QUALITIES OF A LEADER
Opening Prayer
Gracious God, as I read your Word today, show me where I need to apply it to my walk with you.
Read 1 TIMOTHY 3:1-7
Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons
3 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
Footnotes
- 1 Timothy 3:4 Or him with proper
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
My vicar’s wife used to say frequently, ‘You have the leaders you pray for!’ She constantly challenged the church to pray for her husband and other leaders within the church. How often do you pray for your church leaders?As I write this note, the news outlets in the UK are full of the story of a government minister who has been found to be following a lifestyle at variance with the advice he has been giving the public. Suddenly, everything he has done in his role as minister, and the integrity of the government as a whole, has been brought into disrepute, and the minister has had to resign.
Within the church, we believe that everyone is acceptable, everyone can be forgiven, no matter what they have done but, says Paul, the behavior of leaders matters! If the leader is shown to be acting without integrity, the whole church and God’s name are brought into disrepute.
A person in a leadership role needs to demonstrate that God’s transforming power has been at work in their public behavior, their marital relationship, their character, their relationships to their family and to others outside the family, their ability to communicate God’s Word to others, and their attitude toward finance. God sets high standards.
Apply
Think of a Christian leader that you admire—what qualities, character traits, or behavioral habits mark them out as a good leader?
Closing prayer
Thank you, Lord God, for my spiritual leaders. Protect, equip, and direct them.
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