I ran across this article in Leadership Journal entitle Three Over-looked Leadership Roles by Alan Hirsch. In it, he chronicles the rise of the shepherd (pastor) and teacher roles in the church today and the loss of the apostle, prophet, and evangelist roles in the church.
We needed a new type of leadership, one with the courage to question the status quo, to dream of new possibilities, and to innovate new ways of being the people of God in a post-Christian culture. We needed missionaries to the West, but our seminaries were not producing them. If we take the five categories of church leadership from Ephesians 4:11, they were training leaders to be teachers and pastors for established congregations, but where were the evangelists, the prophets, and the apostles to lead the mission of the gospel into the world?
I have contended for a number of years that the healthy church model is to have each of the 5 ministry offices in place in each local church, or if that is not possible to be in relationship with women and men who will partner to act in that role in that particular local church.
It doesn't make sense to follow the CEO model or the "charismatic leader" model. There needs to be a team in place (full-time/part-time, paid/volunteer) that work together to see that God's plan is implemented for that local expression of Christ.
So, who is (or is not) in your leadership team?
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