The Path of Power in the Church
One of the most influential books on my life in the past year has been The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel. The tagline of the book reads, “Searching for Jesus’ path of power in a church that has abandoned it.” Provocative line. The book is trying to bring attention to the way power can be misunderstood and misused by the followers of Christ instead of being used to glorify God and be a blessing to the world. Here is an extended quote to give you a taste of the primary message.
“Power is the capacity to affect reality. We human beings have the capacity to physically, emotionally, and spiritually influence the world around us. God has given us this capacity for good—to glorify him and bless the world. But as Christians, our primary interest is not simply in affecting reality. Our primary interest is to bear fruit of the kingdom—the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). We were not created to pursue power as an end in itself, but rather to pursue God, the powerful one, and abide in his power to bless the world. But because of our sin, our ability to use power is disordered and is damaging the world around us. Just as Adam and Eve grasped for power apart from God, so do we. Just as Cain wielded his power to destroy his perceived competition, so do we. A way of power exists that is evil, false, and ugly. After the fall, two ways of power are always before us. Even those of us who are followers of Jesus will be tempted to embrace the sinful way of power rather than the way of power embodied on the cross. We may happily receive the good news of Jesus’ cross, but we often shy away from his call to pick up our own.”
Can we process through this together?
We need to start seeing power as something that can be a source of blessing if used correctly, but it can destroy if used incorrectly for our own desires. Sexual desires and money are similar entities in the Kingdom of God. God has created us with sexual desires. They are a blessing if kept within the context of marriage, but destructive if used indiscriminately to fulfill our desires. Money is a provision from God and should be stewarded carefully to provide for yourself, give to the Kingdom of God, and live a life of generosity. The Bible also warns that the love of money is the root of all evil.
This is the problem: the church has spent an inordinate amount of time discussing biblical sexuality and financial stewardship, but we rarely talk about power. People step into roles of leadership without any conversation about the stewardship of power. We should not be surprised by the slew of abuses of power that we see all over the Kingdom of God.
In marriage.
In ministry leadership.
In parenting.
In workplaces.
We need to promote conversations about right biblical stewardship of power. We need to think about how we are stewarding power. You have power just because you are alive. Your life will impact others positively or negatively. If your faith is in Christ, then you also have the Holy Spirit in your heart…more access to power. How are you going to steward it?
Start with this question: is my use of power marked by the fruits of the Spirit? Are you trying to exert power or is it flowing from regular encounters with God and His Word? Are you using your power to lead people to follow Christ or follow you? Do people follow you because you intimidate them or because you woo them with the redemption found in the Gospel? Ask these questions to help you wisely steward the places where you have power.
After reading this book, I contacted Jamin, one of the authors. In our conversation, he said that one of the purposes of the book was to start conversations among ministry leaders to bring attention to right ways to steward power to help us avoid the tragic abuses of power. This is my attempt to join the authors in challenging the church to steward power in a way that glorifies God and blesses the world.