This video series presents church leaders with growth strategies given by Jesus to the ancient church to stir up love and good deeds, foster oneness and community, strengthen the church, and increase holiness. This session explores persuasion as an ancient church leadership strategy for consensus and is presented by Stephen Atkerson, President of the New Testament Reformation Fellowship. Did you know that Jesus said church leaders have the same authority as children and as slaves? Two groups in Roman society that had the least authority, the lowest of the low, the bottom of the heap. And then to drive the point home, Jesus washed the disciples' feet. Now admittedly, Jesus was the master of hyperbole, but what's the takeaway? What does this say about a church leader's management style? What does this say about how decisions are to be made in the church? In this video, we're going to look at persuasion as an ancient church strategy given by Jesus to church leaders for building congregational consensus. Persuasion is a strategy that will help mature all the saints, better enable the church to discern the mind of Christ as the body of Christ searches together for direction from the Holy Spirit. It will build congregational consensus. It will make for an edifying decision-making process. It will enable leaders to lead more like Jesus led. And Jesus promised a blessing for those who adopt this strategy. He said you would be considered great in God's kingdom. Now to get a handle on this, gotta look at different facets of this diamond. And the first facet concerns a church leader's authority. I need to warn you, this truly is otherworldly. It's the exact opposite of what we find in the world around us. In Luke 22, 25, Jesus said, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. Exercise authority is from kuriutu in the Greek. It means to be master, to rule, to control, to have dominion over. The word authority is from exousiazo, and it means the right or power to do with something or someone as one sees fit. And we all know that's the way it is in politics with secular government. We have a police force to force people to do things they don't want to do. That's the authority Jesus was talking about. That's the lordship that is exercised in the world. Because of that, political government attracts power junkies who enjoy forcing other people to do things. We're talking about authoritarian leadership, a top-down power structure where in the first century, the Caesars had total decision-making power, absolute control over their subjects. But then Jesus says in verse 26, but not so with you. When he said you, who's he talking to? 12 disciples. By extension, that applies to church leaders today also. In verse 26, Jesus went on to say, rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest. Now when you think of the youngest person in a social group or in a family, that is the person with the least authority. So if you look at this picture here, the youngest person there, how much authority does that little fellow have in that family? the least. And then Jesus goes on to say, within the church, the leader should be as one who serves. And so when you look at this picture, you've got the table server and her employers. Who is in authority there? Who has the least authority there? How much authority does this table server have over those she's serving? Zero. And then Jesus asks a question in verse 27. For who is greater, the one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? And then in verse 27, Jesus said, I am among you as the one who serves. So in that picture, Jesus is the one standing, serving the others. In Mark 9, verse 34, the disciples were arguing about which of them would be greatest in the kingdom. And in the middle of that argument, Jesus said, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. We find that hard to believe. Really? Is he speaking in hyperbole here? Did he really mean that? I'm gonna argue he did, because in Matthew 20 verse 28, for example, we read, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. So we're talking about servant leadership. Leadership that through persuasion builds consensus. And persuasion involves patience, and listening, and empathy. These are all part of how leaders serve the church in building community, building consensus. It takes great humility to do that. Philippians chapter two, verse five says, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. So I'll give you a test. Which person in this picture best represents Jesus based on all that he said? Well, it's obviously the one standing serving, right? Let's apply it to us. Which person in this picture should represent church leaders? Same answer, the person standing serving. So it's a completely different mindset than what we see in the world around us. Church leadership is not the same as secular leadership. As you know, Jesus washed the disciples' feet. Why did he do that? Well, I'll let him tell you. John chapter 13, verse 14. