In the Bible, there are many roles and titles for spiritual leaders. There are prophets, prophetesses, pastors, missionaries, elders, deacons, deaconesses and several other titles. In the church, as in our regular lives, we often get caught up in the titles. Anyone can have a title and you can often make it sound more impressive than the job itself. For example, I saw a title for an HR position as Culture Operations Manager, a maintenance position was labeled as Chief Power Plugs and Patches Officer, and an office assistant was labeled as Manager of Office Operations. Often these titles are meant to be funny but it’s amazing how much importance we put into a title.
Instead of looking at our titles as workers in the body of Christ, we should look at the qualifications instead.
The first qualification is that we are servants. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Not very glamorous but modeled for us by Jesus Himself.
Another qualification is a shepherd. 1 Peter 5:1-2 says, “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;”
As a follower of Jesus, a leader is an effective prayer warrior. James, the brother of Jesus, put it this way, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:13-16.)
We also need to correctly handle the Word of God. 2 Timothy says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” In this verse we are to present ourselves to God as one approved AND, to handle God’s Word correctly, not using God’s Word to say what we want it to say.
Most of the qualifications for leadership in the body of Christ have to do with good character. Why do you think this is so important? Are there areas you need to grow in? As disciples of Jesus, my prayer is that as we grow more Christ-like, He will guide us to where He wants us to serve the body.