You have not visited this chapter.
Search for:

Strategy and Tactics

The reason that the Roman army was so successful is that it had men like the centurion. It had a top-down command structure, and it relied on its junior officers carrying out the orders they received promptly, energetically, intelligently but without question; never trying to second-guess the wisdom of their commanding officers. Jesus needs an army of people like the centurion, ready at any time to jump into action on hearing a word from the Master.

The Ten Commandments are the cornerstone of the Old Covenant. They are all negative except one, they tell us what not to do. The Old Covenant came before the New, which means that we may need to stop doing certain things before we discover what it is that God is calling us to do.

The centurion’s understanding of Jesus’ power starts with the words: “For I myself am a man under authority…” (Luke 7:8). His experience and training meant that he knew the difference between strategy and tactics. He knew that strategy for the army of occupation was something he needed to leave to those further up the chain of command, his job was always to make happen what the strategists had decided was the best course of action. In the Roman Army it would have been pointless (and probably very unwise) to question the orders he received, he just needed to put them into action intelligently, using the resources at his disposal. It was very important that he had a clear, trusted channel of communication with his immediate superior, and he was not to try to work out his own strategy in any situation he encountered.

Jesus only spoke once, in any significant way, about the church.

“…And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, …” (Matthew 16:18)

It is so important to realise that:

The reason that Jesus so commended Peter was that he had believed (and spoken out) the words of a revelation that he had received from the Father.
Jesus did not tell Peter to build his (Jesus’) church, but that he would do it himself; he would retain strategic control, Peter, and people like him, were to be the material from which the church would be constructed.

As Peter himself reflected later to all church members:

…you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)

Thus it is clear that Jesus never means to relinquish control over his Body. Church ‘leaders’, down the centuries, by their strategic schemes for the part of the world-wide church under their ‘control’, have repeatedly got in Jesus’ way.

Operation Overlord was the code name given to the invasion of the continent of Europe through the beaches of Normandy in 1944. This was the greatest seaborne military operation in history and its success was critically dependent on General Eisenhower’s plans, but also that each battalion, company, platoon, etc. knew exactly what they had been ordered to do. It did not matter that they had no sight of the overall scheme, or even what other battalions, companies or platoons might be doing. In fact, their ignorance was a strategic advantage: it was more likely that the enemy could be kept in the dark. More importantly, there was some assurance that local commanders would not ‘mess things up’ by re-thinking (with the best possible motives) the Commander-in-Chief’s plans. Church history shows us that this is exactly what has happened in every branch of the church militant. Debates between and within denominations are often about who has the best strategy to advance the Kingdom of God). For example, Liberals say the church should fit into the way the world works to make itself acceptable. Evangelical Conservatives say the church should directly apply the words of the Bible according to a carefully chosen interpretive strategy. Catholics and Orthodox churches provide a human hierarchy and a set of doctrines and traditions that do not change (or only very slowly). This situation is similar to what was happing in occupied France before the D-Day landings. The French Resistance put up a brave fight, but as a collection of guerrilla fighters, they were never going to defeat their enemy and regain their land.

The Father cannot delegate the strategic control of the defeat of humankind’s enemy to anyone except the Son. As Lord Acton wrote, ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ Even the best among us cannot be trusted with this kind of power. This is why institutional church structures that have abundant power in human terms seem, spiritually, to be almost powerless.

It is said that the theologian Thomas Aquinas…once called on Pope Innocent II when the latter was counting out a large sum of money. The Pope remarked, “You see, Thomas, the church can no longer say, Silver and gold have I none”. Aquinas replied, “True, holy father, but neither can she now say, “Rise and walk”.^[18]

The New Testament is clear that local churches do need people within them that are willing to carry extra responsibility that we call church ‘leaders’; but it is clear that if these people attempt to direct the church strategically, they will be a hindrance rather than a help to the Leader.

Nor should you be called ‘Leader’, because your one and only leader is the Messiah. (Matthew 23:10 GNB)

My reading of the New Testament leads to the conclusion that there should be two groups of people in each local church who are given oversight roles. These two groups are identified in the Jerusalem local church in Acts 15; they wrote a joint letter to churches in Asia:

‘…The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings…’ (Acts 15:23)

Under the general term ‘elder’, we can include these titles (variously translated): ‘overseer’ (‘bishop’), ‘elder’ (‘presbyter’), ‘minister’ (‘deacon’). These individuals are called out of a local congregation and have their origin in the calling out of the seven in Acts 6:

The Twelve said, “…Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them…” (Acts 6:3)

It would be a mistake to characterize or limit their duties as ‘secular’ or ‘temporal’, but it is clear that the elders are meant to take on day-to-day responsibilities in the church body.

