The more I journey in the church the more I find people who want to be in charge of something, but are not willing to do what it takes to be in a leadership role. This must not be a new thing as Paul writes to Titus to let him know what to look for in a leader in the church. The qualifications are clear and rigorous. I wonder how many of us as leaders in the church can honestly measure up?
It is easy to look at lists such as this and consider them nice but ancient and therefore not applicable. On the contrary while these qualifications have been around for thousands of years they are not less valid, in fact their longevity seems to add to their validity. Leadership in the church is open to all people, and I do mean all people. The catch if you will, is we have to be willing to submit to something greater than ourselves and our own wants and desires. Leadership is not an anything goes activity.
Many great leaders forfeit their opportunities to lead because they are not willing to conform their lives to a standard other than their own. In the church that standard is the teachings of Scripture about how we are to live our lives. We might not like it, and can easily see where it might exclude some. However, it is not the standard which excludes, it is the choice to not meet the standard which excludes.
If you are not called to leadership, are you exempt from the teachings. Absolutely not. The qualifications for a leader are the standards by which all followers of Jesus are called to live. Leaders merely are called to model this lifestyle to the community of followers and the world at large in a more up front way. May we all live the call of Christ in our lives.
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