Sue Baynes Councillor Advisor – Pastoral Care, Gold Coast City Council
Gold Coast City Council governs a large local government area in SE QLD with 14 elected councillors and a Mayor, Tom Tate, responsible to the community of over 700,000 people. Our city population balloons to way over 1 million people during peak holiday seasons and has recently been identified as Australia’s largest and fastest-growing non-capital city. Our economy has outpaced major capitals like Sydney and Melbourne and shows no signs of slowing. Positioned as the third tier in government operating below the state and federal levels, the Council has direct authority over daily life and local development, within limits.
Against that backdrop I have the privilege of serving in the City Council as Councillor Advisor – Pastoral Care. This role is unique, positioning me outside the space of political advocacy and instead within one of spiritual guidance and support. One of the key challenges in navigating such a role is understanding the boundary between seeking to win a political issue or argument and remaining grounded as a faithful advisor, specifically to the Mayor, for careful consideration of the outcomes of decisions from a Biblical perspective.
In this context, we can understand the function of a City Council as a governmental body with potential for Kingdom influence to be transmitted into the daily life of its population dependent upon the voices and influence capacity of decision-makers within the institution. Hopefully, Kingdom-minded and Kingdom-motivated followers of Jesus are becoming increasingly engaged in government spaces to bring the Kingdom solutions and strategies that are so desperately needed.
What does the Word of God say about His followers speaking into the public life of a city? Is there a Biblical model of a City Council with representatives of the King who can give voice to His Will in the city? The answer is a clear YES!
In Scripture, the word ekklesia does not describe a passive audience of Christians gathered inside four walls every Sunday morning. It refers to a people called out and sent in – called out from the Body of believers and sent into the everyday workplace, school, family arena of life – those summoned to represent the King and give voice to His will in the public life of a city. In this sense, God’s ekklesia functions as His City Council: a mature, unified body entrusted with spiritual authority and civic responsibility releasing His Kingdom values and principles into the city.
We see the Apostle Paul urging the Church to rise into this calling through unity and maturity. From prison, he writes not to flatter believers, but to commission them:
Ephesians 4:1 – “I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received.”
This calling is not individualistic but is grounded in a shared calling of identity and leadership into a higher level of maturity and authority.
God’s City Council
Recently, the Gold Coast Pastor’s Roundtable restructured to create a level of membership open to Pastors who are jointly committed to transforming the city through the love and ministry of Jesus. These Christian leaders have demonstrated their commitment through their wallets (finance), calendars (time) and prayer.
Given an opportunity to pray at the first meeting of this group I was led to “mark the moment” as a stepping up into a new level of city leadership aligned with the Biblical model of an ekklesia.
Keys for the ekklesia to function in authority are:
- Maturity
- Humility
- Unity
Maturity
The leaders assembled around that table must understand that their leadership gifts are not titles for status but tools to serve others. Their purpose is to govern in the Spirit, in prayer, wisdom, justice, mercy, and truth for the benefit of the city. As Spiritual gatekeepers the ekklesia stand up to protect, nurture and provide avenues for the King and His Kingdom to enter the city.
Psalm 24: 7-10 – “lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – he is the King of glory.”
Immature, self-promoted leaders seeking for approval and position are not ready for such places of responsibility.
Humility
Jesus is our model. He redefined through His humility what leadership looks like – not power, status, or control, but service, sacrifice, and obedience. His whole life is a lesson on servant leadership and at the end His ultimate act of humility is His willingness to suffer unjustly for others, giving Himself fully in love as He sacrificed His life for mankind.
The Apostle Paul laid out the Heavenly pattern for the ekklesia in this Scripture –
Philippians 2:3-4 – “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Pride is the enemy of humility, and His City Council must reject, renounce and repent from every face of pride in order to function in God’s authority.
Unity
God’s City Council cannot function while divided. Fragmentation silences authority but unity amplifies it. The ekklesia speaks with weight when it speaks together, and this group of city leaders has journeyed long and hard along the road from competition and criticism to collaboration and oneness.
Ephesians 4:4–6 – “There is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all.”
My Prayer for God’s City Council
This kind of ekklesia – God’s City Council – does not merely react to culture; it shapes it. It listens for Heaven’s counsel and releases it over workplaces, schools, streets, families, and institutions. Like a city council, it carries responsibility for the wellbeing of others, not by domination, but by righteous influence.
To witness fellow Pastors stepping into this new level of leadership in the city has brought great encouragement to me. When the ekklesia knows who it is, the city begins to feel the weight of God’s Kingdom expressed through a people who commit to speak, serve, and stand together led by faithful, mature, humble leaders united by faith. May His Kingdom come, and His Will be done in the city of the Gold Coast and others around our nation.