The other group identified in Acts 15 are the apostles. There are many theories about who should be thought of as an apostle today, or even whether the role has completely disappeared. Ephesians 4 gives us a starting point:

It was Jesus who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

Jesus is calling people to whom he has given gifts to stand up for him, and use those gifts in combination with others for the purposes identified by Paul in this passage. This is an area where real spiritual discernment is needed; each local church needs to identify gifted individuals and place them in some kind of apostolic team, to help them to exercise their gifts and to allow them to minister to the rest of the Body. The five-fold gifts can be identified by reference to a number of Bible passages, but here are a few pointers:

Apostles: Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, shows an apostle’s primary purpose is to discern Jesus’ revelations to his Body through the actions of the Holy Spirit, and to relate them to revelation already received. The Day of Pentecost is a wonderful example as Peter saw what the Holy Spirit was doing there and then, and had sufficient knowledge of the Scriptures to go to the Prophet Joel and say “this is that” (Acts 2:16 AV). He could explain to the people, by using the Bible, the purposes and effects of God’s actions, and he could help them see what their response needed to be.
Prophets: God raises up individuals who have a particular gift of receiving and speaking out his direct revelations, which need to be tested and applied (by the apostles, etc.).
Evangelists: Every church needs individuals who have been given a burden for those outside the body.
Pastors: Similarly, we need people whose gifting turns their thoughts, words and actions towards the needs of those within the fellowship.
Teachers: Finally, the team needs individuals whose giftings lead them to ensure that the body has a sound understanding of the eternal truths revealed in the Bible.

Therefore…

Each local church needs two ‘leadership’ teams: Eldership and Apostolic. Many denominations have structures that correspond with the first: Church Councils, Churchwardens, Deacons, Boards, Trustees, etc. who correspond to the ‘seven’ called out in Acts 6:3. The use of a democratic process in choosing the members of a church eldership is supported by the Apostles’ command for the seven to be chosen by the people.

The second team is even more essential in that each church needs a group whose sole function is to hear the voice of the Master and to apply what he says corporately (i.e. to the Body).

My own experience of this came suddenly when I believe God gave me five names to form the first Apostolic Team for Holy Trinity Church. When I stood back and reflected on these five individuals, I realised that he had picked out the five who were most gifted in these roles. God will probably find a different route to make his choices clear in your church, but we need to give him the room to allow this to happen.

A church needs to exercise the gift of discernment to assure itself that it really is hearing Jesus’ heart for their fellowship, and look for positive confirmation for the members of the Team. In Holy Trinity Church, it happened like this. We already had a ‘Local Ministry Team’ which had been set up under a scheme promoted by our Diocese, which involved the congregation casting votes. The way this election worked was that the electorate wrote the names of those they wished to vote for on ballot papers that were counted in secret. The six that had the most votes were then asked confidentially whether they wished to serve, if they declined, this was not disclosed to anyone else. Whenever we went through the election process, one name would always be first or second: Geoff Cox, who was our most gifted pastor, but Geoff always refused to join the Local Ministry Team. However, when I explained to Geoff that God had given me his name, he readily accepted the invitation to join the Apostolic Team – I could rely on this godly man’s discernment to know the difference between a decision made by a body of people and the Head’s choice.

The two teams need to work together; I believe they will usually have some members in common. The Apostolic Team should be single-minded in seeking to know Jesus’ heart and straining to fulfil his commands. Both teams must avoid trying to be strategic, they can be inspired by other churches and ministries, but they do not need to copy anyone outside the pages of the Bible.

In Chapter 7 we will look at the concept of organic church; that is an organism that lives from the life of Christ within it, rather an organisation that exists because of an externally-defined framework. It is possible to argue that the leadership structures adopted by most churches (denominational or independent) are incompatible with the concept of organic church. At first glance, and even after careful study, it looks like it is impossible to fit an organism into an organisation. However, our experience at Holy Trinity Church has led us to the conclusion that transformation is possible if the church is willing to let go of some aspects of its life and worship, including things that some parts of its organisation believe are essential.

Things started for us with a prophetic word, “Jesus wants to lead his church directly”. It was clear that the organisational leadership was going to have to give up some of the control of the Body, to allow the nerve signals from the Head to flow to each member. As with everything else in the process of transformation that we experienced, we found that Jesus led us step by step along a path that allowed those of us in ‘leadership’ progressively to relinquish control; but we never had a sense that the church was rudderless.

I can speak of my own experience in this process, although it should be clear by now that Jesus never needs to repeat himself, as each situation has different characteristics and he is infinitely creative. I began to realise that being Vicar did not mean it was Jesus’ heart that I was to be the ‘senior pastor’ or any other conventional understanding of this job. Rather I needed to look carefully at how apostles worked in the New Testament. Please do not think that I am claiming to be an Apostle (with or without a capital letter); but the various churches described in the Acts, Epistles and Revelation seem to have benefited from someone with a measure of apostolic gifting when they were starting or going through a time of transition.