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should also do just as I have done to you. A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. That's the blessing I was talking about. Jesus said you will receive a blessing from God if your management style as a church leader is the same as that style that Jesus had. Do you want God's blessings on your ministry as a church leader? then you need to do what Jesus modeled and lead with a servant's heart. Again, we're talking about servant leadership. Leadership that builds consensus through persuasion, through teaching, through listening, through explaining over and over and over again if necessary. So for example, when we look at servant leadership We're talking about a participative management style that invites input and builds consensus. You don't want decisions made by the leadership behind closed doors and then announced to everyone else from on high. That's not the idea. We're talking about servant leadership that is concerned for the interests of others. What's best for the church? that acts out, acts on the priesthood of the believer. Acts like it really believes that. That respects the wisdom of all the brethren and listens to what they have to say. This type of leadership sells more than it tells. It leads the flock, it does not herd the flock. So in that sense, church leaders are like shepherds, not cowboys. It is not my way or the highway. It is not leaders preserving the best place, but rather loving people the best way. It is all about consensus rather than command. So let's review. When we look at a church leader's authority, how much authority does a church leader have? The answer basically is none. The same authority as children and as slaves. We're talking about servant leadership. But there's more to this equation. The next facet of the diamond we need to understand is elder rule. See, the Bible talks about, in 1 Timothy 5, 17, elders who rule well. Well, how can somebody with no authority be expected to rule? We need to take this word rule apart. It's from the Greek word proistemi. Pro, like protrude, means before, and isteme means to stand. So it fundamentally means just to stand before another group of people. Stand before in leadership. So envision, if you will, a conductor of an orchestra. The first definition you'll read in a Greek lexicon for this word is, to be at the head of, to rule, to direct, to manage. Now that is definitely a leadership word. Sounds like an authority word, it certainly can be. But the secondary definition, beyond the idea of leadership and guidance, is to be concerned about, to care for, to give aid to, like an attending physician or a nurse. So if we blend these two together, these two definitions, and also factor in what Jesus said, I think the idea is that church leaders do give guidance and direction. Sort of like if you went to a financial advisor, your money, he's going to give you advice on how to best invest it, but he has no authority over you and over your money. So in the same way, church leaders do guide the church, they care for the church, but they don't rule the church in that sense. Again, we're looking at servant leadership, leadership that serves through persuasion, through consensus building, through teaching. A text that seems to go directly against this is Hebrews 13, 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them. If you look at a church statement of faith that believes in strong elder rule, this is the verse they always quote. It's often the only verse they quote. It's really the only verse like it in the New Testament. It sounds like heavy-handed authoritarian leadership on the part of church leaders. But as we're going to see, it's actually not that at all. It seems to go against what Jesus said about servant leadership, but actually it doesn't. The normal Greek word for obey that we would expect to find here is hupakouo. It's a very common word throughout the New Testament. It's used, for example, in Ephesians 6.1, children Hupakuo, obey your parents and the Lord, as it found in Ephesians 6, 5. Servant, obey your earthly masters. And the word means just that, obey. There's no other way around it. It's interesting, though, that that's not the word that's here. Instead, the word pytho is here. Pytho was the name of the Greek goddess of persuasion and charming speech. Pytho was a close companion of Aphrodite. That's the word that's here. The lexicon says it means to persuade or to convince. In Acts 540, it is translated, they took his advice, same Greek word. Galatians 5 7 it's used twice 7 and 8 it says who hindered you from obeying the truth that's Pytho this persuasion Pytho again is not from him who calls you so the word can mean obey certainly but it's flavored by persuasion. It appears to be an obedience that's born of persuasion, not simply command. We find it in our text here in Hebrews 13, 17 in the middle or passive voice. It's the same ending for both. So if you run with it in the middle, It means, allow yourselves to be persuaded by your leaders. So the author of Hebrews is writing to these Christians. He says, put yourself in a frame of mind to listen to what your leaders have to say. They have the church's best interests at heart. Allow yourselves to be persuaded. Now, if you want to run it in the passive voice, it certainly does mean obey. But again, it seems to be an obedience that is born of persuasion. Debbie Evine said the obedience suggested is not by submission to authority, but resulting from persuasion. Linsky, in his commentary, said one obeys when one agrees with what he is told to do, is persuaded of its correctness and profitability. Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II, a man who had force at his disposal. but even he recognized the value and superiority of persuasion. General Eisenhower said, I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone. President Truman said, my definition of a leader is a man who can persuade people to do what they don't want to do, or do what they're too lazy to do and like it. Both those men got the idea that persuasion is better than force. So we're looking at persuasion that Jesus gave early church leaders as a strategy for building congregational consensus in decision-making. Going back to Hebrews 13, 17, obey your leaders and submit. This looks like another power word of heavy-handed church leadership. Again, the normal Greek word I would expect to find here is hupotasso. For example, it's used in Romans 13.1, be subject to the governing authorities. Colossians 3.18, wives submit to your husbands. Also, we read in Peter, be subject to the emperor. So this is definitely an authority structure kind of a word, but it's not found in our text. Surprisingly, it's the word hupaiko. Hupaiko is found only here in the entire New Testament. It's used one time. Outside the New Testament, it was used of contestants. Imagine wrestlers wrestling. It does mean submission, but it's submission after a process, a contest, a battle. So it's not automatic submission to a structure like government, but rather after a process. So in that sense, it means to surrender or to yield, but it assumes there's going to be disagreement. Again, submission still occurs. It does mean that, but it's a picture of serious discussion and dialogue prior to one party giving way. So it assumes people in the church are gonna disagree with the leadership, and they're gonna have the opportunity to say why they disagree, and there's going to be back and forth before the final decision is made. So when we look at obey your leaders and submit to them from Hebrews 13, 17, it's not an automatic, heavy-handed rule submission and obedience. It is rather servant leadership where the leaders are taking the time to guide the church, to advise the church, to persuade. There's going to be argument, there's going to be reasoning, there's going to be dialogue before those few dissenters are asked to yield to the leaders along with the consensus of the rest of the church. So the premise is servant leadership turns authoritarian leadership upside down. The congregation's on the top. In that sense, leaders are on the bottom, serving the saints through offering guidance and through persuasion. The main authority of a church leader, maybe I should say the only authority of a church leader, It's his ability to persuade with truth. And that truth, of course, is scripture. So the church doesn't exist to serve the leaders. The leaders exist to serve the church. And the leader serves because he's a leader, and he is a leader because he serves. So let's review what we got so far. We looked at the church leader's authority, put that in quotes for a reason. It's the same authority as children and as slaves. And when we try to understand elder rule, we see that it's the idea, yes, of serving through leadership, guidance, advice, and like an attending nurse or physician caring for, attending to the patient. And it involves pytho-persuasion, selling ideas, convincing people. But there's more to it. Now, number three, we need to look at the prominence of church leaders. How prominent were leaders in the New Testament letters to churches? This is very telling. For example, the first letter to a church is the letter to the Romans, chapter one, verse seven. It's written to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints. No mention of the leaders. They're not singled out in any way. Of course, I hope leaders are loved by God. Certainly leaders are called to be saints. They're included in there, but they're not singled out. And you know what else Paul had to say to church leaders and the rest of the Book of Romans? Nothing. He does mention leaders in the list of spiritual gifts, but he doesn't have anything else to say to them or about them. In Romans 13, 1, he talks about authority and hierarchy and power structures, and he says, let every person be subject to the governing authorities. He's talking about people like Caesar. He's not talking about church leaders. At the end of the book, in chapter 15, he writes, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain. Normally, the day of a church leader, especially a famous one, was going to come to visit a church, he would write to the local leaders. Paul didn't do that. He wrote to the whole church. It suggests where the emphasis was in New Testament church life, not with the leaders, but with the whole church. In 1 Corinthians, the letter to that church, Paul wrote to the church of God that is in Corinth. He doesn't single out the leaders in any way. Do you know what else Paul had to say to or about leaders in the book of Corinthians? Nothing. In his list of spiritual gifts, he does mention gifts of leadership. He doesn't write to them or about them. In 2 Corinthians, in the salutation, he writes to the church of God that is at Corinth with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia, which is the big geographical area around Corinth. There were elders there. He didn't single them out. And you know what else he has to say to or about church leaders in 2 Corinthians? Nothing. This is all the more significant because in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, you've got a lot about church practice. There's a big section on the Lord's Supper. There's a big section on worship services. And there's a big section on church discipline. Now in modern day church life, church leaders are prominent in all those activities. But do you know, in what Paul had to say, they're never even mentioned. not much emphasis on local church leaders. Now they existed, they're very important, but the emphasis is on entire congregations and