Begin this chapter with some serious, sobering thinking. If your congregation ceased to exist this week, would people who are not members notice? How long would it take for people who are not members to notice? Would they notice with the same sense of curiosity that they note a seldom-visited business ceases to exist? "Did that business close? When? Wonder why?" Would people who were not members respond with no joy, no sorrow, no sense of loss, but just a "matter of fact" observation?

Or would people who are not members note the absence immediately with a sense of alarm? Would there be an immediate flurry of questions that begin with "Who will . . .?" Would there be an immediate sense of loss and void in much of the community because the congregation made an obvious positive contribution to the well-being of the community? Was the congregation such a natural part of the community’s fabric that people in the community cannot imagine the congregation not helping make their community a healthy place to live?

Do the answers to these questions exist only in the congregation’s and its leadership’s minds? Do positive answers only express a self-perception based on a sense of self-importance? Or, do the answers genuinely reflect the community's view of the congregation?


A Hard Observation

If the congregation you are part of exists by ignoring community needs, the day may come when it ceases to exist. If that happens, the few who note its passing will do so with indifference. If the congregation you are part of is a vibrant, positive contributor to the community’s fabric, it is likely to exist for generations as it continues its vibrant, positive contributions to the community’s life. The community will be a more spiritual place because the congregation is there.

The first congregation ceases to grow and draws inward as it often fails to convert even its own children to God’s blessings and concern. It increasingly is characterized by "attendees" who "belong to an organization." These people increasingly become people who major in asking questions that few ask and to which fewer seek answers.

The second congregation grows because it serves. It attracts people because its members are alive as they teach people how to live in difficult times. They know how to glorify God for His blessings and concern even in the worst situations.

Can you imagine Jesus simply disappearing in the middle of his ministry and no one noticing? True, he did a number of impressive deeds by using God’s power to do the miraculous to others’ benefit. Also true, he taught challenging, unexpected concepts as he discussed the fact that people must belong to God inwardly. Many people Jesus addressed thought they had God's approval because of ancestry with Abraham through Isaac. Consider Matthew 3:9. Some thought they had God's approval because they did things the right way. Consider Matthew 5:21-48. When Jesus stressed a person's inward reaction to God, he stressed something most of them were unaccustomed to hearing or considering.

In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7, Jesus’ longest recorded lesson), he focused on a concept that had not been emphasized among the majority. The majority were influenced significantly by the Pharisees’ emphasis on forms and doing things “the right way.”

The Pharisees expressed legitimate concerns. (1) How do you keep people from abandoning correct lessons to be learned from the past? (2) How do you protect people from the dangerous trends of the present? Many Pharisees counteracted an alarmed Jewish concern by emphasizing the value of maintaining contact with the past. “The old paths” were their concern’s focus. However, many Pharisees stressed keeping in contact with the past through forms and procedures.

The assumption: spiritual substance existed. The main thing lacking was correct forms. Correct forms would solve the basic spiritual problems in first-century Jewish society.

That was a dangerous assumption! Spiritual substance is always threatened! God’s spiritual objective for His people in every generation: constantly seek His balance between spiritual substance and forms of the past to promote godly living in an ungodly world.

Thus Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount lesson stressed this: the key to being a righteous person is belonging to God inwardly. Outward behavior should be an expression of who you are instead of an affirmation that you follow correct forms. Regardless of what form was followed, murder, failure to function as family, adultery, divorce, lying, vengeance, and treating enemies unkindly never demonstrated God’s values—even if “correct forms” were observed (Matthew 5:21-48). It was essential that a person help the poor, pray to God, and fast—for correct motives (Matthew 6:1-18). The objective of each was to glorify God, not to advance self. Thus, people were to depend on God by adopting His values. They had to want God to remake them internally.
 

Under Attack

Christian influence (using “Christian” in its broadest definition) has been under increasing attack in the American society for decades. This attack is evident enough that people in other cultures (not noted for being religious) have wondered why the attack. Christian perspectives are no longer valued as a constructive influence in our society.

Times have changed radically in my lifetime! When I was a teenager, families who "went to church" nowhere expected their children to embrace and live by Christian values in their public behavior. Protesting those values never occurred.

