Over my 49 years of serving God among charismatic churches, I have observed a disturbing trend among leaders, especially those who measure “success” by a dynamic corporate gathering. It has to do with the “leadership” of corporate meeting. Do leaders “lead” the meeting or participate in the gathering of the saints?
One of the greatest leaders in the Bible, especially in worship gatherings, was David. He gave us so many psalms and instructions regarding gathering with God’s people in worship. He wrote an amazing psalm that sheds his perspective on leading meetings involving praise and worship.
- Psalms 34:1-3 A Psalm of David…I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth… (3) O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.
Notice his language: “with me” and “together.” David did not say, “I will watch you magnify the Lord while I determine what God wants us to do next in the meeting.” He said, “Magnify the Lord with me.”
There is a great difference between those two approaches to leadership. A leader can stand in front of the saints and essentially communicate, “I will lead you into worship, or I will lead the meeting.” Or he can say by his own participation: “Come, let us worship God together. I am one of you before Him. I need His presence as much as you do. I am not above the worship of the saints, I am among you, exalting Jesus with you.”
A Disturbing Trend in My History
I once knew a leader whom many considered, and he considered himself highly prophetic. He believed that he had a special ability to discern what the Spirit wanted to do all the time, especially in corporate gatherings and to lead the meeting precisely in that direction.
He was genuinely perceptive, and he often had significant spiritual insight. But I consistently noticed something troubling in how he conducted himself in corporate gatherings.
While the saints were worshiping, he could be noticeably checked out of worship himself. He wasn’t fully entering into the praise. At times he was a little late to meetings. He wasn’t simply one of the saints exalting Jesus. He seemed to be standing outside the gathering, watching, assessing, discerning and waiting.
Then, at a certain point, he would stand up and take over. It was almost as though his internal posture was: “If you really want to know what God wants to do, you need to turn the meeting over to me.”
His gift had subtly changed his relationship to the Body. Instead of being a leader participating with the saints, he became the only person who believed he could determine what the saints needed to do. INSTEAD OF HIM SEEING HIS GIFTING AS SERVING THE BODY AS HE PARTICIPATED, HE MORE SAW HIS GIFT AS GOVERNING THE BODY.
Authentic Biblical Leadership is Different
Over the years I have been in countless charismatic gatherings that had some similarities when it came to “leading” the meeting. They weren’t there to “participate” with the saints but to “lead” them.
David’s leadership was different. He participated and set an example of seeing God’s greatness and exalting Him. We see this when he helped return God’s ark/presence back into the temple.
- 2 Samuel 6:12-15 David went and brought up the ark of God…into the city of David with gladness…(14) And David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. (15) So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.
David did not merely arrange and oversee the worship for the people. He became a worshiper among the worshipers. His leadership was not diminished by his participation. In fact, his participation became part of his leadership. He was demonstrating to the nation what it looked like to respond to the presence of God.
David’s Wife Michal Evaluated the Event and Suffered for it.
David’s wife Michal looked down upon David when she saw him leaping and dancing before the Lord. She evaluated what was happening and determined that David should have maintained his dignity and distance, and not fully participate with the people in worship.
- 2 Samuel 6:16-23 … Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart… How the king of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!” (21) So David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel; therefore I will celebrate before the LORD… (23) Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.
Leadership Example and Responding to God.
Biblical leadership in corporate gatherings is not standing outside the worship to control what happens next, it is participating wholeheartedly with the saints while serving the Body.
Perhaps one of the greatest demonstrations a leader can give a congregation is not how to organize a meeting, but how to respond to God.
- When the saints lift their voices, the leader should be lifting his voice.
- When the saints bow before God, the leader should be willing to bow.
- When the saints rejoice in Christ, the leader should rejoice with them.
- When the saints cry out to God, the leader should cry out with them.
- When the saints exalt Jesus, the leader should be among those most passionately exalting Him.
This does not mean there is no place for leaders exercising any responsibility for government in gatherings. They are to oversee the flock, but leadership must never become detachment. There is a difference between leading the saints in worship and worshiping with the saints while providing leadership. The second is much closer to the heart of biblical leadership, being an example.
- 1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
The leader’s life is part of their leadership calling and message. God’s people should be able to look at their leaders and say, “That’s what wholehearted devotion to Jesus looks like.”
Important Truth in Authentic Leadership
There is something incongruous about a leader exhorting everyone else to worship while he stands with his arms crossed, observing the meeting. If we tell people to give themselves wholly to Christ, but we ourselves remain guarded, we contradict our message.
If we call people to adore Jesus, but we appear more concerned with the mechanics of the meeting than with Jesus Himself, we communicate something unintended.
If we ask the saints to engage with God while we remain disengaged because we are “leading,” we have subtly placed ourselves outside the very Body we are supposed to be part of.
The leader should never communicate by their lives: “You worship; I will run the meeting.” INSTEAD AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATES: “Let’s worship. Let’s seek God. Let’s exalt Christ. Let’s respond to the Holy Spirit. Let’s give ourselves to Him together.”
This is the beauty of “Oh magnify the LORD with me.” The strongest leadership in a corporate gathering may sometimes be the leader’s visible, wholehearted participation. COME ON LEADERS, LETS LEAD WITH EXAMPLE!!!