The Christian Leader - Part 1
The Christian leader is going to look different than a corporate, sports, military, government or institutional leader. If they don’t something has gone awry. The Christian is motivated by an entirely different set of circumstances and desired outcomes. (I am not sure the word ‘outcome’ is the correct word to use – it smacks of production values, something largely antithetical to Christ’s kingdom.)
Leadership is a gift. It is more gift than aspiration. We may and can aspire to leadership, but certain parameters define the prerequisite character and lifestyle of the aspirant. “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.”
We see here that the leader is already defined by their age, community standing (respect in and outside the church), and they manifest specific social, ethical and moral attributes. No place for the would be – more a recognition of the already have. You can’t write your own ticket, without consideration of the qualities Paul enumerates in his letter to Timothy. (1Timothy 3:1-7)
Romans 12:4-8 speaks of various gifts that inhabit, help constitute and define the church. Leadership is one of them.
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Leadership is a gift; it is a grace. Not everyone has it, not everyone is one - in spite of the misguided blandishment insisting everyone is, or can be, a leader. Scripture and life experience identify some as leaders; it is a gift; most aren’t leaders as they don’t have the gift.
Part 1 of 3