Power in the church is a reality to be stewarded with responsibility and care. Every time a board makes a decision, every time a pastor sets direction, every time a member speaks up, power is present. The question is never whether power exists. The question is whether it is being exercised in the way of Jesus.
God is all-powerful. Yet God does not wield power like the kingdoms of this world. From the beginning He created human beings in His image, entrusting us with real agency—real choices, real responsibility, real participation in the shaping of life. Human power, then, is not something to seize. It is something given—and therefore something to be stewarded.
That stewardship is meant to reflect God’s character. Scripture describes the life God intends not as domination but as flourishing shaped by love—the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23). If the exercise of authority in the church consistently produces fear, division or humiliation, we should not call it “strong leadership”. We should call it what it is: a drift away from the kingdom of God.
Jesus gives the clearest map for stewarding power in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). In a world trained to admire the forceful, Jesus blesses the meek. In a culture of retaliation, He calls us to mercy and enemy-love. In a society driven by status, He speaks of secret prayer, integrity and quiet faithfulness. Jesus is not naïve about evil. He is revealing a different kind of strength—one that refuses to crush others in order to win.
The apostle Paul adds a sharp corrective: “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek . . . slave nor free . . . male nor female” (Galatians 3:28). This is not a denial of difference; it is the dismantling of any spiritual justification for superiority. No ethnicity is closer to God. No culture has a higher rank. No person is any more the image of God than another. That means the way we use power in the church must honour dignity rather than assert rank; dignify rather than diminish; invite participation rather than demand compliance.
The Bible is also honest about what happens when power is mishandled. Saul shows how insecurity becomes control—afraid of losing his position, he disobeyed God, scapegoated his rivals and spiralled into a reign defined by fear rather than faith. David warns us that a leadership calling does not cancel temptation—chosen and anointed, he still used the cover of power to take what was not his, with consequences that rippled through his family and kingdom for generations. Solomon shows how wisdom can be hollowed out by accumulation—he began with a prayer for discernment, but prosperity and unchecked appetite gradually eroded what God had given him. The Bible includes such examples not as exceptions, but as mirrors.
So what might wise stewardship of power look like in the church? It looks like leaders who influence through truth, love and patience rather than pressure. It looks like meetings where quieter voices are heard, not just the confident. It looks like decision-making that makes space for conscience and prayerful discernment, rather than urgency that silences questions. It looks like leaders who see authority as a trust held for the body, not a possession held over the body. And here is the hopeful promise: right stewardship of power produces unity. Unity does not mean uniformity. It means the diverse gifts of the body can function without fear. It means we can disagree without contempt. It means the church becomes a safer place for truth-telling, confession and fresh obedience. It means we are sharpened together—not by rivalry, but by mutual submission to Christ.
So here is a question worth carrying into our next meeting, our next decision, our next crucial conversation: Is the way I am using power creating freedom and growth in others—or is it controlling and shrinking them? May the Holy Spirit form in us the leadership of Jesus—so that in every level of the church, power is stewarded in love, and unity becomes our witness.
Dr Eddie Tupa’i is the president of the New Zealand Pacific Union Conference.
