Will there be a hierarchy? If not, how will leadership remain?
People will look for a leader, and God has gifted leaders. Even so, how can power be given away and returned to the people?
What does power mean in our kinds of community? Admin passwords to the website? Person holding the microphone? How did we decide that it would be distributed this way?
Power does exist, and we need to be conscious of it. James and John had issues with power and authority-part of what it means to be human (”Shall we call down fire from heaven?”).
We often talk about “being effective” or “getting things done” instead of power, but is this really how it goes? Isn’t it really about power? It’s not acceptable to say “I have the power!” even if it’s true.
“Empowering is not giving people power. Recognizing that they have power, and stepping back to exercise it, is empowering.” –Ed Cook
Noticing and guiding can be a means of empowerment.
Leaders notice what’s going on-they are aware of themselves and the context they’re in. -Jim Henderson
“I invite people toward a leadership of unimpressiveness.” Gordon Cosby, Church of the Savior
“The skill of creative leadership is being able to live in the tension between ideas that both have appeal, but are not satisfactory alone.” –Ed Cook
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It seems to me that the whole conversation about leaders giving power away is moot if the church is still in the business of power. When the church has assets, it has power. So much of what we mean when we say “power” is about money.

I don’t think church structure is the key to some of the heart problems that we face regarding leadership in the emerging church. But we cannot hope to address hierarchy and power effectively when so much money flows through the church.