not the leadership. When we move to the letter to the Galatians, Paul writes to the churches of Galatia. Galatia was a region in what is modern-day Turkey. Many churches, many leaders. He doesn't single them out in the greeting. And you know what he has to say to church leaders or about church leaders in the rest of the letter to the Galatians? Nothing. Well, let's go on to the letter to the church in Ephesus. It's written to the saints who are in Ephesus. He does not single out the leaders. In chapter four, he does mention local leaders. He says that Jesus gave leadership gifts to the church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. These leaders are very important in the life of a church. But why are they there? He says it's to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Who are the ministers in a church? The saints. It's like the leaders are coaches on the sideline rather than star players. In Ephesians 5.22, he says, wives, submit to your own husbands. In Ephesians 6.1, he says, children, obey your parents. In Ephesians 6.5, he says, slaves, obey your earthly masters. And then, of course, in Ephesians 6.24, he says, church, obey your leaders. Oh, wait a minute. There is no Ephesians 6.24. It doesn't say that at all. If ever there was a place to put about the submission of the church to its leaders, this was the place to put it. It's not there. Let's go on to the letter to the church in Philippi. It's written to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons. Finally, we see local leaders greeted in a salutation. So we know they were in these churches. Do you know what else he has to say to or about these local leaders in the book of Philippians? Nothing. All right, let's go on to the letter to the church in Colossae. It's written to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae. Are the leaders mentioned? No. And do you know what else he has to say to or about church leaders in the letter to the Colossians? Nothing. All right, let's go on to the letter to the church in Thessalonica. First Thessalonians chapter one, verse one, to the church of the Thessalonians again. He does not greet the leaders. He does, however, talk about them in chapter 5, verse 12. Respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord. So what's the relationship between a church and its leaders? Respect. The leaders are to teach, they're to persuade, they're to guide, And the church is to respect its leaders. They are to put themselves in the mindset of being persuaded by what the leaders say. So it takes two to tango. The responsibility of the church is to respect its leaders. I want to deal with this statement that the leaders are over you and the Lord. Now, again, that looks like a hierarchy, doesn't it? What's he talking about here? Well, everybody agrees Christ is the head of the church. But once the organizational flowchart flows down from Christ the head, where does it go? Often it's said that it goes Christ, church leaders, and church. And in between, Christ and the church are the local leaders. Well, I would argue that that is not the biblical flowchart. It's Christ is the head of the church, and that's it. Where do the leaders fit in? Well, they are inside the church. Within the church, you do have leaders, but they're not, in that sense, over the church. They are standing in front of the church, if you want to look at it that way, guiding and leading, but they're not over the church. So when he says they are over you in the Lord, it's that word we've already looked up. Pro este me, it means to stand before, offering leadership, guidance, advice, standing before you in the sense of attending to or caring for. Let's go on to 2 Thessalonians chapter one, verse one. It's written to the church of the Thessalonians. Doesn't single out the leaders. And do you know what else he has to say to or about local leadership in 2 Thessalonians? Nothing. Now let's go to the letter to the Hebrews. There's a lot here about local church leaders. For example, Hebrews 13, 7, remember your leaders and imitate their faith. So the relationship that ought to exist between the leaders and the lead is one of imitation. Church leaders are to be model examples of the Christian life. And so the church is exhorted to remember its leaders, to imitate their faith, to respect them, to come out with a mindset of being persuaded by what they have to say. Hebrews 13, 17, again, we've already seen this, obey your leaders and submit to them. And what's really interesting is Hebrews 13, 24, it says, greet all your leaders. This is pretty significant. It assumes the leaders would not even be reading the letter to the Hebrews. The Hebrews were to greet the leaders on behalf of the author. Now let's go to the epistle that James wrote. He addressed it to the 12 tribes dispersed abroad. He doesn't single out church leaders in the greeting. He does, however, mention local leaders in chapter 5, verse 14. