By Albert S. Ferguson, For The Guardian

"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think ... Romans 12:3(a)

When Jesus, our leadership model, was on earth, he demonstrated leadership succession planning by gathering an "inner circle" of apostles, and giving them special experiences and training. As time passed, and this inner group experienced Jesus "up close", they, unfortunately, wanted more than to just be on the inside. They began to want more prominence and power than the other nine apostles.

Peter wanted wealth. He wanted to know how he was going to benefit from the financial sacrifices he had made when he left a lucrative business career to become an apostle, sans salary.

James and John didn't want wealth. They wanted seniority. "Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand, in glory" (Matthew 20:20-23). Seniority to them meant more than money. In fact, seniority meant everything. It made them selfish, ruthless, irrational and self-centered.

It is this very same "seniority spirit" which has seemingly entered the Church of Jesus Christ in recent years.

It is apparent that church leaders have not paid attention to Jesus' statements regarding His views on the concept and practice of seniority within His Church. Leaders, in many quarters, appear to be leading people away from Jesus' values on this subject.

In fact, it seems (from their behaviour) that some leaders just love the "rush" of self-esteem they experience when referred to as the senior leader, or when they are "elevated" to seniority status, by being called, the elder statesman or the senior bishop.

Jesus never taught, encouraged or tolerated humanistic and ego-enhancing concepts like seniority, which elevate the status of one person above the other in the eyes of the church community and in the body of Christ. Cultivating such a spirit leads to pride. — See Proverbs 16:18.

Jesus spoke clearly about His position on the matter to James and John. To the rest of his apostles, Jesus indicated that the one who wanted to be the senior one was to be the chief servant — the one who served the most or who served everyone else, not the other way around.

James later went on to lead the early church so it was fortunate that Jesus got this straight in his head and in his spirit earlier on in his ministry.

So often, people in leadership positions in the church attempt to magnify their importance and seniority by using various expressions to acquaint all concerned with their years of service: "Respect me — I've been around for a long time," or "I am senior — I am your best choice", or "I am the only one of the old-timers left", or "What is the church going to do when I'm gone?"

These people often assert their seniority by bringing up those "old stories" about how they used to work with that one or the other.

Sadly, this kind of thinking was apparently brought into the Body of Christ by persons who are used to its operation on their secular jobs. Also, the concept of "promotion" has come along with it, so churches say they now have annual "promotional exercises."

As the church strives to move closer to perfection and as leaders and laity strive to be more like Christ, we must review and examine matters like "the spirit of seniority" to see what the Holy Spirit has to say to us concerning it.

It seems to me that the "spirit of seniority" has rubbed off on many church leaders so the same feelings many persons are used to on their jobs can now be enjoyed inside the church. Now, deacons have rank — deacons and senior deacons. What an oxymoron!

The usher can now move to senior usher, the adjutant, senior adjutant, the psalmist to senior psalmist, the minister to senior minister and, not to be outdone, the bishop to senior bishop or archbishop.

Leaders in the body of Christ stand condemned for allowing some of the seniority issues to exist within the church. It is, what I believe is called, a sin of omission. Secondly, leaders stand condemned for enjoying the seniority spirit on their own behalf, and getting a constant "high" from it or experiencing strong feelings of pride and exaltation from it, and then encouraging and nurturing it within the church.

An individual can enter the gospel ministry ordained by no one because this is a free enterprise system and anyone is free to start a business or church, subject to a business license and other government requirements. And after renting a building, can begin services and put up a sign.

I declare that "the spirit of seniority" is a yoke. Everyone yoked to it forfeits or surrenders his or her ability to lead effectively, in the manner that Jesus did.