Paul, the Church Leader (from Philemon)

It is possible to regard Paul’s letter to Philemon as merely an example of a personal letter that he wrote to a friend in order to give some advice on a domestic issue that concerned him. Yet while it is obviously a personal letter, it is also a letter from one who wrote as a wise church leader. In this letter several qualities of church leadership are clearly seen and it is useful for us to think about them in connection with the matter of church leadership.

Two basic outlooks

To begin with, we can see from the letter that Paul’s concept of leadership is servant leadership. This aspect is seen in the title he gives to the Saviour when he calls him the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 3). No doubt Paul saw in this title the reality of the universal lordship of Jesus, the one who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Yet within that universal authority Paul would have also seen a particular authority, the authority that Jesus had over him as an individual Christian and as an individual church leader. Paul did not resent this authority, rather he rejoiced in it. And because he saw himself as a servant of Jesus it enabled him to have a wide range of qualities in his service for his Master. Indeed it is fair to say that all the other features of Paul’s leadership only cohere because of this basic understanding that he was a servant of Jesus the Lord.

Moreover, Paul connected his acknowledgement of the lordship of Jesus with the status of sonship that he enjoyed with God the Father (v. 3). As far as his New Testament letters are concerned, Paul invariably connected those two relationships whenever he wrote to a church or to an individual. This means that Paul functioned as a son and as a servant. It is likely that his understanding of the significance of the status of sonship would enable Paul not to be jealous of the gifts that others had and which he may not have possessed. The status of sonship would also enable him not to fret over what he had lost out on when he became a believer in Jesus – after all, he does say in Philippians 3 that he had lost everything for the sake of Christ, and whatever the everything included he counted it all as rubbish. It would no doubt help leadership today if those who are given this role would remember that they have the status of God’s sons and have no need to compete for prominence with one another. After all, no matter what they achieve, they can never get higher than the status of divine sonship.

So taken together, we can see that the desire of a Christian leader who has grasped the reality of Christian service is that those he serves will experience in an ongoing manner grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. This should be the aim of all Christian leaders, and when it is kept in view most of the problems linked mainly to inappropriate leadership behaviour will not pester or inhibit Christian congregations.

Seven beautiful qualities

So what qualities flow out from servant leadership? The first quality that we can focus on is Paul’s awareness that church leadership is shared leadership. In verse 1, he associates himself with Timothy. We are aware that Paul stresses this aspect of leadership in most of his letters. For example, when writing to the Thessalonians, he also mentions Silas and Timothy alongside himself. In 1 Corinthians he links himself with Sosthenes, who was a leader in the assembly in Corinth. Usually it is Timothy that he mentions.

The concept of shared leadership did not mean that Paul was not aware of his distinctive, authoritative position as an apostle and the responsibilities and privileges that accompanied it. He alludes to them in verse 8 when he says that he was bold enough to command Philemon to obey him. But the apostle was also aware that sometimes a strong, assertive manner was not the best way to proceed.

Nor did his commitment to shared leadership indicate that Paul wanted to reduce his own involvement and ask others to do something because he did not wish to give 100% to his role. If that was the case, he could easily have asked Timothy to write a letter to Philemon. The strength of shared leadership is not that individuals can do less; rather it is that shared leadership means that more can get done for the kingdom as each leader utilises his gifts in the shared goal.

The obvious feature of shared leadership is harmony between the leaders. Paul himself knew the disastrous effects of disharmony in leadership that took place when he and Barnabas had their big disagreement, a disagreement that was so strong that they had to separate. How do we get harmony between leaders? We can ask what it was that brought about the harmony between Paul and Timothy. Obviously, at one level, it happened because Paul was Timothy’s mentor and Timothy served as a son with a father (I assume Paul is referring there to the custom of a son learning his father’s trade). And it also existed because of Timothy’s own attitude, which Paul describes in a letter sent round about the same time as this letter to Philemon. Writing to the Philippians, Paul the pleased father says of Timothy: ‘For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel’ (Phil. 2:20-22). What maintained the harmony and enabled shared leadership was the beautiful determination of Paul and Timothy to serve the interests of Jesus Christ. And that prior dedication is an essential element for harmonious and lasting church leadership.

