Christian Leadership
Over the last few days, I’ve been doing some studying, thinking, praying, and reflection on Christian leadership. And, I’ve come to a conclusion…
I wish that those of us Christians in positions of leadership would put down all the Christian leadership books. That’s right…put down that John Maxwell book and burn your copy of “Jesus as CEO”. It’s not that these books are ALL wrong. There is some good stuff if you learn how to sift through the dung. But, rather than relying on the words of these authors, how about relying on the Scripture?
I’ve read many of the Christian leadership books out there and have gained some wisdom from them. However, I think the Church today would be much better off if we simply expected our Christian leaders to be “above reproach, the husband of but one wife (or the wife of one husband), temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money…have a good reputation with outsiders…” and people that are “worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.” (see 1 Timothy 3)
And, I think the Church would be better off if we held accountable our leaders that aren’t living up to the call. Pastors should be people of integrity. Pastors should be open and honest. Pastors that aren’t living up to the call and try to hide their failures do so much more damage than good. The fear of people “finding out who I really am” has motivated many pastors just to brush the crumbs of their failures under the rug…not owning up to them. And, when the truth comes out…it’s often disastrous for the church, the pastor, and those outside the church. Every time there is some church scandal or some pastor says something stupid on Larry King, my heart breaks because I know my non-Christian friends are going to grow even more cynical and skeptical.
I think pastors should start off each morning by reviewing 1 Timothy 3; 2 Timothy 2:15-26; and Titus 1:5-16. These passages remind us of our call, our responsibility. Use this as a measure…as a tool to help motivate us and lead us throughout our days. It’s easy for pastors to get caught up in pride, ego, business, and loose sight of reality. We are not above sin…but we have a lot of responsibility. “Not many of you should presume to be teachers because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1). So, in light of that, we need to make sure we are living up to the call. And, if not, maybe we shouldn’t be doing what we’re doing.