The Leaders Preparation

Section 3
The
Leader’s
Preparation
Study chapter 3 in Blackaby
Study chapters 5-6 in Sanders

Monday 7 November 2011

Chapter 5
Can you become a leader?
In selecting his leaders Jesus
ignored all his days conventional
wisdom about leadership - he took
untrained and un-inﬂuential people
and made them into world
changers.
Today we might look for superstars
to make up our leadership group
Jesus took humble unsophisticated
people - those unaffected by the
values of life in their day. He chose
workers not the professional pastors
of his day.

Hudson Taylor took mainly lay men and
women for his team in China. It shocked
the Christian world.
Jesus chose uneducated people - yet
they became amazing - he saw the
potential in them - and then under his
expert guidance shaped and trained
them to change the world.
Sanders says, “to their latent talents
were added fervent devotion and
ﬁerce loyalty, honed in the school of
failure and fatigue.”
Natural leadership talents do show
potential in a persons life - we need
then to investigate this and use it for
Christ’s glory

Investigating your leadership
potential
How do you identify and deal
with bad habits - have you
mastered your own appetites and
habits?
Do you maintain self control
when things go wrong? Do you
lose your temper or remain calm
and controlled?
Can you think independently?
Do you follow others ideas or wait
for others before making up your
own mind?

How do you respond to criticism?
Do you learn from it, or react to it?
Do you turn disappointment into
new opportunities? How do you act
in the face of disappointments?
Do you readily gain the respect
and cooperation of others?
Can you exercise discipline
without making it into a big issue?
When correcting or rebuking are you
still constructive with people? Do
you threaten people?


Are you able to act as a
peacemaker - do you try to
reconcile people?
Do people trust you with
difﬁcult and delicate matters?
Can you inﬂuence people to do
legitimate things they might not
want to - and yet still make them
feel valued?
Can you make and keep
friends- a circle of loyal friends
shows leadership potential


Can you face opposition to your
point of view without taking
offence?
Do you need other peoples
approval and praise to keep
going? How do you handle people
losing conﬁdence in you?
Are you comfortable with a
stranger, with a superior?
Are you sympathetic and
friendly?
Are you interested in all types of
people - regardless of race,
gender etc.?

Are you tactful - do you think
about what you say and how it will
affect other people?
Is your will strong and steady? -
not vacillating or stubborn
Can you readily forgive - or do
you bear a grudge?
Are you optimistic? - pessimism
is not good in a leader
Do you have a strong passion - a
focus for your life?
How do you respond to new
responsibilities?

RE Thompson suggests these
tests for relationships:
Do other peoples failures
challenge or annoy you?
Do you “use” other people
or cultivate them?
Do you direct people or
develop them?
Do you criticise or
encourage?
Do you shun or seek the
person who has a special
need or problem?

Such self examination questions
are meaningless unless we do
something about what we
discover.
This is a leadership test in itself!
Take time to prayerfully consider
what you have found - then decide,
with the help of the Holy Spirit, on
the course of corrective action you
will take. Pray and work, towards
greater Christlikeness.
Where do you feel most
convicted about the questions in
this chapter?

Chapter 6
Insights on leadership from paul
1 Tim 3:2-7
Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his
wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable,
able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but
gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 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 respect.
(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family,
how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a
recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall
under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have
a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall
into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

Paul embodied the principles of
leadership that he wrote about in
his letters.
He described the solid foundation
for church and a believers life in 1
Cor 3:9-17
The more Paul is studied and
analysed as a leader the greater his
inﬂuence becomes - AWY called
him the worlds most successful
Christian.
Paul was amazingly qualiﬁed for the
job God called him to - Sanders
suggests the following modern day
equivalent:

Someone who could speak
Chinese in Beijing whilst quoting
Confucius and Mencius - write
cogent theology and teach it at
Oxford - defend his cause using
ﬂuent Russian before the Soviet
Academy of Sciences.
Paul was an incredibly versatile
leader - he spoke with statesmen
and soldiers, adults and children,
kings and royal ofﬁcials. He was
at ease with philosophers,
theologians and pagan idol
worshippers.

Paul had a brilliant grasp of the OT
- having studied under Gamaliel he
was second to no one as a student.
Gal 1:14
I was advancing in Judaism beyond
many of my own age among my
people and was extremely zealous
for the traditions of my fathers.
Paul was undoubtedly a natural
leader - in encountering Christ he
became a great spiritual leader. His
ambition was boundlessly Christ-
centred.


Love for Christ and obligation to
share Christ motivated Paul - and led
him to share in all cultures, to all
peoples.
Rom 1:14
I am obligated both to Greeks and
non-Greeks, both to the wise and the
foolish.
2 Cor 5:14
For Christ’s love compels us,
because we are convinced that one
died for all, and therefore all died.
Paul had great experience and
schooling - but also anointing,
illumination and inspiration of the
Holy Spirit.

