Church Leadership: Church Leadership: Becoming a Church Leader (How To Lead)

If you are interested in learning more about being a faithful servant in the Lords Church you can listen to these sermons by Dr. Richard Caldwell:

The Temperament of a Godly Leader -    • The Temperament of A Godly Leader  

Other Related Sermons:
https://straighttruth.net/how-can-i-b...

Description:
I want to be a leader in my church, what steps are required? Are there specific qualifications I need to have to be a leader in the church? If I believe I’m called to be a deacon, an elder or pastor what should I do?

In this episode of the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Richard Caldwell and host Dr. Josh Philpot talk about the desire to become a leader in a local church. They discuss why a person might want to do this along with the biblical parameters and qualifications that need to be present along with the desire.

Dr. Caldwell begins by saying that it’s not wrong to want to be a leader, the Bible actually affirms this in 1 Timothy 3:1 saying, “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” Dr. Caldwell goes on to say it is not bad or wrong to desire noble things, but our desires need to be noble. Noble meaning - beautiful, good, honorable, and/or worthy. However, we should be willing to examine our motives and willing to ask ourselves, why do I want to become a leader? Do I see myself as being able to do something that will benefit the Church, or able to help the Church in such way? Do I want some sort of power or influence, am I wanting others to think highly of me? Having a desire to be a leader is a good thing, but our desires can be wrongheaded. Desires can be misinformed by the flesh, selfishness, and pride. What we need to ask ourselves is, have I been gifted for this. Do I want to use whatever gift God has given me for the purpose of fully honoring and glorifying Him? Do these desires fit with my giftedness? Ultimately, that is not something we are qualified to determine or judge by ourselves.

Dr. Caldwell says it important that we have a healthy ecclesiology, we need to understand what the Church is and how it functions. When we have this, we will understand that it is God who exalts people to leadership. When we are converted, God sovereignly assigns our gifts. We don’t get to choose or dictate what gifts we are given for ministry. We need to be humble, faithful and willing to be used wherever God chooses to place us. He resists proud people but gives grace to those who are humble. Jesus reminds us of this when He teaches His disciples that if anyone desires to be great, he must first be a servant to all. He even gives us an example of this kind of servant leadership. In the evening of the Passover before His death, He removes His outer garments, wraps Himself with a towel, stoops down and washes the feet of His disciples.

Dr. Caldwell tells us that the call to ministerial work is actually a process of discovery. If we find ourselves desiring to be used in the Lords Church we need to be humble, aspire to faithfulness, serve others and live a life that characterizes Christ. We can look to others who are already in leadership positions, let them help us walk through things and discover places to begin serving. Let them give us opportunities where we can be observed and examined for our giftedness. This gifting is spiritual, not natural. It may work in conjunction with other natural talents, strengths, and abilities that God has given. But, we need to let those in the Church recognize our gift and not judge our own service. God will help us determine, with the help of others, how and where our gift should be used. Look for the affirmations of the faithful leaders and others in our church. They will be able to see where we are most useful and our gift flourishes. In this way, we will be able to rejoice that we didn’t do this of ourselves, but that God placed us in our position.