Language is hugely nuanced depending on the culture and context but I think it's fair to say that if we read the Bible for the first time, we would never use the term Senior Pastor to describe a church leader. Mainly because the term is only used to describe Jesus.

In this episode we talk about how the gift of apostle gets muddled up with the modern senior pastor and why that ends up being a bad thing for the church (and the leader in question). Strangely enough, even in hierarchical spaces that acknowledge apostles, there is little teaching on the topic. I believe dismantling some of the super-spiritual nature of the term will help us greatly.

PS. I have lots of good friends who are senior pastors who are doing great stuff. Function matters more than language at the end of the day (but it's not such a terrible thing to get both right either!)

I'd love to recommend THE CHURCH CO who are by far the best website provider for churches. If you want to be findable not just on Google but also ChatGPT then I encourage you to explore their affordable plans using the discount code SATS for 10% off. Just head to https://thechurchco.com.

If you're still reading, my name is Sats Solanki aka Digital Rabbi. I lead Reflect Church in London, UK. If you'd like to connect then head over to Insta @satsolanki or head to https://digitalrabbi.co. To find out more about Reflect Church head to https://reflect.church

Jesus expressly told us not to use honorific titles. Not just once but three times in Matthew 23. Does this mean we can't call our parents, mum and dad? Or that we can't refer to a doctor as doctor? Not quite.

The point Jesus is making is that whenever titles are loaded to protect and serve an existing power dynamic, we should refrain from using them. This is exactly how the Pharisees used titles and exactly how a large chunk of the modern church uses titles today.

In this episode, we'll dig into the theology of titles and power dynamics. I also talk about how we discovered language for leadership in our local context in London, UK.

I'd love to recommend THE CHURCH CO who are by far the best website provider for churches. If you want to be findable not just on Google but also ChatGPT then I encourage you to explore their affordable plans using the discount code SATS for 10% off. Just head to https://thechurchco.com.

If you're still reading, my name is Sats Solanki aka Digital Rabbi. I lead Reflect Church in London, UK. If you'd like to connect then head over to Insta @satsolanki or head to https://digitalrabbi.co. To find out more about Reflect Church head to https://reflect.church

If your pastor wants you to rob a bank, what do you do?

This silly little example is a powerful way of illustrating the nuances of biblical submission. There are plenty of verses about submission (including to leaders) but all of them are held in tension with the need to submit to God and to one another.

Even though it's rarely preached explicitly, the subtle takeaway for many in the modern church is that disagreeing with the chain of command will take you out of the blessing and favour of God. This obviously creates strong incentives for fear based conformity that actually obstructs genuine unity.

In this episode, I'll explain how the hierarchical approach to authority and leadership is an Old Testament concept that has snuck back into the church today and directly opposes God's plan for new creation. Submission is real and important but it needs to be redefined.

I'd love to recommend THE CHURCH CO who are by far the best website provider for churches. If you want to be findable not just on Google but also ChatGPT then I encourage you to explore their affordable plans using the discount code SATS for 10% off. Just head to https://thechurchco.com.

If you're still reading, my name is Sats Solanki aka Digital Rabbi. I lead Reflect Church in London, UK. If you'd like to connect then head over to Insta @satsolanki or head to https://digitalrabbi.co. To find out more about Reflect Church head to https://reflect.church

Honour is a good thing. But too much honour or overemphasis of honour in one area (such as leadership) in a culture can have unintended fruit in the long term. I believe much of how honour is taught in the modern church is very different from how it is described in the Bible (particularly the New Testament). Sadly this often results in the disempowering of the saints with the emergence of the clergy class.

In this episode we look through some of the scriptures on honour. I talk about how to steward power well as leaders, how challenge and criticism is necessary in a healthy culture and what honour should really look like.

I'd love to recommend THE CHURCH CO who are by far the best website provider for churches. If you want to be findable not just on Google but also ChatGPT then I encourage you to explore their affordable plans using the discount code SATS for 10% off. Just head to https://thechurchco.com.

If you're still reading, my name is Sats Solanki aka Digital Rabbi. I lead Reflect Church in London, UK. If you'd like to connect then head over to Insta @satsolanki or head to https://digitalrabbi.co. To find out more about Reflect Church head to https://reflect.church

When we planted Reflect Church in 2021, we defaulted to leading as a team of 5. I'd like to say that this came from some sort of theological conviction but it didn't. The honest answer is that we were afraid. We'd seen the dark side of top-down leadership and were looking to mitigate the risks.

As we made major decisions (like signing a building lease) as a church in this way, I began to study the scripture. I wanted to understand my own gifting and role and I stumbled across something surprising and undeniable. The early church was led by a team. In this episode I unpack the core idea around the role of elders and show that in the early days of Acts and the New Testament, teams of apostles planted churches and then appointed teams of elders. That's not to say that this is the only leadership structure that is possible. But understanding the origins of the early church can give us a healthy basis for what we build today in the modern age. 

I believe this way of leading can be much more sustainable and life-giving for leaders and churches.

Praying you find this helpful!

I'd love to recommend THE CHURCH CO who are by far the best website provider for churches. If you want to be findable not just on Google but also ChatGPT then I encourage you to explore their affordable plans using the discount code SATS for 10% off. Just head to https://thechurchco.com.

If you're still reading, my name is Sats Solanki aka Digital Rabbi. I lead Reflect Church in London, UK. If you'd like to connect then head over to Insta @satsolanki or head to https://digitalrabbi.co. To find out more about Reflect Church head to https://reflect.church

Welcome to the first episode of the Leadership Horticulture podcast. I've spent the last (almost) 20 years involved in church leadership and have learnt a few things along the way. In particular over the last six years thanks to a particularly painful series of events in 2020, I have spent a lot of time processing what went wrong and examining our theology for church and leadership in general.

In this introductory episode, I share my heart and vision for the direction of travel for this podcast as we try to understand our blind spots in the body of Christ. If you're a church leader trying to build a healthy culture then this is for you. If you're someone who wishes we could just talk openly and honestly about what we're missing and learn the lessons then this is for you too.

Cheering you on in all you're building!

Sats x

I'd love to recommend THE CHURCH CO who are by far the best website provider for churches. If you want to be findable not just on Google but also ChatGPT then I encourage you to explore their affordable plans using the discount code SATS for 10% off. Just head to https://thechurchco.com.

If you're still reading, my name is Sats Solanki aka Digital Rabbi. I lead Reflect Church in London, UK. If you'd like to connect then head over to Insta @satsolanki or head to https://digitalrabbi.co. To find out more about Reflect Church head to https://reflect.church