When a group built a church building in a community, the building (and the coming congregation) was considered a positive happening. Often, the land was donated. No one complained of the abuse of tax dollars if community power structures contributed time or equipment to aid the process of building a church building. The existence of congregations was a good thing that contributed to the health and well-being of the community.

No longer! In many schools, Christian values are not the normative values. If Christian values are invoked or made evident, it is not unusual for one or more children to protest. If the children do not complain, their parents do.

Church buildings often must be built within proper zones. Congregations should not assume they will be welcomed by the area in which they build buildings. Christian values are no longer considered by some to be good things that contribute to the health and well-being of the community. Such is the American view today in many places.

Christians can respond to this situation in one of three basic ways: they can ignore it, they can react to it, or they can interact with it. Christian response to this situation is a complex challenge. There is no guarantee that response in any form will resolve the crisis quickly or change the image of Christian believers.

Christians can choose some form of ignoring, but that commonly results in drawing inward, rejecting people, and disconnecting the congregation from the community. The end result is that the congregation ceases to be what Jesus intended in its existence and outreach.

Some form of reacting often makes the problem (or problems) worse rather than better. When Christians react, they invite those who oppose them to react to their Christian reaction. The results are commonly a vicious cycle of reactions that focus on the ever-widening gap rather than seeking a healing (ideal) or a toleration solution (better than an open war).
 

Jesus' "Light" Image

One of the common images and illustrations Jesus used was that of light. The concept of light dispelling darkness was not original with Jesus. For example, God through Isaiah said that the mission of restoration was too small a mission for Israel. God wanted Israel to be a light to the non-Jewish nations so God's salvation would reach to the end of the earth (Isaiah 49:6).

The ethics of a people ruled by God was to champion a moral behavior which influenced people controlled by idolatry. That behavior would cause those who lived idolatrous lifestyles to seek the living God Who forgave.

Light by its nature interacts with darkness to disperse darkness. When light interacts with darkness, darkness ceases to be in evidence—though it is always ready to return if light is absent.

Darkness is not destroyed, but dispersed. In fact, the deeper the darkness, the more evident even a small light source becomes. Light was (and is) a symbol of righteousness. Darkness was (and is) the symbol of wickedness. Light disperses darkness by interacting with it, not by exerting some type of controlling, subjugating power that destroys it. Triumph over darkness is achieved by the superiority of light’s qualities, not by an irresistible force that destroys the darkness. Light dispels darkness by being light.

The Christians’ influence exists by being, not by conquest. Those who control spend a constantly increasing amount of time devoted to exercising and keeping subjugation. Those who influence because of their being focus increasingly on who they are in God. They concern themselves with being who they are in God instead of forcing others to surrender to their ways.

Jesus described the righteous in the Sermon on the Mount as "the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). Disciples existed to be an obvious light to people in darkness. They existed to be a helpful light, not a blinding light. They did not shine through their good works to attract attention to themselves, but to glorify their God (Matthew 5:16). They only reflected God's light; they did not even pretend to be the light source. Paul made the same point to the Christians in Philippi (Philippians 2:15).

First-century Christians influenced by patiently demonstrating God’s impact on their behavior, not by exerting power and force. They interacted with society by being controlled by God, not by being slaves to human desires. Such interaction, at times, was a slow, costly process, but an effective process.

Light is a powerful symbol! Light regulates when human activity can occur, and when human activity cannot occur. It regulates when daily activities can begin, and when such activities must end. Those who can afford to have convenient artificial lighting at their disposal easily forget how necessary light is in human activity—until a storm destroys the power that makes lighting possible, or until a car battery goes dead on a deserted road, or until people camping out have no fuel to operate their lights. Only when we have no form of light do we realize how helpless we are when the sun sets, or what we can do when the sun rises.

Christians do not exist to live in a high-walled “Christians only” castle surrounded by a moat. In that way of thinking, the drawbridge allows them to control access to the Christian enclave. The outer sign’s message is clear to the community around the castle: No Sinners Allowed—No Exceptions!