Going back to 1 Tim 3:
Social Qualiﬁcations
Above reproach - no one should have
any grounds to make accusations
against a Christian leader - no gossip
stands here.
A good reputation outside the church
too - the world reads our lives - all
needs to be in synch, life and
message.
The high ideals of a Christian leader
might be criticized but still they
should be lived out for all to see. Our
character should command respect,
inspire conﬁdence and be an
example to all.

Moral qualiﬁcations
Moral principles are always under
attack - especially sexual morality.
A leader should be totally
blameless in this area, totally
faithful in marriage.
Temperate - not addicted to
alcohol,
“Drunkenness is a disgrace
when it captures a Christian”
No secret vice should undermine
your public witness.


Mental qualiﬁcations
A leader should be prudent with
sound judgement - a well balanced
state of mind resulting from self
restraint as a daily discipline.
A disciplined mind prevents anyone
ﬂying to extremes of opinion. In
Greek opinion;
Courage = balance of rashness and
timidity
Purity = balance of prudery and
immorality
This means control of personality,
habits and passions.


The leaders mind should lead to an
ordered life.
A leader must always be ready to
speak - this aims to help others
grow in their spiritual life and
understanding. A blameless life
should be led to exemplify this.
Teaching is hard work - it requires
time, preparation, study and prayer.


John Wesley - did not disparage the
mind, promoted knowledge of the
scriptures and spiritual renewal -
intellectually gifted and knew
English literature well - someone
said of his sermons that they knew
of no sermons that gave a greater
evidence of an intimate knowledge
of classical and general literature
than Wesley - yet he was widely
known as a person of one book
He was widely read and yet
focussed on the scriptures - an
intellect devoted to God.


Personality qualiﬁcations
“If you would rather pick a ﬁght than
solve a problem, do not consider
leading the church”
Christian leaders should be genial
and gentle - be actively considerate,
not passive and not withdrawn,
seeking a peaceful solution and able
to diffuse an explosive one.
Hospitality should be seen as a
privilege of service - The Shepherd of
Hermas, says of a bishop that he
“must be hospitable, a man who
gladly and at all times welcomes
into his house the servants of God”

Covetousness and its twin, the
love of money, disqualify a
person from leadership - you
are not in the ministry for the
money! The higher calling often
involves the lower remuneration.

covetous |ˈkəvətəs|
having or showing a great desire
to possess something, typically
something belonging to
someone else : she ﬁngered the
linen with covetous hands. See
note at greedy .

Domestic qualiﬁcations
1 Tim 3:4 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 respect.
He should not be a stern unsmiling
dominant man - mutual respect and
supportive harmony should exist.
In a marriage husband and wife
should have the same aspirations
and be prepared to make the same
sacriﬁces. Without this agreement
ministry becomes impossible. If
children are unrestrained how can
you be hospitable, if your family is a
mess can you lead other families?

“While a leader cares for church
and mission, he must not neglect
the family, which is his primary
and personal responsibility.”
Ministry does not exclude us from
the legitimate duties we have at
home.
If you do not lead (and gain
respect) at home - you cannot lead
in ministry.


Maturity
Spiritual maturity is indispensable to
good leadership.
Plants grow in time - they do not
mature immediately - to paraphrase
JA Bengle, “Young Christians might
have lots of green leaves showing
life, but no sign of having been
pruned by the cross”.
1 Tim 3:10 They must ﬁrst be tested;
and then if there is nothing against
them, let them serve as deacons.
Sanders notes Paul expected
maturity in Ephesus where the
church was 10 years old - bit not in
new churches on Crete Titus 1:5-9

1 Tim 3:6 He must not be a recent
convert, or he may become
conceited and fall under the same
judgment as the devil
Great care needs to be taken in
giving people roles and
responsibilities in the church - give
opportunities to serve but not too
fast in case the person gets puffed
up - but be careful not to hold back
too much for fear of
discouragement.
Sanders suggests Timothy was
converted during Paul’s 1st journey
and ordained in the 2nd. (Acts
14:23)

“It is the mark of a grown
up man, as compared with
a callow youth, that he
ﬁnds his centre of gravity
wherever he happens to be
at that moment, and
however much he longs for
the object of his desire, it
cannot prevent him from
staying at his post and
doing his duty.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer


Steadfastness accompanies
growing maturity and stability -
it has a large spirit and broad
vision - in Paul a narrow minded
bigot encountered Christ and
became full hearted, broadened
in view and full of deep
convictions.
The world demands high
standards of its leaders - how
much more should the church?


Questions
Which of the ares mentioned
here do you most need to
focus on?
Social
Moral
Mental
Personality
Domestic
Maturity
Paul had boundless Christ-
centred ambition - what is the
level of such ambition in your
life, how can this be seen and
expressed most clearly?

The Leaders Preparation

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