More Leaders Please

As we continue looking at the early days of the Church in the book of Acts, we see an important & probably awkward conversation take place in Acts 1. Peter stood up & pointed out an important issue that needed to be dealt with as they prepared for what God was going to do. They had to deal with a leadership vacancy created by that guy Judas that nobody really wanted to talk about. Judas was sort of the black eye of the group. He was the colossal failure that nobody in the church really wanted to bring up, but it had to be deal with. Peter understood that this created a leadership need that had to be dealt with, & the way Peter led the Church through that issue is amazing, especially when you consider that it was Peter. He used godly, scriptural based wisdom to lay out the need to replace Judas, the qualifications for the replacement, & the process by which the replacement would be chosen.

Coincidentally, this seems to be the last piece of the preparation puzzle for the Church before the Holy Spirit comes in Acts 2. However, this wasn't the last leadership issue that the Church would deal with. In Acts 6 the Church faces its first big controversy. The amazing thing is that the problem that arose came about because of the radical growth of new believers & disciples. The Church simply couldn't keep up organizationally. Therefore, there were people in need who weren't being ministered to because the Church was simply overwhelmed. Again Peter & the apostles masterfully lead God's people to a solution. And the solution wasn't for the leaders to do more; it was to have more leaders. Peter & the apostles had a specific call & ministry, & it wouldn't have been appropriate for them to neglect that calling in order to directly deal with this issue. Instead, more leaders needed to be set aside to handle this particular ministry. The result of this is seen in Acts 6:7 as even more people came to faith in Jesus, even Jewish priests serving at the Temple. These events teach us an important truth about the movement called Christianity.

"Growing Godly Leadership Is Vital To 

The Continued Growth Of The Movement Of Jesus."

No congregation on earth is exempt from this truth. In order for the Gospel to continue advancing & for more & more people to grow as disciples, more & more people must step up & lead. We all have influence. Therefore, we are all leaders, & as followers of Jesus we're called to use that influence to continually lead people to Jesus. Whether we're leading them toward saving faith or deepening faith, we're called to point people toward faith in Jesus. The only question is whether we are or not. For some of us this leadership will mean taking on an official role in your local congregation. For others it simply means taking advantage of the opportunities you have to lead people toward Jesus. Ask yourself these questions, "Who can I lead?" & "How can I lead them?" What can you begin to do to sow the Gospel into the lives of those you influence everyday? How you leverage that influence is absolutely essential & vital to the continued growth of this movement that Jesus launched 2000 years ago.