LEADERSHIP TIPS FROM P G VARGIS

[PG Vargis]

A leader is like a river. Starts as a small stream. But gathers on the way other streams and becomes a mighty river – feeding people, cattle and agricultural lands and nourishing forests. It never stops working – day and night. A river exists for others and then vanishes.  You can be a Pampa river of Kerala or Ganges of India or Amazon. The choice is yours.

P G Vargis

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Leadership note. Grow with me.

And share this with others. Let the world grow.

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PART I      DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE (COPIED)

This is a bit lengthy .But read it for your Bible knowledge.

"The APOSTLES Were LAYMEN" 

-Extracts by Philip Lancaster.

The world and the church agree about how you should address me.

My proper name and title, by unanimous consent, is: The Reverend Mister Philip H. Lancaster.

 

I am one of the elite cadre of persons who has the right to be addressed as Reverend" ("Worthy of reverence; revered. A member of the clergy.") This distinction is mine because I successfully completed a three-year graduate program in theology (I'm also a "Master of Divinity") and passed a theological exam before a body of ministers and elders. Upon passing that examination I was ordained and granted the privilege of being addressed as Reverend.

This distinction also entitled me to be the pastor of a church: its preacher, the one who oversees the church ordinances, and the one privileged to "pronounce the benediction."

According to the church and the world, I am one set apart. I am a member of the clergy, and my title distinguishes me as such.

Sounds pretty good, huh?

Yes, it sounds good to modern ears. But there is a little problem:

the title and what it implies is an affront to Jesus Christ and an insult to every other man in the church.

As an expression of my submission to my Lord I renounce the title and resist its implications.

Jesus said, "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers" (Matt. 23). Our Lord goes on to forbid other honorific titles among his people, the church, and then concludes, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (v. 12).

Jesus explicitly forbade setting any man apart in the church by means of a special title-and yet the church has done it since not long after the apostolic age. Why is such a practice such an affront to Christ? Because he alone is Head and Master of his church.

The concept of a professional clergy, which corrupted the church within a few centuries of the apostles, was a direct expression of worldly concepts of leadership and power. Whereas Jesus had adorned himself with a towel and became a servant to his followers (John 13), "clergymen" began to adorn themselves with special robes and collars and assumed a place of superiority over the congregation of the church. Although later the Reformation removed some of the worst abuses of this clerical system, it retained the distinction between the "clergy" and the "laity", a distinction which survives to this day.

Do we see any evidence of a clergy/laity distinction in the New Testament? None whatsoever. We see quite the opposite: the church leaders were ordinary men who humbly served the flock and who neither sought nor accepted any special status, title or dress that set them apart from the rest of the brothers.

Unschooled, Ordinary Men.

Consider the Apostles. These men were hand-picked by Jesus himself to be the foundation of his church, the human agents through whom he would establish the household of God on earth (Eph. 2:20). These were the very agents of divine revelation, the human authorities by which the church received its order and direction. Certainly the Apostles were the most important leaders the church has ever had. Surely if any men deserved special title, position and rank it was these men. But were the Apostles clergymen?

To the contrary, we find clear evidence that the Apostles, though exercising their leadership role and its attendant authority, were not a special class among Christians, a professional spiritual elite.

Let's look at just some of the evidence.

In Acts 4:13 we read of the reaction of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish

clergy) to Peter and John: "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." What distinguished the Apostles was not their training and credentials; it was that they had spiritual power because they had been with Jesus and he was with them still by the Spirit.

My interlinear Greek-English New Testament suggests these words for those translated "unschooled" and "ordinary" above:

"unlettered" and "laymen". The Apostles were perceived by the clergy of their day as "uneducated laymen"! How could these men count for anything? Who could take them seriously? The Lord Jesus could, and did; and he built his church on the work of these ordinary men.

Nor do we find the Apostles claiming any special rank and recognition for themselves. Paul called himself the "least of all God's people" (Eph. 3: and refused even the honor to which he was due by virtue of his role (1 Cor. 9:12). Peter, when addressing the church leaders, referred to himself simply as "a fellow elder"

(1 Pet. 5:1). When the Apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem for a critical doctrinal debate, the Apostles submitted to one another, and the letter which the council sent to the churches went out in the name of "the apostles and elders, your brothers" (Acts 15:23).

PART II

Leadership Blind Spots

By: John C. Maxwell

Do you have any blind spots? If you answered no, you now know where your blind spot is!

Okay, I think most of us would acknowledge that we do possess blind spots. We assume there must be some areas where we “don’t know what we don’t know.” And we suppose that our personal blind spots have an effect on our lives – quite possibly a negative effect.

But what happens when a leader has blind spots? It affects so many more people than the leader alone. It can have a far-reaching impact — on the leader, his or her followers, and the entire team, department or organization.

Here’s my definition of a blind spot: an area in someone’s life in which he continually fails to see himself or his situation realistically. This unawareness often causes great damage to the person and those around him.

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Have a day of growth for the glory of God

p g vargis

www.pgv.com