Can I share a somewhat relevant blog entry by my pastor.

http://ichristianlee.blogspot.com/2011/10/tribute-to-steve-jobs.html

Excellent question: “What could we do (besides prayer and Bible study) to avert a potential decline in our ministry, which might already be happening in some quarters?”

Scott Moreau has some very good suggestions. 

1. UBF has to develop a concrete ecclesiology.

2. UBF Christians should make it a rule constantly to examine themselves and publicly discuss their administrative problems.

3. It is imperative that UBF respect each person’s individuality and conscience and help them develop true freedom in Christ. 

As Joe has pointed out for many years now, UBF must address these things soon, otherwise there will be more and more “vocal enemies”:

“Thus, shaming and shunning methods that would be more likely to woo Koreans will have the opposite effect on Americans. Further, Americans who have thus been shamed will be far more likely to become vocal enemies of their former group.” 

This leads us to place our assurance in the Holy Spirit working through Apple.

Many Popes did commit horrible atrocities while in office. This is a historical fact.  But just as Steve Jobs made many bad decisions in his role as a Father to his illegitimate child, this does not say anything about the validity of the Holy Spirit preventing Steve jobs from releasing inferior apple products as CEO of apple. If the Holy Spirit worked only with sinless men, then we would not have the original 12 disciples. But I am not trying to turn this into a debate. I am just putting this forth in response to your article. 

I laughed when I read your comment Dr. Toh. =) 

I was arguing that Christian history is full with exceptional Christian leaders whose lives inspired thousands of followers. Spurgeon through his exceptional gift for preaching was certainly one of them. And i respect Dr. Lee for the way God has used him. The question is whether we as a church depended too much on Dr. Lee. And another question is how we have been doing in dealing with Dr. Lee’s legacy (in addition to Ben’s excellent question).

Gerardo: i am very sorry but i wasn’t able to fully understand your argument for papal infallibility. And from a historical point of view, weren’t there several popes, especially during the time of Renaissance who committed horrible atrocities?

Some may hear this message and say, “Amen, I agree with this. Our church leaders should be led by the Holy Spirit.” But I am saying more that because there have been many great men that have claimed (and probably were) led by the Holy Spirit and yet came into error in many other aspects of their lives. And these men did not claim papal infallibility. So if we just say in a very general sense that the Holy Spirit leads Church leaders, and these church leaders do not claim papal infallibility, then it makes it hard to know when he is being led by the Spirit and when he is being led by his own sinful inclinations. Ofcourse, one way to know is if he is following the bible but that brings up the parrallel question of whose bible interpretation is right. 

I feel this is where papal infallibility shines the brightest. Because it leaves the Church with the reassurance that on matters of faith and morals, the Holy Spirit will prevent the most sinful of leaders from teaching error. And in this day of moral relativism, doctrinal relativism, agnosticism, denominationalism and emerging ethical questions, scientific discoveries and attacks on the human person (in ways unimaginable to our ancestors), we need to know that the Holy Spirit is running the show. We crave certainty in these matters even if we do not subscribe to papal infallibility. I think that at the very least, even if we do not buy into the papacy, we can atleast see the great merit and need of knowing with certanty that a Church is being led by the Holy Spirit through a magistarium.

So that the death of one man really does not change our hope in the Holy Spirit continuing to lead the Church. Hence, if the Holy Spirit were preventing the CEO of Apple from releasing inferior products, then we need not worry who the CEO is because we know that Apple will always release the products we need in our emerging culture. 

Here’s a quote from G.K. Chesterton that seems appropriate.

…all conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution. Briefly, if you want the old white post you must have a new white post.

The bottom line: If you really want things to remain the same, you have to change them.

One of the remarkable aspects of UBF in its early days is that it was a truly indigenous evangelistic student movement. Students caught a gospel-centered vision that deeply resonated with them. If we want that same thing to happen now, in 21st century North America, we’ll have to accept that the vision that will truly capture the hearts and minds of today’s generation will have a different look and feel.

Brian, i do not necessarily think that having a powerful, charismatic, spirit-filled leader is a bad thing even if it may look like a one-man-show. Even in today’s evangelical scene in North America, you see a number of pastors who are the “go-to-guys” and primary drivers in their respective congregations. The churches of John Piper, Tim Keller, John MacArthur certainly profited enormously from the charisma of their prominent leaders. Their fruitful ministries are wonderful.

The problems arise when a church becomes too dependent on a leader so that the leader himself becomes a functional idol for the church: not necessarily because the leader is praised and “worshiped” but because the congregation relies and trust their pastor for things only God can provide. 

And another thing: Tom Brady from the New England Patriots is a far better quaterback than Peyton Manning! :)

The result? The Colts are winless so far! They are 0 and 4 and have a -45 point differential. They are playing horrible even though they still have several hall-of-fame caliber players, especially at wide receiver. 

Pastorial succession is FAR more important than quarterback succession. We must have plurality of leadership!