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him. So we know that they had local leaders. We see them attending to the church, as would a nurse in this case, praying over the sick. You know what else he has to say to or about leaders in that letter? Nothing. Peter's letters are addressed to the elect exiles. He doesn't single out the leaders. Now he talks about who should submit to whom here in 1 Peter 2, verse 13, says, be subject to the emperor as supreme or to governors. He says in 1 Peter 2, 18, servants be subject to your masters. He says in 1 Peter 3, two wives be subject to your own husbands. And in chapter 3, verse 23, he says, saints be subject to your pastors. Oh wait, it doesn't say that. Again, where it should say it, it's not there. What is interesting also is 1 Peter 5. We have the first instructions in an epistle to a church written directly to local leadership. If you look at your table of contents, when you get to 1 Peter, you're almost out of New Testament letters. So you're almost completely through the New Testament before we have something written directly to a local church leader in an epistle to a church. And what it says is this, I exhort the elders among you, shepherd the flock of God, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. So how should local leaders lead? Well, as we've seen before, they're shepherds, not cowboys. They lead, they don't drive. And then directly quoting what Jesus had said earlier, not domineering over those in your charge, but rather being, as we've already seen, examples to the flock. That is how leaders are to lead the local church. So what we're talking about is servant leadership. Leadership that takes the time to build consensus through persuasion, through teaching, through listening, through humility, through explaining, through empathy. This is a very important ministry of leaders. Now let's go to the epistles of John, 1st and 2nd John, written to the beloved and the elect lady. He doesn't single out the leaders. He doesn't talk about the leaders. He has nothing to say about leadership in those two letters. In Jude, it's addressed to the called, and he has nothing else to say to or about leadership. Revelation, written to the seven churches, not to the pastors, to the seven churches, and he has nothing to say beyond that to the called. or about the leadership. So throughout the New Testament, in the letters to churches, we see emphasis on entire congregations, not on the leadership. Why is that? It's because Christ is the head of the church, and the organizational flowchart flows from Christ directly down to the church. Within the church, you have leaders. The key is, shepherds are sheep, too. So when he writes to the sheep, well, shepherds are sheep, too, of course. They're part of that process. Servant leadership is what we're talking about. So we see that the apostles wrote to entire churches, not just the leaders. We see that the apostles taught entire churches. They reasoned with the whole congregation. They persuaded. They offered guidance. They didn't merely issue orders. And so local leaders should lead the same way. Jesus said in Matthew 20, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. servant leadership that serves through persuasion in building consensus. So let's review again. What is a church leader's authority? None. The same as children and slaves. And what about elder rule? Pro este me, it's leadership, it's guidance, it's advice, it's also caring for, attending to. It's persuasion. It's selling. It's convincing. And what is the prominence of leaders in the letters to New Testament churches? They're not prominent. The shepherds are sheep too. But now there's more. Number four, we need to consider the church as Congress. See, the Greek word for church, ekklesia, just in its basic meaning, means assembly, gathering, meeting, the called out ones. But at the same time in history, outside of the New Testament, ecclesia is a political word. Thayer and his lexicon said, it's an assembly of the people convened at the public place of council for the purpose of deliberating, making decisions. Bauer, Art, Gingrich and their lexicon said, it's the assembly of a regularly summoned political body. Luther Conan, in the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, writing on Ecclesia, said it's clearly characterized as a political phenomenon. The assembly of full citizens functionally rooted in the constitution of the democracy, an assembly in which fundamental political and judicial decisions were taken. Every citizen has the right to speak and to propose matters for discussion. Now think about that. Every citizen has the right to do that. And so in the early church, any member of the church had the potential to greatly influence the decisions that were made. When you see the word church in the New Testament from Ecclesia, you should think Parliament. You should think Congress, decision-making bodies. And Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, upon this rock, I will build my ecclesia, church. There's a lot of other words he could have used. He could have said upon this rock, I will build my synagogue, synagogue, but he didn't. He picked a word that outside the New Testament is a political word, a power word, about a decision-making body. So, because of things like this, Donald Guthrie concluded that in the early church, when decisions were made, they were made by the whole company of believers, not simply by the officials. The church corporately has a decision-making responsibility in major decisions. That's why the Baptist Faith and Message says, each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through the democratic processes. Guthrie wrote, when decisions were made, They were made by the whole company of believers, not simply by the officials. The dominating factor was the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the supreme authority being vested in Christ himself. For example, in the church discipline process of Matthew 18, Jesus said, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the elders. Oh, no, wait, it says tell it to the leaders. No, wait, it says tell it to the