"You're unique here in that you have access..."
This was a comment made to me recently by one of the executive pastors at a brick and mortar worship center that I attend.
"You're unique here in that you have access to our leadership team in a way that most people do not."
I've thought about that statement an awful lot since then.
I have access? Is that supposed to make me feel honored? Different? Privileged?
When did access to shepherds become a privilege instead of a responsibility?
Let's compare that to Jesus, as we should every practice in Christianity today.
The Son of God wasn't hidden behind locked doors, gate-keeping assistants, schedules, and organizational layers. Children climbed into His lap. Fishermen interrupted His meals. Blind beggars shouted over crowds until He stopped. Women with broken reputations approached Him. Tax collectors invited Him into their homes. People possessed with demons ran toward Him. Nicodemus came at night. His disciples had constant access to Him for three years.
Jesus never built barriers to protect His importance. He made Himself available because people- not position- were His mission.
Of course there were moments that He withdrew to pray. Solitude with the Father was essential. But He never cultivated exclusivity as a symbol of leadership. His authority wasn't proven by how difficult He was to reach. It was demonstrated by how willingly and openly He served.
Scripture says that Jesus came "not to be served, but to serve." -Mark 10:45
The apostles followed the same pattern. Paul worked with his own hands while pouring himself out for the churches. Peter instructed elders not to lord their authority over God's people but to be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). The shepherd's calling has never been to become inaccessible, it's to care for sheep.
But wait, but what about security? There may be levels of threats, or potential danger found in leading the masses. HASN'T THERE ALWAYS BEEN? Were the disciples not risking it all? And so many others in between the pages of our Bibles? Are believers still not risking it all in persecution throughout the world? Somewhere along the way, many churches adopted a corporate leadership model that unintentionally communicates something foreign to the Kingdom: the higher someone rises, the less accessible they become.
That isn't how the Kingdom operates.
The veil was torn.
Jesus didn't die to create another hierarchy of restricted access. He died to remove barriers.
If an unbeliever could walk up to Jesus...
If lepers could touch Him...
If sinners could eat with Him...
If children could interrupt Him...
If broken people constantly found Him approachable...
Then perhaps we should carefully examine why access to many modern church leaders has become something to be earned rather than something naturally extended.
Leadership is not validated by distance. It is validated by service. Proximity is required.
The Church doesn't need more untouchable personalities, it needs more shepherds who smell like sheep.
-Devin
Devin Osborne
The Early Church
