The Power of Shared Leadership – June 22, 2025, Combined Worship
Exodus18:13-26, Acts 6:13-26
June 22, 2025
So, I’ve always been a Presbyterian. As you probably know, my home church is Carmel Presbyterian in Glenside. (It’s actually in the town of North Hills, where I grew up. But the actual borders of towns can be a little nebulous here in suburbia.)
At any rate, I’ve always been a Presbyterian. However, someone once asked me about it a different way. They asked, “Have you been a Presbyterian your whole life.” And I answered him with the old comedian’s line. “Not yet.”
I’ve often looked back on my life and wondered what I might be if I hadn’t been raised as Presbyterian kid, in Presbyterian Sunday School, and Presbyterian Youth Groups. I certainly never weighed the various theological and ecclesiastical viewpoints and practices, and decided Presbyterianism was best for me and my way of thinking. No, I didn’t do that. My early training came from the church environment that was just part of the landscape of my life.
Maybe you’ve heard the statement that “You can’t ask a fish about water, because that’s all it’s ever known.” That’s an expression that’s used to say that people can be unaware of their own assumptions, or the cultural norms that surround them, simply because they are so immersed in them.
So, I’ve asked myself, am I Presbyterian because it’s all I’ve ever known? What if I had been raised a Roman Catholic, or Jew, or Muslim(!)? Would I just be a part of that environment without giving it a thought or questioning it’s assumptions and beliefs? How about you? Would a different denomination be just part of your environment? What it just be the water you swam in?
Well, my conclusion in all this is usually the same. And it is to realize I’ve been blessed to have been a fish in Presbyterian waters! Because we Presbyterians believe in freedom of thought. We believe that “God alone is Lord of the conscience,” and that “people of good conscience can differ.” Those are among our preliminary principles, from way back when. And that’s the kind of guy I am. I don’t like to be told what I should think. I like to explore and learn new things. But then again, maybe that’s also because of the environment I was raised in!
The bottom line for me is that I’m glad I’m a Presby! And as I look at the Presbyterian church and its history, there are a number of reasons I’m glad. One of them, is the one I want to emphasize today – this day we elect our church officers. I’m glad that we are a denomination that believes in the ideal of shared leadership.
Now, I know what you’re gonna say. You’re gonna say, “Hey Skip! Other denominations have shared leadership, too.” Yes, that’s true. But let me remind you that it’s so important to us, that even our name speaks of shared leadership. As I’ve mentioned before, the name “Presbyterian” comes from the Greek word “Presbuteros,” which contains the Greek word for “Elder.” If your arms are getting too short, and you can’t see as well up close, you have “presbyopia,” or “Elder eye disease!” So, we are the denomination that is led and governed by Elders, or “Presbyters.” So, you see, even our name speaks of shared leadership! That’s how important it is to us!
So, if you don’t know it, the elders – the Session – oversee everything that happens in a Presbyterian church. I, as the pastor, am the moderator of the Session, but I am a co-leader of the Church with those elders. It is shared leadership. And I like that! And I believe there is power in shared leadership – as my sermon title states. And there are a couple of reasons I think that’s true.
The first has to do with decision making process. I believe that more people giving input into making decisions makes for better decisions! It’s not going to be as good if only one person makes all the decisions. So, that decision making process is shared. Of course, the hard part of that is that everyone has to learn to live with and abide by (and even support!) the decisions of the group! That’s hard sometimes.
The second reason I like the idea of shared leadership is that everyone sharing their gifts and talents and ideas, makes for a better church. If the church were only to be about the ideas and leadership of one person, that’s very limiting! Isn’t it? Everyone working together raises the potential! And everybody working together also makes for sharing the burden of the work, so it doesn’t fall on one or two people.
Well, the other thing I like about shared leadership is that it’s biblical! (You were wondering when I was going to get to that!) We read two passages today, one from each “Testament.” Both were about the choosing of leaders for God’s people.
We’ve also seen, in recent weeks, how Jesus chose his disciples – his leaders. We saw him appointing, teaching, and empowering them to do his work, and to continue his ministry, even after he was gone! So here in our reading from Acts, they did the same thing. As the writer tells us, they needed people to share the work and share the leadership. And so they chose leaders. They didn’t just choose workers! And of course, this is the story in which we meet one of the greatest leaders in the early church, this man named Stephen.
Well, that passage is reminiscent of the story we read from Exodus. Here, Moses is with his father-in-law, Jethro. And Jethro is asking him, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people come to you from morning to evening?” And Moses gives the typical answer of too many church leaders. He says, “Because the people need me.” “I have to solve all their problems.” And you gotta love Jethro’s response. “What you are doing is not good!” “You’re gonna wear yourself out!” “So here’s what you’re gonna do. You represent the people before God. You teach them what they need to know. But then, you have to appoint others to share the burden – to share the leadership.”
In Acts, the Apostles came to the people and said, “It’s not right that we should give up preaching to serve tables.” In other words, “We can’t do it all!” “We need help!” “We need to share the leadership.” “We need to be Presbyterians!” That’s what they said. And that story is the inspiration for why we do what we do! And it’s a good one! One person cannot do it all. One Session, or one board of Deacons, or one Property Committee can’t do it all. The more we share our gifts and talents, the better the ministry works – the better the church works!
Paul would give that same idea to the Corinthians. In chapter 12 he talks about there being “One spirit, but many gifts.” (I Corinthians 12) He said that everyone were to use their gifts “for the common good.” He said the same thing to the Ephesians. “The gifts God gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13)
That’s it! We all work together for the building up of the body of Christ. And that means here in this place, and it means the Church around the world. We are the body of Christ! We are his representatives to this planet! And we have to be good representatives! All of us! And sometimes we’re called on to defend the faith, when others have marred the image of the Church!
And so we all work together! And let me emphasize that by reminding you of something I’ve said before on these occasions. And I’ve often said this about the Trustees – who we now call our “Property Committee.” But it goes for all of our boards and committees. It is not their job to do the work of the Church. It is their job to see that the work of the church gets done! And that means all of us sharing our gifts and our talents and our service. That’s true “shared leadership!”
So yes, we’re going to elect leaders today. And we honor their service. We honor their leadership. But, again it’s not their job to do the work of the church. It’s their job to lead all of the rest of us in doing the work of the church! And may God bless us and prosper us as together we build up this, his body here on earth,
Prayer
Eternal God, equip us all for the work of the church. Empower us by your spirit. Inspire us to promote the Gospel in all that we do. Help us to be good representatives of the Church we so love, as we reach out to the world you so love! For we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.