Last among equals

Whether we like it or not, it’s natural for any group of people to form structures to try and organise its membership.

So, when you get together a bunch of people to play on a sporting team, it’s pretty normal for a captain to be appointed.

And when you have an organisation like a club or a small business, you can expect someone to be appointed to lead and take responsibility for the running of things.

This, too, is the case in a church.

God has made it clear in the Bible that he expects there to be some within the church who will lead others, taking responsibility for what happens.

But just because someone has a leadership role, it doesn’t mean that they are more important than the others.

In one of the Bible’s writings there is an encouragement to all Christians in the church:

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  (Romans 12:3-5)

In other words, none of us should look down (or up) on anyone else, just because of what they are doing within Christ’s church.

So, whether a person is preaching into a microphone, or controlling the microphone from the sound desk, everyone is of the same value to God.

And just in case we need any further proof, Jesus, whom we serve as King, actually considers himself lower than everyone in the church.

And that’s the greatest model of leadership we’ll ever encounter.