Christians exist to be light in a dark world. They exist to reflect God’s power and to show the resurrected Jesus Christ in their lives. What they are because of God and Jesus Christ influences others to find direction in God. Christians cannot be God’s light which interacts with the darkness of anti-spiritual forces unless Christians interact with ungodliness.

Consider: people generally equate knowledge with light, or commendable moral values with light, or dangerous times with darkness. Light is a positive influence; Christians should be a positive influence.

Most people fear few things as they fear blindness. The curse of all curses is to be unable to see. We view living in the dark as a curse.

Good spiritual leadership does two things: (1) It guides individuals to light so they can see for themselves. (2) It helps believers improve their sight. The goal of spiritual leadership is to guide people to the ability to see, not to control sightless people.


The "Uh-Oh" Moment

The religious movement surrounding Jesus Christ was unlike other significant religious movements. Originally, it seemed to be a Jewish reform movement. When the infant Jesus was presented to God at the Jewish temple, Simeon viewed Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel (Luke 2:25-35). John the Baptist was declared to be the fulfillment of the Jewish promise of the coming of Elijah (Matthew 11:10, 14). Jesus taught and performed miracles primarily for Jewish people in Galilee and Judea. The first place Peter was recorded going after his Pentecost presentation in Acts 2 was to the Jewish temple at the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1).

The movement changed when Peter taught the message of the good news to non-Jewish, non-proselytized people in Acts 10 and baptized them. Even Simeon said it was Jesus’ destiny to be “a light of revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). The writer of the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 4:16) saw Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah 9:2. Paul saw the conversion of gentiles to Jesus Christ as a means of blessing Israel (Romans 11:1-15).

How should we consider this movement when it had more Jewish Christians than non-Jewish Christians? (There was a huge cultural distinction between Jews and all non-Jews.) What was the movement when it had more non-Jewish adherents than Jewish adherents? What was it when it was a peculiar mix of Jewish Christians and non-Jewish Christians?

Christianity has never enjoyed a smooth, all-encompassing transition from generation to generation, and it never will. It was not divinely designed to be a mindless subjugation of those who were forced to agree. Instead, it was divinely designed to be a faith-filled, vibrant lifestyle of those committed to God.

It has never been easy to give a simple definition of Christian commitment. As a religious movement, Christianity’s complexity denotes the complexity of a grace-filled God Who gave His son in human form and saves through death and resurrection. That salvation is based on a crucified but resurrected person who produced many martyrs on every level of service—from apostle to slave.

Major Transition

One of the key moments of transition came when Constantine I legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire in 313 AD. He is said to have had a Christian vision prior to his successful battle of the Milvian Bridge. Constantine’s victory resulted in the reunification of the Roman Empire under one ruler, with Christianity becoming the state religion.

Suddenly the illegal religious movement without power became the legal religious movement with access to the state’s power. Suddenly the religious movement based on faith in Jesus Christ which motivated martyrdom became the religious movement in which martyrdom was supposed to be impossible. Suddenly the diverse movement that defied a singular expression and identity was forced to become a religious movement with a single expression and a sanctioned theology. Suddenly the distinction between church and state was blurred. Suddenly a religious movement that never was involved in physical conflict sanctioned a war on a group who believed in Jesus Christ but did not agree with the “official position of the church.”

Now Christian adherents could be (and were) forced to accept views with which they disagreed. Instead of a faith movement, Christianity transformed itself into a power organization that required and enforced conformity.

Was the good politician Constantine merely a shrewd politician who used an energetic, durable religious movement to achieve his purposes? Was the expression of Christianity basically changed as a matter of political pragmatism rather than faith-filled commitment? How many of today’s doctrines are the result of the political decisions of that moment rather than a devotion to God’s will?

Why?

Why discuss all this? For one reason. Those who dare to exercise any level of leadership in a congregation need to realize that leadership in a congregation has never been simple, and never will be. The key to effective leadership in the church is not power, and never has been. In many ways, the faith of commitment and what we know as power are enemies.

To dare to lead in a congregation is to dare to get involved constructively in conflict. Conflict is an inevitable part of spiritual leadership!
 

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