Tonight I had the opportunity to meet Ron Johnson, pastor of Bethel Temple in Hampton, Virginia. In addition to pastoring his church, God has brought him into relationship with hundreds of church planters all over the world. He currently oversees a network of several hundred churches. I asked him how it developed and was blown away by his story. He didn't set out to develop a network of churches. It happened naturally as young men he had committed to serve in turn sought out relationship with him.
The thought he shared that stuck out to me was about ministry authority. There are two kinds: political authority and spiritual authority. Spiritual authority is given to us by God and when a leader has it, others are drawn to him naturally. He doesn't have to seek it or fight to keep it. Political authority is positional authority, and can only be maintained by political posturing and leveraging.
Someone with political authority ends up abusing relationships in order to protect his position. A leader with spiritual authority is free to serve others without fear of losing position or title, since it was never his to begin with.
Guess which type of authority Jesus had?
Comments