see also Eph. 5:24). Christ is the authority in the church. Christ teaches in Mt. 23:8, "You have one Master, and you are all brothers". Here Jesus not only describes His role in the church ("Master") but also teaches the role of the body ("you are all brothers"). He is describing the equality and family affection which should exist among all believers. Our attention is to be focused on the real issue---the relationships that are created in the New Covenant, relationships that involve servanthood and humility among a brotherhood of equals in the church. With this in mind, authority residing in the church rather than in the elder begins to become clear. Elders are seen as the leading servants (not servant leaders!).

The scripture emphasizes the importance of leaders' fulfilling their God given responsibilities. In I Cor. 16:16,  we see men who were fulfilling their responsibilities of servanthood, "they had devoted themselves to the service of the saints". Paul says these men are deserving of your respect or submission. Paul does not command them to respect but "urges" them to respect them because of their labor among the church (i.e., the carrying out of their responsibilities). We also learn that respect is due to "everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it". Respect is for all who labor whether designated as leaders or not. Respect has to be earned by fulfilling their responsibilities of leadership. In I Thess. 5:12,13 Paul again urges the body to respect the labors among them because they are fulfilling their responsibilities.

Authority is granted as respect (submission) is given. Respect is given as responsibility is fulfilled. Respect dictates and allows authority; authority does not dictate respect. Respect is something that must be earned as a shepherd labors among the flock. Authority is granted to those who earn the respect of their people because of fulfilling their responsibilities. As a shepherd of the flock assumes and fulfills his responsibilities, the respect of the flock can be expected--followed by a willingness to grant "authority" over their lives to the leadership. Authority can never be forced on the flock by an authoritarian leadership without going contrary to Christs' teaching. As responsibilities are fulfilled, respect is earned (Heb. 13:7), and then the flock is willing to "obey and submit to their spiritual oversight" (Heb.13:17).

The nature of small groups requires that the group be more committed to the body than to the leader. This requirement is necessary to insure the survival of the group. No matter what happens to the leader, the group will probably not die, especially if the reproductive principles of 2 Tim.2:2 are being followed. If the group is committed to living out sound biblical teaching in the body rather than to the leader, then if a teacher begins to stray from the truth of the Bible, the group can detect and correct the error. A benefit of these house churches being tied closely into a network of churches is that the chance of a single house church following the bizarre teaching of a leader is lessened considerably.

The use of so-called lay persons at various levels of leadership and spiritual development of membership have helped to recover an atmosphere reminiscent of the early church. Because the house church creates an atmosphere that resembles family, the leadership should also resemble family. Because of the closeness of the group, the intimacy of relationships and the frequency of meeting, each family member is able to see, close-up and first hand, the life of each other member. As those whom God has called to lead begin to emerge, the group is able to see the man in his life and observe his character. They are able to see his reactions to the difficult every day family situations. As we know, no one knows us better than our own family. There are no masks or walls to hide behind. Because of the exposure of more facets of the life and character of the man, the group can better assess him, in accordance with the Biblical principles of leadership in I Tim 3 and Titus 1.

Governance in the New Testament house churches as well as contemporary house churches, is a combination of body control and elder leadership. The body is responsible for decision making, active ministry, shepherding, corporate worship, discipleship, and evangelism. The elders are responsible for leading, vision (although not necessarily exclusively within recognized leadership), oversight, nurture, teaching (not exclusively within recognized leadership), and training.

As we have noted, the New Testament gives no "cookie cutter" pattern for producing churches. The Lord has divinely chosen to allow each individual church to decide its own government by which it will operate as long as it is based on biblical principles and commands. Most generally, churches need a basic, biblical church government that will serve each individual church's needs. If we have come to a local church where we can, with a clean conscience, function to the capacity that God has called us, we have come to the church where God wants us.