Reaching the UnreachedAn annual conference for churches trying to reach out in the hard places of our land

A couple of weeks ago I went to Birmingham and sat in a sweaty little room full of church planters and gospel practitioners (many of whom are listed as authors down the right hand side of this page!) We were there to drink coffee, eat mini muffins and chat about the challenges that are faced by those who are involved in planting churches on council estates and communities around the UK that are socially deprived and culturally alien to the established church. With literally 5 minutes left on the clock a HUGE issue was raised that we didn’t have a chance to discuss at any length, but that has been on my mind ever since.

The issue is that of leadership.

While it’s probably fair to say that there is a genuine lack of good quality, godly leadership across the board in the UK church at present, it would seem that the problem is far more extreme in these more challenging areas. This was highlighted when I asked this question:

“How many of your leaders have come from the community you’re trying to reach, and how many have you had to bring in from outside?”

Incredibly, every single person (including me) had to admit that their leadership was made up of godly men and women who had sacrificially come to serve from outside the area. I’m sure that there are exceptions to the rule out there, but the stark nature of the leadership challenge that confronts us as churches in these already demanding contexts is as blatant as it is urgent.

Perhaps the first question that needs to be asked is ‘why?’

Some might say it’s due to the apparent biblical illiteracy that is rife in these areas. You can hardly have a leader who doesn’t understand the basics of the gospel or have a strong grasp of the Bible story.

Others might suggest that character is the real issue and that in our toughest communities, where addiction, aggression, lust and lawlessness are rampant, there are very few men who measure up to the leadership criteria laid out in Scripture.

Still others might point to a lack of aspiration. Label a community as hopeless and useless for long enough and the people will start to wear the tag and live up to the reputation. Why would they aspire to be elders and leaders when they’ve never been encouraged to aspire to anything?So many approach life with the attitude that “this is how it is, this is how it always has been and this is how it always will be! Nothing and no one amounts to anything from these parts – why should I be any different?”

Whatever the reasons, the crisis is very real and it must be addressed if authentic churches are to be planted and rooted in these communities.

In Titus 1v5, the apostle Paul commands Titus to “appoint elders in every town”.

He makes it sound so simple!

In reality, however, it is far from simple – so how the dickens do you do it?

I guess this is the bit where I have to hold my hands up and confess ‘I really don’t know!’ Truth is I’m still really new to this gig and, while I’m passionate about seeing strong, godly leaders raised up from within the marginalised community I love and serve, I have yet to see my dreams become reality. But I aint giving up hope! Here’s one of the verses that I’m clinging to…

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts4v13)

I love this account of the impression that Peter and John (fully tanked-up on the Holy Spirit) made on the so-called religious leaders of the day. It’s important to remember that, while these guys went on to write books of the Bible, their roots were inescapably raw! They were a pair of common fishermen – uneducated and untrained, yet Scripture records that they were astonishing leaders!!

That gives me hope.

So how did they become who they became? For what it’s worth, here’s a couple of things that I believe are significant and worthy of our consideration:

They had been with Jesus – This is  massive statement! Both these guys had been hand-picked by Jesus (Matthew 4v18-22) and had been with Him ever since, sharing life, love and laughter together. They had learned from His teaching, witnessed His miracles, been trusted with responsibility, failed Him miserably and received grace when they did.

They were Spirit-filled – Only a short while before, Peter and John were not bold and they were not astonishing! On the contrary, along with the other disciples they had failed Him and fled. So what had changed for them? Firstly, they had seen Him keep His promise to endure the cross and beat death. Furthermore, they had received the immense gift that He had promised them before returning to glory – the Holy Spirit! (Acts 2) After being filled with life-giving, power-infusing Spirit of God – these men had been transformed forever. They were now ready to lead!

So what does all this mean for us in our quest to raise up leaders in our contexts today? Here’s 10 practical suggestions to think through:

1. We need to be praying faith-filled prayers that God can and will raise up leaders from our communities. If He can use Peter, John and Levi – He can use anybody! In your community, who’s the most messed-up, most notorious, most unlikely guy to ever get saved, let alone become a church leader? Why not commit to praying for them until that miracle happens!

2. We need to view our people through the lens of faith, not the lens of human reason. Just because they might not make the cut in the posh Anglican church down the road, who’s to say that they’re not God’s people to lead in your context? Is there anyone in your congregation right now that is beyond being set apart and used by God as a leader? NO! We need adjust our prayer-lives accordingly.

3. We need to be in this for the long haul. Jesus spent three intensive years training His disciples. If we’re going to believe that leaders can be home-grown in these areas, we need to be willing to count the cost and go the distance with them!

4. We need to do micro as well as macro. Jesus drew massive crowds, yet was willing to spend the majority of time with just 12 ruffneck disciples. Are we willing to do the same? Raising leaders takes more than inspiring words on a Sunday, it involves putting in the hard yards behind the scenes with small groups and individuals.

5. We need to encourage our people towards leadership through intentional teaching and discipleship.

6. We need to share life with our people, teaching them leadership through the example of our lives as well as our ministry.

7. We need to create leadership opportunities. It’s not all about a direct leap from membership to eldership. Are there areas of responsibility that we can release people into that will set them in the right direction e.g. putting them on the refreshments rota or asking them to host (not necessarily lead) a Bible study.

8. We need to give people grace when they fail - and they will fail!! We need to ensure that our churches process and address failure like Jesus did, as opposed to how the streets do or how religious hypocrites do.

9. We need to lead in the light and hope of the resurrection. If Christ can be raised from the grave, surely leaders can be raised from our estates!

10. We need to plead with God for the Holy Spirit to empower and envision both ourselves and our people. Cultivating strong, God-honouring leaders from the raw material with which we’re working is the only way to see authentic churches planted and established in the communities we’re serving. We need to be humble enough to acknowledge that we don’t have what it takes and allow the Holy Spirit to invade our lives and churches in order to accomplish what only He can do!