Church Leadership

Exodus 18 brings us into the topic of leadership in Christ’s Church.
“In evangelical circles today we are witnessing the abuse of ecclesiastical
authority in two directions. There is, on the one hand, an abdication of
church authority by some. Confronted with the individualistic, anti-law
spirit of our time, cowardly church officers refuse to exercise the biblical
oversight entrusted to them by Christ. In many circles authoritative preaching
and corrective church discipline are conspicuously absent. Equally dangerous,
however, is the tendency by others to overreact against such laxity.
Church leaders lose sight of the fine line between the virtue of biblical
counsel and guidance and the vice of usurping control over the conscience.
. . . Counsel becomes control, control becomes coercion, and coercion
becomes tyranny over the conscience.” –Roger Beardmore