It is a matter of history that much of the development of Britain came from the Roman Church. Early into the second millennium these Islands became a vassal of the Holy Roman Church. A vassal is a nation who are allowed to conduct themselves with their own character and tradition yet be firmly under the control of the powerful force over them. An example was in Jesus time when the Romans were in the lands. The nation kept its general modus operandi, yet, it was under the iron fist of Rome. A basic bible course would speak of the 'pax romana' the 'Roman peace' that occurred because of their presence but it was always under the threat of being nailed to a tree for defying their statutes.
The influence of the Holy Roman Church however was not all negative. Britain developed in many ways and the foundations of what Rome called 'greatness' was sown into the culture, character and practices of the nation. Make no mistake, the reason we are in the position we are in on a global scale is founded on the influence of Rome! In the construction of a nation there were obvious problems. Because Rome was a form of Godliness but nullified by ritual and sacrament, God was unable to work through people. This led to The Dark Ages and these times were horrific for the common man. It was at this time that leadership developed. It primarily developed in the Monarchy and churches. It is no coincidence that after the Reformation, incredible leaps of progress were experienced (and still are) because people were incrementally becoming more free to contribute and the overarching influence of Rome was opposed. God can work through people now the oppression of the Church was lifted.
Leadership works by replicating the way someone leads. If Henry the Eighth, for example, wanted a subordinate rank of leaders, he would bestow upon them his powers. This means that Henry would replicate his leadership to others. They would then do likewise, bestowing their powers to others. In the dark Ages the only form of societal rank anyone would get was by being part of the dynasties of influence in the land. That, or be connected to The Holy Roman Church. Of course you always have the 'peasants' who aspired to become, not because of personal sense of achievement and notoriety, but the way you rose through society directly affected personal wealth and the ability to eat, drink and live securely. So rising in status, profile and notoriety was encouraged and it was how society worked. It is in this system we find a present day problem in the way people lead, especially in Church.
Britain's interaction with the Holy Roman Church has dictated a way to lead and practice leadership. To examine this we need to expose the mindset of the Papal role. The Pope is the 'papa,' the Father of Roman Catholics. The fundamental confusion is over the following text:
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[b] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[c] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[d] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Catholics see Peter rise from among the disciples and see him as leader. They take the above passage to mean that Jesus was saying on the man, Peter, Jesus will build his church. Except... Jesus was saying that 'based upon the revelation of this truth, Peter, I will build my church.' So if a man has been bestowed the type of leadership Jesus has over people then all authority, power and glory has been passed on! The Papal succession then, assumes it has the ability to work beyond the Bible, and assumes authority over people and even nations. It is what leadership means that is still strongly prevalent in our western cultures. Through the history of Britian, through Popes, Kings and Nobility these elements have become institutional givens in our society of leadership:
- authority over people
- superiority
- elitism
- rank
- 'protect the realm'
- the right to dispense justice
- the right to create legislation
- the right to be right without question
Leadership has authority but it is among people not over people. Jesus was clear about this to the sons of thunder in Mark 10. Brothers and sisters are not superior or inferior, have no rank or elitism.. we are family! The new 'protect the realm' is when 'vision' is 'my way or the highway.' To be clear: these qualities have been central to the development of the nation for in industry, to get people to produce. But the church is not about production it is about being. Today our Monarchy dispenses its will through Parliament and you and I unquestionably carry out this will! Think about it.... since school it has been taught and we practice things that came from where?
All the countries that have subsequently been invaded by, discovered by, or whose constitution has been replicated on Britain, are all affected by this scourge of church leadership. There are degrees by which westerners work in the way described above and common sense says that we cant be dictators. While some do dictate, many are wanting to find a way where we can be family, abide in Christ and even be salt and light to this world. My hope is the insight into how we lead can inform us and allow us to identify what it is in our leadership practice that makes us do what we do. The problem is that all the above attributes of leadership directly appeal to the flesh in such a powerful way, the Christian will fight tooth and nail to protect it.
The problem with our sinful condition is that we replicate the pride that was found in the heart of Lucifer. Our flesh is yet unredeemed and it wars against the Christian's redeemed spirit, the battlefield being the mind. In our flesh we want to be in charge, superior, elite, the decision maker, the one to set the pace, cadence and attributes of other's comings and goings. We want to control, make the rules, be over. Every Christian on planet earth is either on a journey to realising this, knows this and it isn't as important as 'leading' or is doing everything possible in partnership with God to live opposite to this.
The good news is that people can lead and this be less a problem. However, to eliminate all the things that support this problem in leadership we need to address the environment of leadership in church. This is a vast subject and involves de-constructing the special halls, special titles, special rituals that even the forward thinking warehouse churches have. Then the difficult part is truly hating that which will strive to be over, superior, ranked etc over others. Choosing to be servants of others as a lifestyle means living opposite to the lust of the flesh for power and the culture of the nation we live in. Turning this around, I believe, is a key to God's future for the western world. If we cannot live beyond self, we will sentence our children and theirs to a downward spiral of a disintegrating empire.
Not on my shift!
