Authoridad del Lider Cristiano

Document Type

Contribution to Book

Publication Date

2018

Keywords

Christian, Leadership, Authority, Submission

Abstract

Although different from a nation, a family or an association, the Church is also a human society that must have organizational / authoritative structures in order to disseminate its message and thus fulfill the Great Commission that Christ gave it . Because of this, it is legitimate to inquire about the nature and use of authority within the community of believers. This investigation is of vital importance, since much depends on the way in which authority is understood and exercised within the Church. Even such fundamental Christian teachings as God's nature and salvation are influenced by the way authority is defined.

However, any discussion about the nature of Christian authority tends to be muddied by our cultural context, because the way we view authority is shaped by the way authority is exercised within the society to which we belong. For many people, the term "authority" has few positive connotations. A simple class exercise proves the point. When I teach on the subject of ecclesiology, I sometimes put the word "authority" on the screen and ask the students to tell me what immediately comes to mind. Invariably, I hear words like "predominance," "power," "control," "abuse," "rule," or "make a final decision." Then we review the definition of "authority" in the dictionary and, certainly, we find that the most prominent way in which authority is defined follows the same line of thought, that is, "the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and impose obedience, "or" the power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise resolve issues of disputes; jurisdiction, the right to control, order or determine. " Authority defined in this manner demands submission, which is defined in the dictionary as "the act or act of accepting or assigning to a superior force or the will or authority of another person". In my personal experience, I still have to find a person who likes to submit in that way.

Comments

Translation by Google

First Page

65

Last Page

98

Book Title

Apartadas Para el Ministerio: Una Perspectiva Biblica Sobre la Ordenacion

Editor

Mora, Daniel Alberto and Nunez, Miguel Angel

Publisher

Fortaleza Ediciones

City

Lima, Peru

ISBN

1986168891

First Department

Theology and Christian Philosophy

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