Church Structure and Leadership
Sometime we’re asked about how our church works and how we’re organised or structured. We have a network of key working relationships with other churches and leaders that range from locally around Stirling to internationally. These relationships are important in helping us keep on our God given path and are often the first place we go to for advice, encouragement and insight into the things we face as a local church. Many of these key relationships are with people who are further along the faith journey that us and we recognise them as being gifted to us by God to help us (they include people we recognise as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers – Ephesians 4:11-12)
We think that a main role of church leadership it to equip and empower people. To enable individuals to live in a way that trusts Jesus, and to enable to them to contribute to the wider community because they live in a way that trusts Jesus. To ‘equip the saints for the works on the ministry’ – Ephesians 4:12. So our leadership seeks to do this.
Sometimes we talk about our local church structure being like that of a tree including having a trunk, branches and a canopy that produces fruit. We talk about how a tree trunk gives support and strength to a tree and about how the branches are supported by the tree trunk to produce fruit. We see this as picture of our church leadership where leadership (tree trunk) provides strength and support to various ministries and projects (branches) and that these branches allow fruit to be produced.