Below is a re-post blog from our dear friends at PLANT NIJMEGEN outlining the key values our network of churches (Relational Mission) holds dear. We recently sent a wonderful couple called Ben and Mikka Parker to be part of the core team that is pioneering the church plant. Ben served as an elder at Redeemer, and Mikka was on staff. They helped plant Redeemer in 2015 and are going again. Head to the PLANT NIJMEGEN website to find out more.
As we pursue our mission to plant churches, it is absolutely vital to clarify on which foundations we seek to build these churches. We identify 3 main leadership values. We seek to build churches with
1. Elders in each local church
2. Ephesians 4 ministries
3. Servant-hearted leadership.
Elders in each local church because this is the structure for leadership we see in the New Testament churches, Ephesians 4 ministries because they are God-given gifts within the church to bring itself to maturity and Servant-hearted because this is the culture of leadership Jesus modelled to us.
In this blog post we will look at what it means to be a church with Servant-hearted leadership.
There are lots of passages in the Bible about qualifications for leaders including things like being sober-minded, hospitable and gentle (1 Timothy 3:1-7). These are great qualities for everyone to pursue with the help of the Holy Spirit. Leading other people starts with, leading ourselves well. Luckily these qualifications aren’t a list to mark ourselves against, but they give us something to aspire to with lots of grace and the acknowledgement that none of us is perfect, trusting God to make us more like Jesus if we allow him.
Jesus is our great example in everything, but particularly in leadership. He had equal status with God yet didn’t cling to the advantages of that status. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a servant. (Philippians 2:6-7) Jesus was as senior and high up as you can get, the most privileged and powerful one yet he humbled himself, to serve and lay his life down for us.
One of the clearest images we have of this from the Bible is Jesus washing his disciples’ feet (John 13:1-20). One of the disciples called Simon Peter, thinks foot-washing is beneath Jesus and he refuses until Jesus says “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Then he changes his tune and wants to be completely washed all over! Jesus explains this is his example to us and we should do as he does - washing one another’s feet; a humble job that requires you to kneel, to be in close proximity with people, with their dirt and smells, a task that no one else wants to do.
As a church plant we want to take this picture and all it encapsulates to remind us of how we are to serve one another - from the youngest to the oldest, from those who are first encountering the church community to those who regularly give their time, energy and effort in a particular role; the goal is not to be served but to serve. Practically we don’t see ourselves as too important to spend time with the kids, but are happy to offer to muck in with washing up or taking the bins out. Especially for people in visible leadership roles (eg. on a stage) it’s just as important that we’re servant-hearted in the unseen, because first and foremost we serve our God, an audience of one.
For Christians, this works not just in the church but in every area of our lives from family life to school, University, the workplace, hockey club and everywhere in between - we seek not to be served but to serve. This is a proactive thing, in particular roles and in everyday life and conversation. How can we show the people around us something of who Jesus is by choosing to lay down our preferences and serve them? It is so countercultural to choose to serve rather than choose to push our own agenda of what we want! We follow Jesus’ example and want to lead by example - to demonstrate this same character and servant-heart consistently in all the different circles we move in is powerful.
There’s a promise at the end of the verses about Jesus washing his disciples’ feet - ‘If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.’ (John 13:17) We want that, not just that God would bless us individually, in our families or as a church but that he would bless the city of Nijmegen through us and beyond, all across the Netherlands and Europe. As we seek to see 20 churches planted in each European nation, may each of them be filled with servant-hearted leaders from the youngest to the oldest, in public and in private, in set roles and in everyday life.
Mikka Parker
Part of the Plant Nijmegen team
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