26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south[a] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.”30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?”[b] 38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip[c] baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Today is Ascension Sunday – always celebrated the Sunday before Pentecost. We are ordaining and installing new officers as elders and deacons for this congregation.
These individuals will guide and govern, encourage and serve alongside us in the life of this church.
It’s fitting to do this on Ascension Sunday. The Ascension is when the risen Jesus entrusts leadership of the church to the disciples.
He ascends into heaven and commissions ordinary people like us to be his witnesses.
There is no more direct access to ask the teacher for step-by-step instructions. Now it’s the Spirit, intuition, and faithful responsiveness to God’s guidance as it comes.
In our story from Acts, Philip is a good example. He’s a deacon, one of the seven chosen to wait on tables and care for practical needs.
Yet he becomes pivotal in the expansion of the church. He’s an ordinary leader who has an extraordinary witness through the Spirit’s guidance.
I want us to explore together what Philip can teach us about Spirit-led leadership that transforms not just individuals but creates a “church on the way.”
Specifically, three qualities Philip embodies:
- road-sign leadership that follows the Spirit’s guidance,
- curious engagement that meets people where they are,
- and permission-giving leadership that removes barriers.
These individual qualities create a church on the way.
The story begins with the Spirit’s direction to Philip: “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” That’s it.
No strategic plan, no target demographic analysis, no measurable outcomes, no three-year vision. Just “go to the desert road.” If you were Philip, that might seem random or even risky.
Last week, I was in New Jersey to preach at a summer chapel in Avalon, on the Jersey shore. The gig came with a house for the week, and I took a lot of reading and planning to do for our next church year; and I took our two youngest daughters with me to spend some time on the Jersey shore.
As we left Avalon on Tuesday to come home, one of the girls saw a sign pointing the way to the Garden State Parkway and asked an honest question that caught me by surprise: why do they put these signs on the road?
So, I explained about what life was like before GPS, when it could actually be helpful to have a road sign show up when you needed it.
There’s a difference between GPS leadership and road-sign leadership.
GPS leadership says, “I know exactly where we’re going, turn left in 500 feet, go for 25 miles, arrive at your destination in 23 minutes.”
Road-sign leadership is responsive to immediate guidance, flexible enough to take unexpected turns when the next marker appears.
The Spirit gives Philip only the next marker – “Gaza road” – not the complete route with an ETA.
Spirit-led leaders develop comfort with holy uncertainty. They trust prompts that don’t immediately make strategic sense.
When we’re facing difficult decisions, or fast-changing circumstances, when we’re moving through grief or navigating conflict (this could be in our personal lives or as a church)…sometimes we need road-sign responsiveness rather than predetermined pathways.
Don’t get me wrong – planning is good. Our staff just planned the next program year for the church. I just planned a year of preaching.
But, when does our desire for control and predictability hinder the Spirit’s movement?
When do we need to be willing to follow road signs that lead us places we hadn’t planned to go?
Philip follows the sign. He goes to the desert road because he is obedient to the Spirit, not knowing what he’ll find.
And what does he find? A man in a chariot, reading aloud from the scroll of Isaiah. Philip hears him reading and runs up to the chariot. Philip takes the initiative here – he doesn’t wait for an invitation or an appointment.
But notice what he says: “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
It’s a question. He’s not condescending, he’s genuinely interested.
The Ethiopian eunuch is as different from Philip as different can be – he’s powerful, wealthy, educated, from a foreign place far away – but Philip doesn’t assume anything about this man’s faith journey, his background, his needs, or his understanding. He leads with curiosity.
Let me illustrate it this way. Think about the difference between customer service and curiosity.
Customer service asks, “How can I help you?” and assumes the other person has a problem we can solve.
It’s transactional, even when it’s well-meaning. Customer service puts us as the expert with solutions.
But Philip shows curiosity and asks, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
He assumes the other person has agency, intelligence, and something to offer. He’s not problem-solving, he’s befriending.
Philip’s curiosity puts both of them as fellow travelers who might learn from each other.
And look what happens! The eunuch responds with honesty: “How can I [understand], unless someone guides me?” He’s honest about his limitations, and he takes agency in his own learning.
