Spiritual Authority

What do we mean when we refer to authority? To what specifically do we refer? Where does the locus of authority reside in?

The obvious answer is God, Christ, the Spirit; yet what are the practical ramifications of the authority of God in the life of the Christian? (We must recognize that the acephalic Quaker communities, as well as the authoritarian Pentacostal/Charismatic communities, would all claim that authority resides in Christ alone; the question is to the manner in which Christ’s authority is manifested in our communities and lives.) Does the authority of the Spirit reside in the community (the Body of Christ, the Temple of God’s Spirit), does the authority of Christ reside in the descendant of St. Peter and his appointed representatives, in the individual charismatic personality, in the delegated title-holder, in the individual with leadership gifts?

What is the manner in which an authority figure is granted authority? Does the authority of the elder come from the Spirit-filled community? Or rather from the calling of God on the individual in question? From other authority figures?

What is the nature of authority in God’s kingdom? Is it inherently about making decisions and determining vision? Is it about pursuing the accomplishing or achieving of specific goals related to vision? Or is it the equipping and releasing of others into destinies and purposes that have nothing to do with our own values?

Definition

Leadership is responsibility.

Leadership is influence.

Leadership is confrontation.

Origin

Having said this, however, leadership is not something given to individuals who are somehow separate from the communities they lead. “The ministry is for the Church, not the Church for the ministry.” Leadership is recognized by the community and authority is granted to individuals by the Spirit as he is manifested in the local Church. This is irrespective of forms of Church governance; this is not an argument for a congregational system, but an ecclesiology. As individuals take responsibility for the community upon themselves, influence those around them, and step into loving and humble confrontation, they are exercising a gift of leadership. The community, by way of the Spirit of Christ, will recognize this and will set apart these individuals for leadership.

Nature

Leadership in the Kingdom of the beloved Son is not to be characterized by grasping, overbearing, or demanding. It is to be modeled upon the Master who said “do not lord over one another, but rather love each other, wash each other’s feet.”

There is a lesson to be learned in the lives of such saints as the great theological father, Augustine of Hippo, who was ordained a priest against his will; or Pope Gregory who was given authority over his loud protests against it (he even referred to it as God’s chastisement); and countless others who were granted authority in spite of their fervent pleas to forego the responsibility and influence of leadership.

Leadership in the Spirit of Jesus is for the benefit of those led, rather than the leader. A friend referred to his mentor in a trade, who constantly said, “the goal is for you to be better than me.” It is with this attitude that Christian leaders are to exercise their authority.

Purpose

The purpose of leadership in the family of God is not to direct the course of the communal life in a suitable manner, but rather to grant members of the family the maturity and power to live fully for Christ, to evoke the ambiguity of the Spirit-filled, wind-swept life within the community of saints. Leadership is for the equipping of Christians to fulfill with obedience the call of the Spirit. It is not to determine the nature or scope of that call. The true Christ-like leader will not micro-manage, but quite the opposite, will leave those around her begging for stronger leadership, ultimately wrestling with God about the answers that the leader refuses to give.

The purpose of parental authority is not to protect or punish, nor is it to determine the course of life or to define behavioral limits (although all of these do fall within the realm of parental activity). The purpose of parental authority is to produce healthy and mature adults, capable of navigating their own course through life in Christ.

So too, spiritual leadership is for the purpose of cultivating maturity in those given care by the leader. This demands a level of freedom that frightens any leader who cannot see through to trust the Spirit who dwells within the lives of all Christians.





“By spontaneous expansion I mean something which we cannot control. And if we cannot control it, we ought, as I think, to rejoice that we cannot control it. For if we cannot control it, it is because it is too great not because it is too small for us. The great things of God are beyond our control. Therein lies a vast hope. Spontaneous expansion could fill the continents with the knowledge of Christ: our control cannot reach as far as that. We constantly bewail our limitations: open doors unentered; doors closed to us as foreign missionaries; fields white to the harvest which we cannot reap. Spontaneous expansion could enter open doors, force closed ones, and reap those white fields. Our control cannot: it can only appeal pitifully for more men to maintain control.”



This is book length, but worth the read


This is a shorter article