The Little Letters - Day 31

9 I wrote to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us. 10 When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church.
So, even in the earliest times of the church there were divisions. This is uncomfortable, but it is true. This guy Diotrephes seems to have a bit of a stranglehold on the church at this point. It is interesting that the Elder was willing to call it out by name! It must have gotten to a spot where it could no longer be ignored.

Have you ever seen a church go through a difficult time? Have you ever seen a leader lead in a way that was autocratic and unsafe for many in the congregation? This kind of leadership is dangerous in the church, and deathly outside of the church.
There are always some in the church that are interested in leadership roles for their own aggrandizement, for their own feelings of power, and to wield that power in a way that is less than healthy. It seems weird that a church is a place where they would choose to visit this kind of unhealthy outlook.

However, churches are structures just like anything else. They are institutions and as such they need structure and leadership. When that leadership becomes abusive it no longer honors God and damages people. I hope you have never experienced anything like this before, and I hope you never will.
 
It seems that Diotrephes was not just a bad leader, either. The author seems to indicate that all of this was done knowingly and with malintent. I imagine that it was super discouraging for the congregation to be impossibly led by someone who was trying to exert so much authority and seemed to be so antithetical to the gospel of inclusivity that the Elder had worked so hard for them to understand.

What do you do when there is a leader that you don’t agree with and have concerns might be leading from a bad place? Do you take them head-on? Do you work to undermine their influence? How can you approach this kind of situation with both grace but also a firm hand?
We don’t know exactly what John did, but we do know that there are a few ways to approach this kind of leadership. The best way is usually to use the accountability structure that is in place for the organization that you are concerned with. Usually, there are ways to lodge a complaint, there are ways to have a conversation, or there are ways to approach grievances. If these ways do not work, you may need to seek outside counsel in order to have a conversation that will approach these issues.

1. What do you do when leadership is a bit out of control? 
2. How can you approach the organization or person that will allow your concerns to be heard, while also trying to preserve any relationship you might have. 
3. Have you ever been in this situation? What did you do and how did it work out? 
4. Can all of this be done for the Glory of God? And what would that look like?