Spiritual Eldership – Loren Cunningham 2004 (Updated 2012)

Eldership - Tripod Message for Youth With A Mission

When I was seven years old, my family and I visited Niagara Falls. I have an indelible picture in my mind of what I saw: a barge, wedged against a huge rock right at the edge of the falls, with the water raging around it. I was forever impacted by the story I heard: 

Two young boys had been guarding the barge, safely tied to a dock far upstream. When night came, they fell asleep. As the boat gently rocked, the knot loosened and they began to float downstream. The boys slept on... drifting... not knowing they were in danger.

Hitting rapids, the lads awoke with a jolt. Realizing that they were in peril, they yelled for help, but no one was awake to hear their cries. As daylight came, people saw the boys in distress, now rapidly rushing toward eminent death, but there was nothing anyone could do-they were too far out in the middle of the river, and no one could reach them in time. They fell to their knees and cried out to God to save the boys.

Miraculously, just at the edge of the falls, the barge hit a huge rock and lodged securely against it. From there, the townsfolk were able to throw ropes and rescue the boys.

I shared this story in 2001 with the Youth With A Mission Global Leadership Team gathered in Kenya, expressing my concern that there were areas where we as a mission were "adrift" from our founding values and this drift could lead to our demise. Few organizations are able to continue with vision and passion beyond the second generation. Although YWAM was then 41 years old and had many thousands of full-time participants working all around the globe, future multiplication could not be assured by momentum alone. We needed God's understanding of where we had drifted and His re-alignment to bring a new thrust of apostolic growth.  I carried this concern continuously in my heart.

Then, on July 13, 2002, God reassured me that we as a mission had "hit the rock." He promised that if we would obey His course correction, He would give us a new apostolic release. I wept with gratitude and relief.

The following month, the Lord called me to a time of fasting and prayer for YWAM. I asked "what are the essential ingredients for regaining our apostolic edge?" He began to bring an understanding of key elements for growth that I will explain below.

ELEMENTS FOR APOSTOLIC GROWTH

The following elements thrived among us as a mission during our first four decades, resulting in many new ministries and launching of YWAMers globally, but in the 90s we began to drift in some places. These are the moorings that I believe will bring about a renewed apostolic thrust

* Freedom in the Spirit

* Spiritual Eldership

* Relationship

All of these must function under the Lordship of Jesus, according to His word and His will.

FREEDOM IN THE SPIRIT

Every individual, from the youngest to the oldest, must have freedom in the Spirit to hear and obey the word of the Lord. This opens up creativity for Him and from Him to initiate among us anything He wants to do.

We teach students, "You can hear God's voice...but you also must obey it and step out to trust Him to do the impossible." The steps are: (1) God gives revelation, (2) we interpret the revelation and (3) we apply what we understand. We may make mistakes sometimes in our interpretation or application, but that's not evil-that is how we learn. Often the young and inexperienced hear God most clearly, for they do not yet believe that it can't be done!

It is important that individuals have this freedom in the Spirit to hear and obey God, but this is not done in a vacuum or independently. Otherwise you can end up with the "tyranny of one." This is where it becomes important to understand how spiritual leadership works.

SPIRITUAL ELDERSHIP