Demystifying Leadership of The Church- Lesson 7 from 2010

Lots of people rightly complain that too many churches identify leaders based on an American political model. So, they'll say, "the church is full of and run by politics!" Agreed! And most of us hate politics in the church. Politics means that leaders are identified for these type  of reasons:

• influence: a person has influence in business, government, or finances SO we give them influence IN the church,
• popularity: a person is popular and everyone likes them SO they should be in leadership,
• the vast majority of people in the church like the person or vote for that person So they should, by virtue of democratic vote, be in some type of leadership,
• secular leadership: a person is a leader elsewhere SO they must be able to lead in the church,
• money: they give lots of money SO let's give them a voice for how that money should be used.

Okay, you read that list and could probably add lots more to it. But the point is, that we hate politics and hidden/ false agendas within the Kingdom of God.

So, how does the Bible state the leaders are identified? Let's Demystify the Leadership Code in The Church:

• Spiritual Maturity: Paul tells Timothy that leaders in the Church should not be novices, young and immature in their relationship with Christ (1 Tim 3:6). Maturity is not measured by years but spiritual growth, in essence, is a Jesus-follower a reading the Word, in prayer, and multiplying by sharing and showing God's love with others.
• Character: people who are growing in the Character of Christ can be entrusted with influence and leadership. The Church can only give influence to those who exhibit growing Christ-like character, and must remove from leadership those who consistently demonstrate a lack of character and are unteachable or unwilling to repent (1 Tim 3).
• Competence: obviously a person must be capable of either leading now or learning to lead, in order to be a leader in a particular area of the Church. This means they have the capacity, giftedness, desire, and willingness to lead well (Romans 12),
• Calling: along with giftedness, a person must have the heart or passion from God to lead. People don't ask to lead, they are asked by God to lead. Ephesians 4 makes it clear that God gives to the Church the gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers for the equipping of the saints...
• Faithful: leaders prove themselves by being faithful in lesser areas of responsibility and influence. If a person is unwilling to do the unnoticeable tasks, they won't be faithful in areas of greater influence. Jesus taught that within His Kingdom, those who are faithful with little will be entrusted with much and vice versa. Luke 16:10-12.
• Fruitful: a person could be all of the above and still not be a leader, if they are not fruitful. Seed that lands of good soil, in Matthew 13, produces a fruitful harvest of 100, 60, or at least 30 times what was sown. We can recognize leaders within the Church by those who take the "little" that has been invested and given to them, and they produce "much" with it. They share and show God's love. They make disciples and lead people to Jesus. They develop others into servants of Christ, leaders in the Church, and help others grow.

There it is! Those ware the demystified keys of how we identify leadership within The Church according to the Bible?!