Pastors often confuse leadership with discipleship. Our infatuation with leaders has stunted the development of disciples in our churches.
Mark Riddle on Discipleship & Leadership in the Church
Pastors often confuse leadership with discipleship. Our infatuation with leaders has stunted the development of disciples in our churches.
I agree with it nearly 99%, and the 1% is the part that is the obvious and necessary thing, that obviously not all discipleship is stunted, and I know thats not what Mark is trying to say. So the real discussion, I wonder how much of this problem is because of how much churches borrow from the corporate world. On the one hand, I think there are a lot of great principles that should be brought over to running a church, but we often emulate businesses so much, reuse their buzzwords in our own circles, etc. I can see a progression in churches from discipling, to mentoring, to training, to growing as a leader.
@BenjaminRead:disqus The irony of that? Well, what’s hot in leadership circles are really just good Christian leadership practices. Servant leadership, upside down thinking, serving people with love, etc.
If I could read into Mark’s words I think it has a lot to do with output. We think a person is developing in their relationship with Jesus when they exhibit “leadership” in the church. They pray out loud, they serve in a ministry, they join a committee or show up to a work day. In other words… pastors tend to get most excited about people becoming THEIR disciple who serves their ministry/purposes.
People are mature, in their pastors eyes, when they serve the church a lot. Unfortunately, the NT doesn’t measure maturity quite that cleanly.