Have a Go Leadership

I believe that the church needs to rediscover what it means to have the Holy Spirit as leader. Jesus promised that he would tell us what to do (authority, direction and inspiration). Wherever we go, he is already there, so we should be his followers.

The Holy Spirit has a "have-a-go” style of leadership that he learned this from Jesus. Jesus articulated his vision and invited people to copy his lifestyle and “have a go” at what he was doing. The twelve and the seventy-two did “have a go” and it worked out pretty well. Jesus did not try to control those who were willing to “have a go:. He let Judas do what was on his heart. He warned Peter that he would “stuff up”, but did not forbid him from “having a go”. And he helped Peter sort out the mess afterwards.

New Christians are to place themselves under elders. That means finding someone who is further on with the journey, and "having a go" at copying them. It means "having a go" at the place where another has left off, not finding someone to be in control.

Eldership is about watching over those who are "having a go" (Acts 20:27-29). Apostolic people “have a go” in a different geographic space. Evangelistic people “have a go” among those on the fringe. People with pastoral gifting watch over those who are “having a go”. They warn against leadership by false spirits and they help clean up the mess when things go wrong. They teach people to "have a go together".

The Holy Spirit seems to be more interested in his people “having a go” than keeping things nice and tidy. I presume he is happy to clean up the mess if things go wrong (with a bit of help from pastoral people).

If the Holy Spirit is the leader of our Church, we do not need a man to lead us.