Question of the Week #2: What is the leadership structure of Centre Church?
That’s a huge question like WHO’S IN CHARGE? Is it a democracy? A one-man show? What about accountability? Those are all really crucial questions.
Let’s be clear: GOD leads the church. Jesus is the head of the Church. Any leaders are stewards of what God is doing. With that in mind, Centre Church is primarily led by a team of what the Bible calls Elders – which basically means that spiritually mature leaders who are called by God, recognized as having that calling by others, and set apart to lead, teach, protect, and guide the church are put into place. Elders are not voted in, but they’re recognized by other elders. What perhaps sets us apart is that we don’t funciton like a traditional board where people are voted in for a term. We believe eldership is permanent until you either step down or are asked to step down, leave the church, or pass away.
Now, MY role is to serve – let me emphasize that word – my role is to SERVE as the lead elder on that team. That DOESN’T mean that I function as some sort of CEO of the church who makes sweeping decisions. It just means that I help serve, support, and organize the team on a day to day basis in order for us to make decisions together. Elders are described in the Bible as shepherds, and it’s our solemn responsibility to lead the church like Jesus did: with humility, integrity, and servant hearts. It’s a really important question especially in light of things going on in our world.
BECAUSE we’re part of a global family of churches called Commission, we have trusted leaders outside of our local church who support, equip, and importantly even challenge us to stay healthy and keep growing. It’s something that is readily invited, but never imposed on us. It’s RELATIONAL. A partnership, rather than being a control thing. It’s us working together and we love that.
So to summarize:
Jesus is the head of the church, and we’re supported by a trusted and external leaders within the Commission family of churches. I serve as the lead elder, but we strongly believe in a plural eldership model rather than a single CEO type senior pastor model and we’re supported by a wonderful broader leadership team.
Hope that helps!
See you for next week’s question of the week! If you have any questions you’d love for us to cover, why not comment below or contact us as info@wearecentrechurch.ca
