I recently had a dialogue with another pastor about the office of prophet, priest and king in church leadership. He had been re-reading Dan Allender’s Leading with a Limp, chapter 14: Three Leaders You Can’t Do Without (wow, how did I not blog on that chapter?!). He wondered what my primary & secondary gifting were (prophet-priest if you’re interested). One of these days I may try to put my more theologically oriented material into a leadership oriented book working through these issues.
In the meantime, I visited Drew Goodmanson’s blog and he had links to the Acts 29 regional conference in Raleigh. He and David Fairchild had some seminars working through this triperspectival view of leadership. I highly recommend them after listening to them today. The first was on the foundations of triperspectival leadership, and the second was on the applications of triperspectival leadership. David provided some background into their church plant, the struggles they had and how they have benefited from applying John Frame’s triperspectivalism to church leadership.
Here are some thoughts I jotted down in my notebook to keep track of them:
“When you plant (a church) you’re reacting to something you think you’ve seen wrong in the church, so you’re in this heavy, heavy deconstruction mode.” David relating advice given by Mark Driscoll
There are differences between how Jesus exercised His office during the Incarnation and how He exercises it now in His exaltation (yes, still incarnated). For instance, while on earth He preached directly to the people. In his heavenly prophetic ministry, He worked through the Spirit to complete the giving of Scripture and works through the Spirit in the preaching of the same Scripture. In His earthly priestly ministry He offered up His body as the perfect sacrifice for sin. In His heavenly priestly ministry He lives forever to intercede for us (Heb. 7:25).
As a result of our union with Christ by faith, we are positionally prophets, priests and kings. We are by virtue of His own office-holding, His merit and the indwelling Spirit. We exercise these imperfectly in keeping with our finitude, sinfulness and the reality of the Body needing various parts.
- Prophets– communicating God to people & for God to people.
- Priests– communicating to God for people & bringing people to God.
- Kings– bringing the reign of God to the church & this world (via mercy, elder-rule, stewardship, discipline, parenting etc.)
Spiritual Gifts given to individuals => for the good of the church => for the benefit of the world => for the glory of God. We tend to take links out of that chain!
In leadership…
- Prophets tell you where we need to go.
- Kings know how to get where we need to go.
- Priests make sure we feel God’s presence & loving concern while we go there.
So, you can see that a guy like me would be quite pastoral but struggle to turn the vision into the reality without the aid of a strong king who shares that vision to put the proper structures & systems in place. The balance between the offices is necessary to initiate & sustain renewal which results in mission. We balance one another and shore up one another as we share in the leadership and goals. This is a good, biblical rationale for shared leadership and honoring the feedback you get from others.
Affinity is ultimately idolatry! This is a shocker to some people. But a congregation that lacks balance will ultimately end up in an idolatrous place. The priorities of the gifts will drive you too far in one or two directions and end up becoming functional messiahs.
- Prophet– idolize knowledge, the power of authority & take pride in it=> legalism
- Priest– approval from other people
- King– control and comfort
Honoring Feedback:
- Are they bringing another legitimate perspective (often your weakest perspective- gospel truth, grace renewal or kingdom living) that is rooted in Scripture?
- Is it a gospel issue- a failure to understand all the implications of the gospel?
There was plenty to chew on
Cavman Considers 
prophet, priest and king. a cord of three is not easily broken.
If multiperspectivalism as represented by the need for a prophet, priest and king is so necessary in church leadership why do you think it is that we see nothing of it in the New Covenant writings? Given it’s alleged importance I would think you would at least expect to see it represented in Titus and Timothy where the subject of the elders and thier qualifications is given the most through treatment. However, not only do we see nothing of the sort mentioned there we see nothing of this alleged leadership structure in any of the narrative or teaching writings of the New Covenant. This all seems so artificial and quite honestly a stretch. Or, perhaps I’m missing something or misstating the record. Would you mind responding?
Pete,
Yes, we do not see it explicitly like we do in the ministry of Jesus. But we do see the functions in the NT. I like how Poythress puts it: priestly, kingly and prophetic gifts.
Those offices- key word- don’t exist. That, I think, is why you don’t see it in the Pastoral Epistles. Jesus fulfills those offices which is clear from the OT & NT (all 3 offices were anointed to begin their service).
So, these are more bents that are easily spotted in a person’s ministry. The point is a balance- not in a person- but in a ministry’s leadership. When you examine the functions of the offices in the OT, you see the leadership in the NT doing them. There is the prophetic prosecution of the covenant (exposing sin & calling to repentance) as well as gospel proclamation. Right? You see priestly comfort and intercession as well as instruction in the covenant. Right? You see kingly church discipline and plans to advance the kingdom. Right?
Part of what “concerns” me is the focus on “New Covenant writings”. 2 Tim. 3 is initially talking about the OT since much of the NT was not written when Timothy was young. All of Scripture is our authority- not just the NT. This is the problem with the New Covenant approach as compared with Covenant Theology.
Thanks for asking!
can i just comment. i think your studies and observations are very interesting regarding the issue or prophet priest and king. however the work that i have been doing indicates that this trio is not just about leadership positions and how they compliment
one another but actually the subject is much broader.. it encompasses the whole of the body of Yeshua. Each has its own dynamics but all rooted around how each ‘see’s, hears, and loves…and i beleive it is something that God is brining back for the body to kow again for such a time as we are living in today