NEW LEADERS / OLD LEADERS
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
"strong" in regard to "New Leaders / Old leaders". And it is
certainly true that there must be SOME and hopefully quite
a number of leaders from the existing order who will make it
into the new move of God. I certainly believe this. However,
it is clear from history that with a true "Reformation", the
number of old-order leaders who make it can be very few.
In the first Great Awakening, the great Revivalist John
Wesley was so generally rejected and despised by the
church that the doors of the entire Church of England
NATIONWIDE were closed to him. Thus he had to begin
his own movement, and very few English priests came
into Revival. However, in America during the same
Awakening, there were some existing leaders who were
greatly used of God - though still there were many who
opposed and missed out.
This same pattern has been seen with every Revival -
particularly those Revivals that had a strong touch of
"Reformation" about them. Thus were Finney and Booth
and Luther treated very much the same way by the
church in their day. Many existing leaders rejected these
Reformers and therefore missed out on the Revival. The
greatest happening of God in their generation - and they
missed it. Because it challenged and threatened much
that they had built and grown comfortable with. Let today's
leadership beware!
Below is an interesting email with a slightly different
viewpoint regarding this "New Leaders/ Old leaders" debate:
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From: "Dean Comerford" <deano@otatarachurch.co.nz>
Date sent: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 10:04:42 +1300
While I am confident that the church has many leaders who
like Saul will be/have been overlooked by God because of
their failure to lead the church into God's purposes, I am
equally convinced that many current leaders of the old will
successfully make the transition to the new - even if that
transition (as David Orton noted) requires them to go through
something that is better than the old, but not yet fully aware
of the new....
New reformation is about a mindset. God does not have to
replace old leaders with new - he merely has to replace an
old mindset or spirit, with a new one. Yes, many will fail to
make the transition, and like Saul they will be overlooked
and moved aside. But we must not fall into the trap of
demonising people in the process of birthing something
new. Not every leader in a traditional model of church
has failed God. Not every leader has failed to perceive the new.
Furthermore, the ability to transition will have little to do
with age - there are many older leaders who get it and many
younger ones who don't.
We are looking for a mindset change, not a personnel
change. And while many will miss the boat, many others
won't - they will be the Luther's of a new generation, used of
God to usher in a new form of church. And many of them
may even been encouraged and mentored by some who
just don't feel they can be part of the new, but feel called to
remain part of the old, but will honour God all the same,
even in this seemingly poor choice. That's because,
despite the decaying structure they serve, their heart is
pure before God and the church they see when they
worship God is one vastly different than the church they
are worshipping in.
-Dean Comerford
deano@maxnet.co.nz
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