In the first part of this series of articles we saw that the Bible has s specific stand concerning leaders.  We also discussed the fact that one rotten apple is not sufficient reason to condemn all apple trees, and similarly one corrupt leader is not sufficient reason to condemn all Christian leaders.

God triune is The Ultimate Leader, of which the Bible renders proof of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being in leadership positions.

In many cases we have found that Christians, who were completely against leaders, were in fact very poor followers. In one of our other articles we explained how, to be a good leader, you have to be a good follower. The concept of leader and follower is finely intertwined. A leader that does not have a heart for his followers is a dictator. A follower who is not willing to submit to God-given leaders, will hardly ever develop into a good leader.

Here again, God sets the ultimate example in Jesus:

Philippians 2:5-10 AMP  Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:]  (6)  Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not [3] think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained,  (7)  But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.  (8)  And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!  (9)  Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,  (10)  That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

If Jesus was not prepared to surrender His Godly position, we would not have had a saviour. Therefore the Bible admonishes us to have the same attitude, purpose and humble mind. This was what made Jesus obedient right to the point where he sacrificed His life on our behalf, and offered his spirit to the Father.

Christians who do not want to follow Christian leaders usually have some form of corrupted frame of reference regarding leadership. Or, alternatively they have a frame of reference built around corrupt leaders. We must understand that being Christian leaders do not make us superhuman beings. Christian leaders are still ordinary humans with all the typical human problems and challenges.

But why do Christians need leaders?

Christians need leaders both for the spiritual side of Christianity, as discussed in the first article, and also for the functional side of their Christianity.

If we read the scriptures on ministries and gifts in Romans chapter 12, Second Corinthians chapter 12, and Ephesians chapter 4, we find that the Spirit endows every person with a specific gift or ministry, as He sees fit. I cannot choose my favourite ministry or gift. How eternally sensible it was of God not to allow us to choose our own Spiritual gifts and calling.

From experience I can tell that most Christians would have chosen a power ministry, with healing powers. This is not because they have hearts for the suffering of others, but mostly because they want to be ‘powerful'. A close runner up to the powerful healing ministry would probably be exhortation. There are many Christians that are more attentive to the faults and imperfections of others, than what they are of their own life.

These ‘exhorters' want to rebuke everybody but themselves. They are the finger pointers, highlighting everybody else's imperfections. If however you should make the mistake of drawing their attention to their own imperfections, you are making an enemy for life.

This is in fact how many of these ‘holy leaderless' Christian groups came into existence. I know more than one of those that were formed by frustrated Christians who broke away from regular ministries because the Pastor had the audacity to admonish ‘brother perfect' because of something he did wrong. Right there and then ‘brother perfect' decided to start his own show, where nobody will admonish him again, and where he will have the right to exhort everybody else.

The wise author of the book of Ecclesiastics already said the following hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus: Ecclesiastes 1:9 AMP  The thing that has been--it is what will be again, and that which has been done is that which will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.

This is so very true about many issues of life. In the time of the Judges of Israel, before the kings were appointed, God had implemented a system where He was in control, and managed everything through prophets, priests and judges. But, as it goes, the prophets started prophesying for money, and the priests and judges conveniently looked the other way when things went wrong. Eventually the following scenario played off:

There was no king in Israel at that time; everyone did whatever they wanted. (Judges 17:6 GNB)

Everybody did whatever they wanted. In the context of this article, some Christians do not want leaders appointed, because they want to do whatever they want.   

The irony is that in the case of several such leaderless groups, experience showed that the moment things went wrong, they wanted to have somebody to blame, but there was no-one. The very next step was to appoint a leader.

Although they did not intend to follow the leader, at least they had someone to blame.