Who is the head of your church? Is it your pastor? Is it your elder body or maybe your deacon body? Is your congregation as a whole? Is it that matriarch or patriarch who seems to hold all sway?

There might be several answers a church would give if they were being truthful, but there’s really only one answer we should give, which is Jesus. Jesus should be the head of your church.

Your body doesn’t function by committee. Your stomach doesn’t vote on whether to digest. Your lungs don’t debate breathing rates. Everything responds to signals from your head—instantly, completely, without negotiation. And Colossians 1:18 says that Jesus is the head of the church.

This imagery is deliberately. Christ isn’t the church’s mascot, advisor, or inspirational founder. He’s the head. The church exists as His body, animated by His will, directed by His purposes, empowered by His life.

As the church’s head, He gets final authority over everything the church does. Our programs, preferences, and traditions must submit to His leadership. We don’t get to override the head’s decisions because we prefer something else. No, we must follow our head.

And the church functions properly only when connected to Him. A body severed from its head is dead. Churches, who cut themselves off from Christ’s headship, can have buildings, budgets, and busy schedules, but they will be spiritually lifeless.

But those who honor their head and follow their head and love their head, Christ, will flourish.

Is your church life connected to Christ as head? Are you listening to His direction or just maintaining religious routines? A functional body must follow its head. Make sure yours does.

Change begins in you!