2. Controlling leadership

A second common reason why otherwise healthy churches stop growing is a misunderstanding of the very nature of leadership. Far too many of us when we are in positions of leadership understand this to mean "I am in control" rather than "I can empower others". For when we look at the ministry of Jesus we see that his ministry is about empowering rather than controlling others.

We can see this happening at every level of the life of most churches. At the denominational level, leaders so often see than their role is to ensure that the congregations under their control remain faithful to patterns of doing church that have been decreed by others often centuries before. Any really growing church will have a high level of entrepreneurial characteristics which will mark it out as different to other congregations in the particular denomination, but sadly all too often these things cannot be accepted by those in charge, regardless of how effective they are, in the interests of denominational conformity.

For those denominations with a congregational pattern of government we can often encounter clear instances of control in the leadership exercised by the congregation. Rather than the congregational meeting entrusting leadership to the elders or governing body they keep power to themselves. Empowerment happens when both responsibility and authority is delegated to others. Many hesitate to give this kind of empowerment for reasons of personal insecurity, so the church is stifled in its growth.

Those denominations that put the emphasis on the leadership of elders often encounter control at this very point. Rather than trust the pastor to lead, the elders will often entrust responsibility to the pastor but retain authority themselves. Thus the pastor becomes a chaplain to the members and the empowerment that would enable real leadership to happen is withheld. In independent churches where a pastor is often given a great deal of freedom to lead, that leadership is often mistaken. Rather than the pastor understanding their role to be the empowerment of ministry leaders it is understood to mean "I am in control".

It seems to me that no denominational tradition is free from these tendencies towards control as opposed to empowerment, but it often manifests itself in different ways. This must be so; otherwise New Zealand would be full of empowered churches, which is obviously not the case.

Some can get very nervous at this point and ask who is in control then? The answer is that it is the vision and values of a church that should provide the ultimate standards. This, of course, requires a high level of trust, which is conspicuous by its absence in some places. I believe that this country could yet be greatly impacted by empowered churches, but for that to happen there would need to be a very large number of congregational meetings, governance groups, pastors and ministry leaders who would need to understand that their leadership role is not about controlling but empowering others.

If you'd like to talk to Murray Robertson about working with your denomination or church on this topic, please email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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