There Is Only One Head

This is a beautiful verse that points to the true authority of any Christian church, whether they be large or small. Unfortunately, it is often abused as more and more individual church leaders tend to see themselves as the final and only authority in all church matters, including finances, often treating church giving as their own private bank accounts.

Recent events have brought this embarrassment to our attention once again in the body of Christ (Willow Creek, Harvest Bible Chapel, Mars Hill, Relentless Church). These are the big ones that have received national attention but most likely they are only the “tip of the iceberg” among the thousands of smaller churches with similar autonomous leaders. Lampstands are being removed (Revelation 2:5).

The apostle Paul disagrees with a church leadership model that has no accountability. That’s not the way God has put His church together. In fact, in Paul’s well-known analogy of the church as a human body consisting of many members, he uses the foot, hand, eye, ear, including “some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important,” as being essential to the proper functioning of the body of Christ and no less important in relationship to each other (1 Corinthians 12:18-31). Can you imagine the church being made up of only one big eye?

We are reminded that it is the Holy Spirit that distributes gifts to each member of the church so that, “all of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). The responsibility of any leader is to make sure that those individual spiritual gifts are encouraged and allowed to operate and be nurtured, as God intended. What a powerful church when that happens and a church that grows!

Earlier this week, my wife and I saw this model in action in a corporate setting as we participated with people who were using their different gifts for the glory of God. There were singers, writers, ushers, pastors, preachers, teachers, elders, deacons, counselors, various individual ministry leaders, sound and video technicians, outside ministry representatives, parking attendants, cooks, security personnel, missionaries, janitors, retirees, et al. Not one time did we ever see any one person get up to make sure everyone knew who was in charge and a little higher than everyone else. No genuflects in this crowd and no “big stars” either!

It was a refreshing experience seeing the body of Christ in action as they honored the true head of the church, Jesus Christ. Do it again, Lord. Maranatha!