Bible references: Acts 14:21-25; Philippians 1:3-8; 1 Thessalonians 2:6-12; Numbers 33:50-54; 1 Chronicles 4:3-5.
On Day Five of the PPFC, our leader Brother Theodore Andoseh continued to expound on our critical need for more leaders at this juncture in our ministry. On Day Four, we were led to confront the fact that leadership is a factor of growth, and on Day Five, the teaching proceeded further to show us that Leadership is Responsibility; leadership is parental in nature.
The Consolidation of Growth
The need for a large army of (new) leaders is for the purpose of consolidating the growth that God has already given us and ensuring continuous and limitless growth. In the Acts of the Apostles, the pattern/strategy presents itself in how the Apostles went about their work of soul-winning and church planting. First, they preached the gospel and had many converts. Afterward, they returned as good parents to strengthen those converts. Beyond that, they raised leaders leading to a consolidation of the growth and further expansion.
In worldly systems, growth is managed by a sterile organisation including controls, systems, and structures. This approach is however limited to what is already in place or in existence. In other words, controls, systems, and structures are limited when it concerns continuous and unending growth. In the spiritual life, in order to guarantee limitless growth, God works with the organism of men; God raises people who carry responsibilities, that is, LEADERS!
God the Creator; God the Redeemer
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The population of the world has continued to increase regardless of diseases, catastrophes, natural disasters, etc. God populates the world simply by the matrix of relationships – children deposited into wombs through relationships and born into families. In other words, the world is populated by relationships and family units. This is how God the Creator works. He simply puts children into the hands of people who are in a relationship with one another and who then take responsibility for the children produced.
God the Redeemer works in the same way when it comes to growing and expanding the church. God does not send converts to buildings, put them in lists/registers, or place them in meetings. He puts them in the hearts of people who will carry them as their responsibility – just like children are placed in the lives of parents who assume responsibility for them.
Leadership is Parental
The Apostle Paul understood this method of God very well as revealed in Philippians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:6-8; and Galatians 4:19. He carried his people in his heart in prayer before God, like a High Priest in the Old Testament (Exodus 39&40) and like a parent. The person on whom God puts people as a responsibility is what we call a ‘leader’ in spiritual language.
According to ZTF, a leader is defined as the person who takes the blame, the person who is responsible, and the person who will answer/give account to God. Those are not holy words or platitudes. That is what he understood about leadership – you are the leader of the person for whom you take total responsibility.
Leadership is Parenthood
We need to raise leaders because God puts His children in the hearts of some who carry them as their responsibility just as He does it in nature with parents. God the Creator is not in contradiction with God the Redeemer. If someone has access to the heart of a spiritual parent, the person will abide. Many of us are abiding not because we were very zealous as young converts but because God put each of us in the heart of some leader. The true list of God’s children comprises those who are found in the hearts of those who are responsible for them – LEADERS!
Leadership Capacity
The potential of our ministry (CMFI) is determined by the carrying capacity of the existing leaders and by the number of people who can carry responsibilities. The extent of the ministry that you can carry is determined by or dependent on the extent of the people you have. Each one’s inheritance in our goal will depend on the people he has, and this is neither about appointments nor control.
In our context, those who understand this and what lies ahead of us would cherish their people more than gold, because, the extent of their future and relevance to our ministry depends on the people they have. We must therefore confront the work of Satan whereby we keep losing people while hanging on to positions or titles. Those who are only interested in positions impose themselves on others rather than building relationships of parenthood.
If I can carry 1,000 people and I am the only leader, then the maximum potential of our ministry would be 1,000. But if while I can carry 1,000 people, there are 100 others who can carry 100 people each, then our potential becomes 11,000 and so on. One is a number that is too small to be great by itself! According to God, if we want to increase our ministry, the number of those who carry responsibility must increase. Without this, we are at risk of diminishing and eventually, disappearing.
Our Need at this Time
We must be committed to our kingdom (ministry), and we must work intelligently rather than pursuing selfish ambitions. The desire to control more and more people, and to control more people than you can carry in your heart is not spiritual leadership, it is satanism! God’s plan is that we should be leaders who take care of those whom He has given us; we not only share the gospel with them, but also share our resources, and if necessary, even our lives, in order to carry the people that God has given to us.
In giving the assignment of World Conquest to ZTF, God expected that ZTF would have enough people to be able to carry the nations of the world. Preventing others from emerging into leadership is being Satan inside – you are an enemy of ZTF, an enemy of our vision, and you are not truly inside. We cannot expect to have a global ministry without having able men. It’s impossible! Our (ministry) goal is our own promised land and we need a large number of qualified leaders to emerge by taking responsibility in order for us to get there.
Amen!
