Practicing Christian Leadership, Mentor's Guide, MG11

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P R A C T I C I N G C H R I S T I A N L E A D E R S H I P

The practicing Christian leader is one who challenges the people of God to remain faithful in their discipleship in Jesus Christ by exhorting them for the purpose of edification. Godly exhortation is backed up by personal example, given with grace, built on the foundation of Christ and Scripture, and is informed by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. While our position before the Lord (our standing) is secure due to our faith in Christ, our daily walk with him and others (our state) is subject to change and our obedience to God; we must be willing to be taught so our state may line up in our conduct with our high standing in Christ. We must avoid the problems associated with poor exhortation, the problems of pride, micro-management, and legalism. The Christian leader is charged with guiding the process to discipline a backsliden or estranged member of God’s people for the purpose of restoring them to full fellowship. Discipline is God’s way to protect his people and restore the fallen to full fellowship, and should never be done to shame, condemn, or impose guilt on others. Condemnation has no connection to discipline; discipline has to do with restoring a Christian to the Lord and the Church whose condition or state has momentarily fallen into sin. Discipline is given to the Church to prevent sin from occurring, to correct a problem that already exists, to vindicate openly a person accused wrongly of an act, and to instruct the Church in God’s standard of holiness. Matt. 18 provides a clear outline of the procedure that believers ought to take when confronted with a situation that requires attention (i.e., where sound doctrine must be defended, where Christian holiness must be upheld, and the integrity of Christ demonstrated). In exercising spiritual discipline, we must be ever vigilant against our own pride and judgmentalism, the need to verify all accusations in the mouths of two or three witnesses, and the need to exercise pastoral authority in severe cases.

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