This is a Principle that many miss or struggle with, it is the Principle of CONNECTION! In the gospels Jesus continually gave reference that He was in the Father and the Father in Him. He also mentions that He was not here on his own accord but was sent by his Father and that the authority he possesed was from above. In John 10:37 he even goes on to state, “Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.” Now that’s Connection!
So many in Christendom struggle because they have not come to the reality of this principle in their lives. This is especially true for those desiring or in Christian leadership. Very simply put we must come under the authority of the leadership of the church; God has divinely called and appointed the pastor and his wife to lead and build the church. God places His Vision in the couple and gives them authority to build the church in the city to meet the needs of the city. As leaders in the church we must connect with our pastors in order to receive, know and learn to transmit the vision.
There are occasions when individuals are unwilling to learn from the pastors; they love the vision but have a hard time with learning. The reason is because learning has to do with correction and many refuse to be corrected. In order for a leader in the church to be EFFECTIVE and not INFECTIVE, they need to submit to the Vision of the house. If not then they can infect others with wrong attitudes, methods and schools of thought that is not in unity with the vision & leadership style of the pastor whom God called for that particular church. If the individual does not submit to the vision of the house, then in most cases the individual becomes embittered. It’s not uncommon for these individuals to become Critical, Divisive, Gossipers and even Envious towards the pastors. In this scenario the individual either needs a Holy Spirit breakthrough or find another church were they can grow. The reason being is that once an individual becomes critical of their leader, they lose respect for them, which now makes it hard for them to receive from them, so they are not being spiritually nourished any longer and need to go where they can be spiritually fed.
We must understand that God has planted us right where He wants us and that it is part of His plan for us to learn, grow and work in the church where He has us. God provides Provisions, Blessings and Resources to accomplish His Vision in the church, so when we plug into or Connect with the vision/leadership then those Provisions, Blessings and Resources flow on down to us in order for us to do our part in building his church.
The Anointing comes from spent time with God and from being Under Authority. Much of our success is dependant on our ability to Connect and stay Connected to our Spiritual Leaders. Let’s not make the same mistake Miriam Moses’ sister made when she began to question her leader! God had to chastise her; the reason was because she was really questioning God’s Decision to make Moses leader. The result was she had to be cut off from the congregation for a season; when we do this we also cut ourselves off from the leadership, congregation and most severely God’s Blessing.
So what does being Connected mean?
1. Being Accountable: Jn.7:18
- Jesus did nothing of his own accord, but was sent with specific orders from his Father.
- Accountability protects you from the temptation of the enemy to act on your own or lean on your own understanding.
- Christian leaders should be accountable to their leaders/pastors with their marriage, family, ministry & personal life.
- Accountability is not Control!
2. Being Open to Learn from your Leaders
- Simply put, Can your Leaders speak into your life? Can they Correct you? Can they Lead you?
- I may have a knowledge to do something, but it may not be according to the plan God gave my leader. So I need to learn how to do it their way!
- When God chose your leader He knew their exact personality, gifting and abilities. These will result in his/her leadership style; each pastor will have their own leadership style. Connecting is important so you can learn their leadership style. Paul said of Timothy, that he was like minded. Paul stated that sending Timothy was like Paul being there himself. Over the years of mentoring, Timothy learned Paul’s Style of ministry & leadership to the point that Paul could now trust Timothy to make decisions because He knew that he had learned to value what Paul valued.
3. Being Sincerely in Prayer for your Leaders
- We usually develop a burden for the things & people we pray for; in other word develop a heart for them.
- It’s in prayer that we truly make a Spiritual Connection with our Pastors. A pastor’s heart beats for the vision of God, and when you catch your
pastors heart you will discover Gods heart for the church.
Maybe you have been hurt in ministry and are very reluctant even against Connecting with your spiritual leader, unless you do it will be difficult to find and fulfill your God-given purpose. It will take great humility and determination, i have been there before! Get Connected!
sometimes i ask my self am i being accountable enough?do i really have the vision?(i am learning the vision still.) Is this what the pastor wants? The correction and the accountability factor they go hand in hand. Because when i am trying to make the connection by being accountable i might get corrected for what im being accountable with. But i can understand we cant have one without the other. It all goes back to letting the leader speak into your life. i can see that its hard to learn without being corrected.
Good conclusion. I’ve learned that when it comes to being accountable, we must learn to be accountable at times BEFORE we do something, WHEN we do something and AFTER we do something. Today people are afraid to get corrected, but correction is exactly that; correcting something we did wrong. If any one desires to grow or leadership then correction is necessary.