The second quality of leadership that Paul shows here is what can be called submissive leadership. What I have in mind here is Paul’s submissive spirit to God’s providence for him. Where is Paul at the time of writing? He is imprisoned, awaiting a verdict from the Roman authorities, as to whether or not he will be set free. It is important to note that Paul did not assume that his current circumstances were a reason for not continuing with his work as a leader. Instead he noted what he could still do and did it.

It is amazing to observe what Paul accomplished for Jesus because of this attitude of submissive leadership. We know that during his imprisonment he wrote several letters of the New Testament (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon). He also indicates that he managed to convey the gospel to the guards placed over him to such an extent that the reasons for his imprisonment were known throughout the palace. Moreover, the fact that he was able to maintain his leadership roles encouraged others in Rome to fulfil their tasks.

Usually our response to Paul’s achievements is to assume that he was a kind of superman who possessed extraordinary gifts. Yet he tells us that he had a weak physical presence, was not a good speaker, and was often afraid. So how was he able to do so much? I would suggest it was because he recognised the sovereignty of Jesus as the arranger of his circumstances and expected to receive the strength from Jesus in order to fulfil his calling.

A third aspect of Paul’s leadership can be called supplicatory leadership, by which I mean that all he did was surrounded by earnest prayer. It is obvious from Paul's letters, including this one to Philemon, that he did nothing without prayer. His prayers were not vague, but focussed and connected to what he knew about the current circumstances of those for whom he was praying. As far as Philemon was concerned, Paul prayer was connected to what he had heard of Philemon’s love and faith, and therefore the apostle prayed that the sharing of Philemon’s faith would be ‘effective for the sharing of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ’ (v. 6).

It was not only his own prayers that Paul wanted to stress. He wanted Philemon to pray for him, especially with regard to his desire that he would be able to visit Colosse. His way of describing the likely outcome reveals Paul’s confidence in the power of prayer. He knew that specific prayers usually received definite answers, therefore he encouraged persistent and particular prayer. His years of experience had convinced him of this reality, that prayer was essential in order for the kingdom to prosper. 

A fourth quality that is obvious in this letter is Paul's sacrificial leadership. We can see this from the fact that he was willing to pay for any losses that Onesimus had caused for Philemon. Paul would have had little resources – he does mention in Philippians the help that the church in Philippi had sent to him. Maybe he intended to use it to help Onesimus’ case or perhaps he had not yet received it from the Philippian church. The one thing he did know was that Onesimus, being a slave, had nothing and therefore no way of repaying any loss he had caused. But Paul was willing to pay it. Of course, in doing this he was like his Master who had paid the higher debts of Paul and other believers. It is impossible to be a Christlike leader without this quality of sacrificial leadership. The sacrifice may be in terms of time or of finance or of other aspects – there are many areas in which it can be displayed.

A fifth quality is Paul’s sensitive leadership. Sensitivity can be both negative and positive. Negatively, it will include not saying something because our words may have hurtful consequences. Positively, it will include saying something because our words will bring encouragement. Paul here engages in positive sensitivity when he describes other believers. He uses terms such as brother and sister, fellow soldier, fellow worker and fellow prisoner. In doing so, he is an example of how to use words to bring encouragement to other believers, even although they did not have the same understanding of truth as he did or the wealth of experiences that he had known.

A sixth quality is what we can call Paul’s shepherd-like leadership. We can recall the instructions that the risen Jesus gave to Peter at the Sea of Tiberius. The restored Peter was told to feed Christ’s lambs and to feed Christ’s sheep, with lambs referring to young or new Christians and sheep referring to older believers. In this letter we can see how Paul did both. He had given spiritual care to Onesimus a new believer and now he was giving spiritual counsel to Philemon who was an established believer. And it is very striking how Paul can deal with both types of believers with apparent ease.

A seventh quality is Paul’s selfless leadership. We can see this feature in the refusal to hold on to Onesimus and retain him in order for him to continue providing help for Paul during his imprisonment in Rome. Clearly Paul thought a lot of Onesimus and could have benefitted from his presence. But as he looked at Onesimus and his changed life, the apostle saw that the former slave could provide great benefits for his master in Colosse. Therefore Paul sent him away to Colosse. He was willing to give up what he could have kept (after all, he anticipated going to Colosse himself soon and no one would have been surprised if he had suggested that Onesimus remain in Rome until the verdict connected to Paul’s future had been made). But for him to retain Onesimus would have been selfishness and not selflessness.