Christ City Church Leadership Team - Christ City Church Dublin

When Leanne and I came to Dublin to plant a church we always had in our mind that we’d establish a local leadership team when the time was right. Well now is the time!

The New Testament is clear that leadership is done in teams and speaks of teams of elders and deacons (See 1 Peter 5:1-5, Acts 20:17 & 28, 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, Philippians 1:1). We are not ready to appoint elders, so in the spirit of Acts 6:1-7, which I have written about before, we are appointing a proto-elder/deacon team. When planting a church there is no roadmap you can follow; it’s an organic journey where you are trying to discern the right steps as you depend on and seek God. It’s been an exciting journey so far and this is the right next step in that journey. In time we hope to appoint an eldership.

Why Now?

There are a number of reasons that now is a good time.

(1) Shared weight. As God has established and blessed the church it has grown and with growth comes an increasing need to share the weight of leadership – more people means more decisions, more pastoral care, more organisation, more complexity, more discipleship, more community-formation etc etc. Whilst Leanne and I have always had people supporting and helping us throughout the journey, it’s good for us to officially share that weight with others.

(2) Encouragement from others. After speaking to our advisory team and our wider group of leaders in January we were encouraged by both groups to think about sharing the weight and having clearer structures of authority and decision-making.

(3) Our sabbatical. Leanne and I are going to take a 6 week sabbatical this summer (19th June – 6th August) so it’s timely that we can do this now.

What will the team do?

Whilst by no means exhaustive, here are some of the responsibilities of the team:

To carry the weight of the church with Steve & Leanne – pastoral care, organisation, leadership, doctrine, direction or discipline
To be a forum for debate and discussion and to help with strategic decisions whether philosophical, theological, pastoral, financial, organisational or innovative.
To be examples to and pray for the church
Each person to have a specific role – an area or areas they’re overseeing in the church
To be invested long-term in the city and the church, and helping us become a church-planting-church

Initially we are establishing the team for 12 months (till April 2020) and then we’ll review. Each person is giving their commitment for 12 months.

What were we looking for in a team?

There were a few things we were looking for:

Character – the primary requirement of leadership in the Bible is character. Someone who is growing in the fruit of the spirit with a humble servant-heart, full of integrity and holiness.
Commitment to Christ – to Christ and to spreading the gospel and making disciples of all nations, but in particular committed to the cause of Christ in Dublin and to investing in the city of Dublin long-term (under God’s providence)
Commitment to CCC – People committed to the vision & values of CCC, to Leanne and myself and who are already invested and leading in CCC – in Life Groups, City Groups and Sundays, serving the community through their gifts, finances and time. Leadership appointment should always be a recognition and a formalising of what is already the case.

So who is the team?

Here are the different people in the team and areas they will be responsible for:

Steve – Teaching, vision, strategy, pastoral care, mens’ discipleship, City Groups, Sundays and leadership development
Leanne – Pastoral care, womens’ discipleship, safeguarding, marriage enrichment and sung worship
Justin – Finance, charity & trustees, children’s work
Caroline – HR, Tea & Tots
Andrew – Life Groups, music & sung worship
Ola – Staff team, internship/apprenticeship, Life Groups, events & volunteers
Pat – City Group, students, theology, Christians in Sport

What about the other existing leaders?

Appointing this team doesn’t negate any of the existing leaders and roles that already exist in CCC. We have people who are already overseeing Sunday Teams, Children’s Work, Music, City Groups, Finance and Prayer, to mention a few.

We also gather all leaders in CCC four times a year (twice for a day in Wicklow and twice for an evening at our house). This will continue but will change to 2 days in Wicklow (January & September) and 1 night at our house (May). This gathering will be for training, vision, communication, support, retreat, feedback, discussion and a place to oversee, train and coach City Groups.

Then there is the staff team, including interns and apprentices, who are carrying out a vast array of tasks and with the time set aside to do them (discipleship, organisation, study, pastoral care, etc etc).

All this is to say, the role of a leadership team is to release and enable every member of the church to use their gifts. This is what Philippians 4:12 says – to equip God’s people for works of service, so that every member of the body is playing its part.

Additionally, the advisory team will still help Steve & Leanne over the next 12 months (we meet with them twice a year) but we’ll also gather the advisory team and the leadership team together once over the year. Each advisory team member will pick up 1-2-1 with a different member of the leadership team for support, encouragement and counsel.