Leadership in the Church

I read: 1 Timothy

The third chapter of Timothy looks at what it takes to be a leader in the church. Curiously, there isn't a list of things that someone has to know or accomplish; no M. Div. or "know the books of the Bible in order, backwards" or anything like that. It's talking about standards of character: respected, committed to his family, level-headed, "know what he's talking about" (not know everything, just understand the words coming out of his mouth), not a partier, not obsessed with money, not a new believer.

My roommate in college and I got along great but didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. One of them was the personal lives of our government leaders. He just didn't see what fidelity in marriage has to do with leadership. Here, in this chapter, Paul makes it clear why keeping marriage vows are important in terms of a person's character: if you can't keep a promise to your wife, the one you love more than anyone, how can you be trusted to keep your promises to anyone else? Paul says the same thing here when he states that if a leader can't commit to his family, how can he commit to the Church?

So, for those of us in leadership, hopefully we meet the standards that Paul has set. Unfortunately, we're going to make mistakes. Another one of my friends is thinking about a church job. This guy is a great friend, a great person, loves Christ, and will make a great leader. But, like everyone else, there is sin in his life that worried me knowing that he wanted to be a Church leader. I still don't know if it was my place, but I wrote an email calling him on it; the stuff going on in his life could be a major distraction to the work he wanted to do, even if it wasn't anyone else's business. I felt like that email was laid on my heart to write, but I didn't feel great writing it. Luckily he took it graciously and we're still friends although I'm still waiting to hear what he might have to say in reply.

I relate that because I think that not only is this chapter setting standards for new leaders, but also for us existing leaders. We need to look at this list and make sure we're keeping up. We need friends who are going to look at this list and make sure we're keeping up too. When I first started hearing the accountability buzzword going around, I will admit I didn't like it. I didn't want the intrusion in my life. I know what I'm supposed to do. But as Ben and Morpheus put it, there's a difference between "knowing the path and walking the path." As much as I know in my head, it's amazing the rest of me can still disobey. But it does. And I'm thankful for being called out because I can't do it alone. We are the Church for a reason: none of us can do it alone. Simply stated, we need each other. We need each other for much more than accountability but this leadership position puts us in a place of power, and we all know that with great power comes great responsibility. Let's not shoulder that burden ourselves.