The unique leader in the church is Christ. Suppose someone asks us who the leader of our church is. If we say that Christ is the leader, the person may not understand or accept our answer. The person may ask again, “Who is the man, woman, or group who is the leader in your church?” We need to answer strongly that in the Lord’s recovery we have no leader other than Christ. We should lead such an inquiring person to Matthew 23. Verse 8 says, “Do not be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.” Verse 10 says, “Neither be called instructors, because One is your Instructor, the Christ.” We are all brothers, and there is only one Leader—Christ. We can explain, “According to the Bible, among God’s children today there is only one Leader—Jesus Christ. There should be no other Leader. Therefore, in our church we do not have any other leader.”
Some may ask, “Are the elders not leaders?” Besides pointing out Matthew 23:8 and 10 to such ones, we should also mention Matthew 20:25-28. According to the principle in these verses, the elders are not lords but slaves. Moreover, 1 Peter 5:3, a word to the elders, says, “Nor as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock.” There is only one Lord—Christ. The elders should be not lords but examples.
Organizations in secular society are led by someone such as a chairman, president, or chief executive. When the head of such an organization sees that a restroom is not clean, he will give an order to his secretary, and the secretary will charge the janitor to clean the restroom. In the church life, however, there are no secretaries and no janitors, and the elders are not leaders. Thus, when the elders see a need, rather than giving an order, they should take the lead by being an example. Then the rest of the saints should follow the elders’ example. The elders are not leaders who give orders but those who take the lead by being examples, pioneers. If they function in this way and the other saints follow, the result will be a healthy church life. It is a secular concept that the elders are higher than others or that they are lords or leaders. If the elders are leaders in a secular sense, they become an insult to the leadership of Christ.
Some may be concerned that this teaching will bring in rebellion. Thus, we also need to point out Hebrews 13:17, which says, “Obey the ones leading you and submit to them.” The church life should be full of obedience but not obedience to a kind of human leadership. This is difficult to explain, because our understanding has been spoiled by secular organization. The eldership in the church is absolutely another kind of leadership, one which worldly people cannot understand. We should not use our natural mentality to try to understand the eldership. Romans 12:2 says that our mind needs to be renewed. Even in understanding the matter of the eldership, our mind should be renewed. There is a difference between being a leader and taking the lead. An elder is not a leader but one taking the lead. The Lord Jesus is the Leader, and the elders are those who take the lead.
On the one hand, the elders are not leaders but examples, not rulers but those who take the lead to do things. On the other hand, all the saints should follow the example of the elders and obey them. A proper church life is full of obedience but not human leadership. The leadership is solely the Lord’s. We are all under one leadership; we respect Christ’s unique leadership. The elders are not the leaders but simply the leading ones, those who take the lead to be an example in everything. The rest of the saints should follow and obey the elders.
In the Old Testament God ordained that there be one king at a time among His people, such as David and then Solomon. However, in the New Testament there were always several apostles and several elders, never only one. This is quite meaningful. Furthermore, it was not always the same one among the apostles and elders who took the lead. Roman Catholics commonly believe that Peter was always first among the apostles. However, this is incorrect, for in Acts 15 it was James and not Peter who was taking the lead among the apostles and the elders (vv. 5-13).
Because Peter was bold on the day of Pentecost, he took the lead at that time (2:14). However, Galatians 2:9 lists James before Peter. The subsequent verses reveal that this was because Peter had become weak. Verse 12 says that Peter continually ate with the Gentile believers, but when the Jewish believers came to Antioch, he shrank back from eating with the Gentiles. Peter had received a vision from God in Acts 10 that there was no longer any difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, but he did not keep this vision. Because Peter became weak, James began to take the lead.
Galatians 2:12 says, “Before some came from James.” The phrase from James is used to mean “from Jerusalem” in this verse, indicating that James was taking the lead. Acts 21:18 also proves that eventually James, not Peter, was the leading one among the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem. Peter’s losing his position as the leading apostle proves that there is no official or permanent leading one among the apostles or among the elders. In Acts 13:2 the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” In this instance Barnabas was mentioned first. However, as they were on their journey, Paul began to take the lead (vv. 9, 13, 16). This again proves that there is no permanent or official leadership among the apostles. This matter depends on present spiritual capacity.
The plurality of the apostles and of the elders indicates that in the New Testament God preserves the headship absolutely for Christ. This means that there is no definite, official, permanent, or organizational leadership in the church. Who takes the lead among the apostles and among the elders depends on present spiritual capacity. Because Peter had the highest capacity on the day of Pentecost, he was the leading one in that time and place. However, when there was a conference among the apostles and elders in Acts 15, after Peter and Paul spoke, it was James who made the final decision, because at that time James had the top capacity.
Suppose there are four elders in a locality. One elder may have the greatest capacity in a certain area. Therefore, he takes the lead in that area. However, if a different brother has more capacity in another area, that brother is the leading one in that area. This arrangement reveals God’s wisdom in His New Testament economy to preserve the leadership and the headship solely and absolutely for Christ. According to God’s economy, there is no official, permanent, definite, or organizational leadership among His people.
In Paul’s list of the functions in the church in 1 Corinthians 12:28, he mentions helps and then administrations. Helps are the services of the deacons, and administrations are the functions of the elders. The order Paul uses is not according to our natural concept, which places the elders higher than the deacons. Paul may have purposely placed the helps of the deacons before the administrations of the elders to indicate that there is no rank among the functions in the church.
In the church Christ is the unique Leader. The elders are those who take the lead to set up an example. Furthermore, if we take Christ as our Head, we will surely obey the ones leading us. No wife who does not take Christ as her Head can obey her husband. The headship in our home should not be the husband. I am a husband, and in my home I never assume that I am the head. Instead, I always say, “Lord, You are the Head. You are the Head not only of my wife but also of me.” Because my wife also takes Christ as her Head, our home is full of obedience and submission.
Among many Christians today there is a worldly, natural concept concerning eldership. They consider eldership as kingship. Some Christians even misuse Brother Nee’s book Authority and Submission to set themselves up as kings and to make other believers their subjects. This is absolutely ugly. The eldership in the church is not a kind of leadership; it is simply to take the lead among the saints to set up an example. When all the other saints, taking Christ as their Head, obey and follow the elders, the church will be filled with proper submission and obedience, and there will be a beautiful order. We have only one leadership, the headship of Christ, yet the church life is full of obedience and submission.
Honoring the unique headship of Christ keeps us from hierarchy. There being no official, permanent, or unique leading one among the apostles or elders in the New Testament means that there was no hierarchy. This principle applies to the local churches as well—all are on the same level. According to God’s ordination, there is no such thing as a head church. Neither is there any rank among the churches. No matter how new or small a local church may be, it is on the same level as all the other churches. In the first century some considered Jerusalem to be the head church. This may have been part of the reason that God sent the Roman army under Titus to destroy Jerusalem. We should not consider any local church to be higher than others. In order to prevent His people from falling into hierarchy, God would not allow there to be a head church.
Just as we should not consider any church to be the head church, neither should we consider any man to be the leader of the Lord’s recovery. I am not the leader; I am only a bondslave of Christ ministering the word of God to His people. I do not have any authority in myself. Any authority in my speaking comes from the Word of God. When speaking points of the truth, we should not say, “Brother So-and-so says...” Instead, we should discern what is according to the Bible and say, “The Bible says...” We do not have any leader in the Lord’s recovery. This prevents hierarchy from coming in. If all the saints know and practice the truth, no one will have the freedom to claim to be a leader in the Lord’s recovery. We need to learn and practice the truth.