Lead like Jesus

but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

- Matthew 18:4

but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

 - Matthew 19:14

These two verses make it abundantly clear to me that Jesus' mind is focused squarely on the children. In fact, Jesus makes it clear to us that if we mess with Children's access to God, we have some serious consequences awaiting us. 

 We see these verses and my mind immediately jumps to what we see in the present day. Lawmakers, teachers, activists, and people who are NOT you are trying to dramatically change your children. I get the understanding that interrupting children's access to Jesus is a big deal. 

Jesus mentions that we shouldn't infringe, impact, or worst of all, cause a little one to sin. But what we see is quite the opposite. Many of the aforementioned groups of people are trying actively to push children into sexual, demonic, and compromised choices when they aren't trying to out-right kill them. 

One thing that is often overlooked though is the affect of church leaders on children. I am not talking about gross sin that happens in churches all the time, no this is much more subtle.

When church leaders cling so tightly to control over something they are supposed to lead, without providing actual leadership in the process, it sends at the very least mixed messages to the children. At most, it can cause all the people who are supposed to support those leaders to leave because without vision things die. 

Leadership principles are not "I am the boss, do what I say." In fact, quite the opposite can be seen in the life of Jesus and the disciples (including Paul). They would very often lead by example and then ask those that were looking up to them to go and "do likewise." This cause some confusion early on when some followers didn't take the time to get to know Jesus personally, but wanted to apply what they thought was formulaic in nature to something that is HIGHLY Relational in nature. You can read more about their plight in Acts 19. 

Paul even expresses more about this topic in 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1

23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.

25 Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”[f]

27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. 29 I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? 30 If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?

31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. 11 1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

What he's saying here ultimately is don't look to me, look to Christ. The way we are to interpret this scripture is the moment Paul gets in the way, we look past him to Jesus or we have words with him. The same should be said in EVERY leader in EVERY position at EVERY church. But sadly, I see too many people get power hungry. "Follow me as I follow my pastor" or "Follow me as I struggle to see what works and what doesn't" seems to be the norm. Should it be?

This type of lesson is applicable to adults who help out in churches, but let's get focused back on the children. When a Child sees adults, who are supposed to be a solid rock, waver because of lack of leadership applied to them, lack of trust from their leadership, or a rigid authoritarian sense of "i am the boss, do what I say" that doesn't help. That sense of support they need to feel is gone because the adults are struggling to figure out what they need to do to not be "talked to" by the autocratic-dictates of the leaders who are not even spending any time with the children they are supposed to lead. 

Since no one is actually reading this anyways, this is just me getting some feelings out. If you are a leader, get input from your team. Ask for help and actually listen. Stop thinking you are the boss and start leading like Jesus.