church. You would think it says leaders. You go to the whole church with it. Jesus never even mentions leaders in this process. Now, you know they were involved with it, but he never mentions them. He says, if this sinning person refuses to listen even to the church, as if this is the highest authority there is, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. So we're looking at the fact that I, as a church leader, don't have the authority to put anybody out of the church. Only the church can do that. Jesus went on to say in verse 18, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This evidently was a rabbinic phrase at that time for allowing something or denying something. Jesus said this of the church. The church corporately has the authority to make decisions to permit certain behavior or to deny certain behavior. Job was given advice by Elihu, the only one of his friends the Lord did not rebuke. And in Job 34, for Elihu said, let us discern for ourselves what is right. Let us learn together what is good. So an important ministry of leaders is to build congregational consensus on major decisions. When you look at that word consensus, you can see the word consent is in there, also the word consensual comes from that, and it means a general agreement or accord. It's a position reached by a group as a whole, not simply majority rule. It's not 51% telling the other 49% what to do. It is the overwhelming majority. Psalm 133.1, how good good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. Unity is very important in the body of Christ. First Corinthians 1 10, I appeal to you brothers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. Philippians 2 2, Paul wrote make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. You might think that's too utopian, it'll never happen, but the Lord has made provision for this. First is the prayer of Jesus himself in the Lord's Prayer, John 17 11, Holy Father keep them in your name which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one. So we have Jesus praying for us. It's certainly possible. He also gave us the provision of the Lord's Supper, which creates unity. First Corinthians 10, 17, because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. The early church celebrated the Lord's Supper every Lord's Day, as an actual meal centered around one cup and one loaf. And when celebrated in that way, as was given to the early church by Jesus, this creates unity. So you've got the Lord praying for us. you've got the Lord's Supper, and then we've got church leaders, the Lord's leaders. This is an important ministry, building consensus, persuasion by the leadership of the church. And why did Jesus give apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers? It's to build up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith. So what's the point of all this? An important ministry of leaders is building congregational consensus. And the main authority, really the only authority a leader has, is his ability to persuade with truth. Strong worldly leaders communicate and compel. Strong servant leaders persuade and guide. They are shepherds, not cowboys. In the New Testament, decision-making is decentralized. and it's inclusive of all on major decisions. We're talking about servant leadership that serves by building persuasion. And a servant leader's role in the decision-making process is to build consensus by patiently teaching what Scripture says on various issues. It is to allow ample time for thoughtful reflection. People don't feel like they're railroaded. It is to teach publicly and talk privately with people. It is to seek to patiently persuade those who differ. And finally, to appeal to dissenters to yield to the leadership along with the consensus of the rest of the congregation. So in that sense, you could say your local leaders are predetermined arbiters. So, persuasion is a strategy given by Jesus to the ancient church for building congregational consensus. It will help mature the saints as they wrestle through issues. It will better enable the body of Christ to discern the mind of Christ. It is the example modeled by Jesus for building congregational consensus. It will allow for an edifying decision-making process. Jesus promised a blessing for those who follow it, and he said you would be considered great in God's kingdom. Persuasion, the ancient church strategy for consensus. You can read more about this on our website, ntrf.org. We have articles there on this, as well as a book, New Testament Church Dynamics, You can also listen to MP3s that can be downloaded from our website. If you want to teach through this to a group, we have a teacher's workbook called The Practice of the Early Church that can be downloaded. On YouTube, you'll find pastoral tutorials, growth strategies of the ancient church. There's a size strategy for effectiveness. There's a communion strategy Jesus gave for unity and community. There's a worship strategy Jesus gave to stir up love and good deeds in a congregation, and a traditions strategy for success in ministry. I'm Stephen Atkerson, New Testament Reformation Fellowship. Thank you very much. This message was produced by the New Testament Reformation Fellowship, reforming today's church with New Testament church practices. Permission is hereby granted for you to reproduce this message. You can find us on the web at www.ntrf.org. May God bless you as you seek to follow Him in complete obedience to His Word. May your faith in the Lord Jesus be strengthened and your daily walk with Him deepened. ? ?