He invites Philip into the chariot – literally into his world. And as their conversation unfolds, the eunuch becomes the teacher, recognizing the moment for baptism and seizing it.
“Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?”
This is what engagement with curiosity looks like. Philip honors the eunuch’s otherness – his cultural differences, his foreignness, his elevated status – not as a problem to solve but as a gift to receive.
In today’s culture, many people in American society – maybe more than we realize – are open to spirituality and open to religious faith. But they are often skeptical of religious institutions, for good reasons.
And sometimes the patterns of life that the church organized itself around in generations past don’t fit them well today: 9:45 Sunday School, 11 am worship, Wednesday night dinner.
It would be unwise for us to look out on our culture as a problem to solve, or a situation to bemoan.
It is a gift to receive, and leadership that engages with curiosity approaches our culture and the people in it with genuine interest.
What if we approached differences with Philip’s curiosity rather than defensiveness?
Even in our personal lives, what if we approach others – especially the ones closest to us like a spouse, or parent, or a child – with genuine interest in what they’re experiencing, rather than with predetermined solutions?
What would change if we saw difference as gift rather than threat?
Philip gets into the chariot. He literally enters the eunuch’s world and discovers that this encounter will change both of their lives.
Which brings us to the crucial moment in the story.
As they’re traveling along the road, they come to some water, and the eunuch says, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?”
Now Philip could have listed requirements. He could have said, “Well, you’ll need to complete our baptism classes, meet with the session, demonstrate your commitment over time, go through the new member process.”
He could have explained that they really should do this back at the church in Jerusalem with witnesses and procedures. Philip was new to this – he was a deacon, not an apostle, he had never done this.
Instead, Philip gives an immediate yes to the Spirit’s movement. The text simply says, “He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.”
This has been an intentional shift for our congregation in recent years. Sometimes, historic churches like ours can become layered with groups and committees who “hold the keys,” who hold authority and tradition so closely that we create a culture of “no.”
In other words, the answer to any question is almost always going to be no.
It was part of strategic plan a few years ago to do our best to say “yes” unless we have a Spirit-led reason to say no.
We’ve been moving from a gate-keeping culture to a permission-giving culture. This is a response to younger generations and new members who are not receptive to structures that tamp down initiative. This is also an effort to allow for Spirit-movement.
Philip’s default position assumes readiness rather than unreadiness. He removes barriers rather than creates them. He acts on the eunuch’s spiritual initiative and trusts that the Spirit is already at work.
This doesn’t mean we abandon discernment or wisdom; structure and process are important. Instead, it is a call to look for ways to say yes, to remove obstacles, to create space for the Spirit to move.
Permission-giving leadership trusts that God is already at work in people’s lives and our job is to cooperate not control.
When individual leaders embody these qualities, the church is on its way in the world.
When leaders practice road-sign responsiveness, the whole congregation learns to watch for Spirit-movement.
When leaders approach people with curiosity, the whole church becomes a learning community.
When leaders embrace permission-giving, the whole church becomes fertile ground for gifts to emerge and initiative to flourish.
Look at the ripple effect of this encounter. The text tells us that the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.” He carried the gospel to Ethiopia, and this is the origin story of the Ethiopian Church.
Philip traveled on and proclaimed good news in every town until he reached Caesarea.
For those of you being ordained and installed today, I invite you to step into Philip-style leadership. Lead us to be a church that is truly on the way.
Let us be willing to follow road signs even when we can’t see the destination. Let us be people curious about what God is doing in the lives of others. Let us be ready to say yes when the Spirit moves, even if it doesn’t fit our usual procedures.
Let us not be a fortress defending familiar territory, but a people moving beyond our comfort zone, following the Spirit into unexpected encounters, creating space for God’s expansive kingdom to unfold.
Let us be on the way, a way that leads us into the wonder of God’s reign, into relationships that transform us, into ministry that reaches far beyond what we could plan or program.
Thanks be to God that we get to follow Jesus Christ on his way in the world.
Amen.
Rev. Patrick W. T. Johnson, Ph.D.
First Presbyterian Church
Asheville, North Carolina