Three groups... one church?

It seems to me that there are three distinct groups of people within the church [actually probably in the world in general].

• Group One: People who like to be told what to do and are happy doing it.
• Group Two: People who like to tell others what to do and are happy doing it.
• Group Three: People who don't believe it right to be told what to do by Group Two and who don't want to tell Group One what to do.

Group One people are generally happy. Group Two people are generally happy. Group Three people are generally unhappy!

So where am I going with this? Well in Larnaca in Cyprus I am regularly meeting people who appear to be group three people... people who are fed up with with the church leaders who all appear [to them] to be control freaks who dictate what goes on and what to believe to the others.

Over the past couple of years I have also met with at least one largish mission agency where some of the members were complaining the same thing about their leaders.

The question this actually raises is about the role of leadership and the way it is implemented in the church, as well as what we mean by the church.

Years ago I heard a quote 'Bad leaders lead from the back, good leaders lead from the front, but of truly great leaders they say we did it ourselves'. Martin Luther King, Jr. said something like this 'A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a moulder of consensus'. When we look at Jesus we see someone both leading from the front but more importantly motivating and encouraging his followers to 'do the stuff'.

Today I don't see this in the church. What I see is leaders dictating to others what to do. Frequently those of us in group three question whether the proclamation is from God, or indeed if the Lord has really appointed this person to be a leader. Blindly following people who you do not believe are appointed by the Lord creates stress. Yet this is what many seem to want from us.

Where do we go with this. Those of us in group three love the Lord. We believe in His leadership not man's. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. Yet more and more we are edged out of the Sunday performance by those we see as controllers we don't believe God appointed to the role they have assumed.

Some of those in group three are comfortable with this separation. They are confident with their own position and don't take any notice of the leaders anyway. Others, like me, long for leaders who mould consensus. We long for people in the pattern of Jesus whose desire is to see others 'doing my Father's will'.

For now I don't see that. For now I just see the pain caused by these controlling leaders.