The Timothy Conference

T H E T I M O T H Y C O N F E R E N C E

C. What is the relationship between assuming leadership and creating consensus in your leading of a church plant team?

1. The church plant team leader challenges her/his team and others to follow her/him as s/he follows Christ.

(1 Corinthians 11.1, ESV) Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

2. The church plant team leader must live by his/her conviction under the direction of the Lord Jesus , not by the opinions, whims, and threats of others.

(Galatians 1.10-12, ESV) For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. [11] For I would have you know, brothers, that the Gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. [12] For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

3. As a creator of community, however, the apostolic church plant team leader seeks to help each member identify their gifts, discover their burdens, and utilize their resources to contribute to the planting of a healthy assembly of disciples .

(Ephesians 4.11-16, ESV) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, [12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, [14] so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. [15] Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Romans 12.4-8, ESV) For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, [5] so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. [6] Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; [7] if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; [8] the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

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