Coram Deo Blog
22 January 2007 at 4:51 pm by Bob Thune
· ecclesiology, leadership
Yesterday at our Coram Deo gathering, I scratched the surface of an issue that raises all kinds of additional questions. The question I tried to answer was, “What does biblical church leadership look like?” Hopefully I did justice to this question. Two related questions, which I did not do justice to, are: “Why do you believe the Bible teaches that elders must be male?” and “What are some practical steps men can take to grow in godly, masculine spiritual leadership?”
Cooper has uploaded two files to the Resource page and the podcast which will help in addressing these questions.
For the first question: Resources > Other > Special: Gender Roles (Sunday Night School of Theology)
For the second question: Resources > Other > Spiritual Leadership
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Frock on 22 January 2007 at 9:57 pm
Bob I think you did an excellent job of turning to scripture and explaining what biblical church leadership should look like. There were a lot of similarities between what we talked about on Sunday and what we manly men talked about on the retreat.
I take it a little deeper than merely what biblical, masculine character qualities I lack (which are numerous) I think the place I find my soul waging the most war is in the duty vs. desire arena.
I so desperately want to become the kind of man that is gentle, warrior-like, doctrinally sound, wise, blah blah blah….but I always find myself longing for the recognition of those titles more. I think I really struggle with desiring to be those things. To be a biblical leader. I want “overcoming the world against incredible odds for Jesus and his glory” to be what drives me, but most of the time it really doesn’t….duty does.
Frickin’ duty…
Mmmm, longing for titles. I hear ya on that Frock.
It’s funny; I find that one of my greatest desires is to know the bible, church history, and theology inside and out, yet I find myself putting those things into the duty category a lot. They’re becoming more and more things I do in my free time out of desire, but not completely yet.
tf on 23 January 2007 at 10:58 am
I understand the struggle between desire and duty, but I often find that when I force myself to do something (out of duty) it eventually turns into a desire to do whatever it is (though I suppose that’s not always the case).
I was wondering though, why don’t men take more initiative? It seems that Christian men often balk at taking the initiative in both church settings and social settings. Why is that? Is it out of fear or pride? Maybe men are scared to take the initiative because they don’t feel prepared to handle the resposibility it requires. I suppose this doesn’t answer the question as to how men can grow in godly spiritual leadership, but perhaps it’s a suggestion as to what is holding them back.
Patrick on 23 January 2007 at 12:24 pm
Maybe it goes back to that circle diagram. you know, the one with the white space. Knowledge, disciplines, immersion, experience, target. i know i should do those kinds of things. some of us have the disciplines of doing it. some of us are completely immersed because we are in it and are around people in community who are disciplined as well. and eventually it becomes an experience that is valuable. we move on to hit the target. Just my thought.
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