Here are my thoughts on apostolic ministry, mainly gleaned from what we know of the work of Peter and Paul. Although Jesus had designated Peter as an apostle some years earlier, we first see him acting as one on the Day of Pentecost. As we have already discussed, on that day at 9 in the morning he recognised the work of the Holy Spirit and connected it with Scripture, which allowed him to explain both what was going on and what the people’s response needed to be. I believe this should be the first point of call for those called to an apostolic ministry.

Two things are important from Peter’s example:

Firstly, we must start with what God is doing or saying now and then find the passages of Scripture that illuminate God’s actions or words. The Bible is an enormous body of writing; unless we are guided where to look, through what is currently happening in the power of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to know which part or parts of the text to concentrate on. If we are not aware of any direct communication during a period, then we need to follow the disciples’ example from the Ascension to Pentecost^[19], i.e. to wait patiently and prayerfully.

Secondly, Peter’s knowledge of the Bible was sufficient for the Holy Spirit to take him to the appropriate passages, presumably without a scroll to hand. This shows the value of a comprehensive knowledge of the Scriptures. I am extremely grateful for the Bible teaching I have received in the Diocese of Chelmsford, on the Oak Hill Ministerial Training Course, and at all the conferences and courses I have attended. One of the best ways to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Holy Scriptures^[20] is to preach the word on a regular basis; churches should give more people this opportunity, so that this way to know the Bible in greater depth is open to more people.

We need to keep in mind that a major focus of our Bible training should be to be able to say ‘this is that’ (Acts 2:16 AV) when God does something amazing.

Looking at Paul’s example as the Apostle to the Gentiles we find these characteristics:

Firstly, We need to have some confirmation through ‘signs, wonders and miracles’ (2 Corinthians 12:12, see also Acts 2:43, Acts 15:12). Also, it seems that the apostolic gifting comes through a direct encounter with Jesus (1 Corinthians 9:1), as with my great-grandmother (see page 4).

Secondly, Paul’s life’s work was the planting and guiding through transformation of local churches. It is important to realise that he never made himself the leader of any church that he planted. He was clear that churches do need people to take responsibility for the oversight and maintenance of the church’s life, but Paul never even suggested that they would need to replace him when he moved on, sometimes after only a short time. In each church, he had a very specific role in its initiation and transformation. As we read the Pauline Epistles, we see that he sometimes did need to bring a corrective word, but all the Epistles are written to the whole congregation, not to an individual ‘leader’^[21].

Thirdly, each apostolic anointing is to a specific group of people. Paul knew he was not an apostle to everyone (1 Corinthians 9:2).

Jesus chose to call the twelve ‘apostles’ (Mark 3:14), rather than any title inherited from the Old Testament or from the secular culture. The Greek word apostolos, apostle is derived from the verb apostolos, which means ‘to order (one) to go to a place appointed’. Apostles were sent with a message to a person or group of people.

The ordained ministry in a denomination like the Church of England does fit this model, at least in some respects. I was surprised during my ordination in Lichfield Cathedral that the most moving part of the service was when the Bishop and the Diocesan Registrar came to where I was standing and gave me my licence to my first parish; this was a ‘sending’. We have a problem in that, in virtually all denominations, those of us ‘sent’ are not trained or even introduced to the idea of an apostolic ministry; rather we are to be managers, pastors, teachers… whatever is the denomination’s tradition or, more recently, whatever is the latest fashion.

In Holy Trinity Church, we discovered that it was possible for an institutional church to be transformed into an organic one, although the closest Biblical model for this was the death and resurrection of Lazarus. Please note that we did not kill off the old church, it died, like Lazarus, because it was sick. We had to wait for Jesus to bring new life, we could not make it happen, and it had to happen in the way, and according to the timescale, that he determined.

So, I can give you no formula for this metamorphosis, but there are a few principles that seem to aid the process:

There needs to be a godly dissatisfaction with the status quo of the church, and a deep-seated longing for more of Jesus.
The church needs to be willing to put aside egos, traditions, worldly ambitions, desire to impress, inertia,… you can probably go on with this list.
A high degree of unity is probably essential. Jesus prayed earnestly for this (John 17:20-23).
The denominational hierarchy needs to have a light touch and to respect the process, because the way that Jesus chooses to lead an individual church may take it outside denominational norms. However, the advice, oversight, and moral support that are available should not to be depreciated.

A major incentive in writing this book is to touch the hearts of churches and to encourage them as they seek for more of the life of Jesus in their fellowship.

Discussion Points

Are you clear on the difference between strategy and tactics? Give some examples of each drawn from family, working or church life.
Talk about some strategies that you know that churches have employed. Can you work out which were God-given and which were someone’s ‘good idea’? Don’t just look for outward ‘success’ but try to discern whether they were achieving God’s purposes.
Do you know anyone whom you would judge to be gifted in one (or more) of the ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher? Can you see any signs of a gifting in one of these areas in yourself.

Next Chapter

More about the role of a junior officer in Jesus’ army