What are the Four Elements that Confirm a Call to Church Leadership? (Calling, Part 4)
Series: Calling (Part 4)
Author: Dr. Steven L. Childers
Title: Elements of a Leader’s Call
Now we come to the question, “How can someone know if they are called by God to be a church leader? One whose secondary calling is to equip followers of Christ to do the work of ministry. What are the essential elements of such a call?”
We're going to look at four elements, and we will call them true spirituality element number one, and then proven ability, number two, element three would be virtuous affinity, and then the last one, four, would be confirmed opportunity. These are concepts that sum up the major characteristics of someone we would call a church leader.
Let's begin with a look at true spirituality. God cares so much about having qualified church leaders, that he has actually placed in Scripture, a detailed job description of a church leader. Two of the primary most familiar passages would be in 1st Timothy 3, the description of an overseer, and Titus 1, the description of an elder.
This divinely inspired church leader job description places its greatest emphasis not on theological knowledge or even on ministry skills, but primarily on Christian character. And this again runs very contrary to the common view of what a church leader should be in that it is not charisma, it's not skill it's not theological knowledge it's primarily character.
As Scottish pastor Robert Murray McCheyne once said, “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness.” McCheyne understood holiness to not be dutiful legalism, but a deep abiding love for God that shows itself in a deep love for people. Or better yet the words of Scripture, where the apostle Paul wrote, “and now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). So the first mark of a Christian leader, the first qualification, this is a person who has a deep love for God that is manifested in a deep and sincere and authentic love for people.
The second element of a call to be a church leader is what we’re calling here, proven ability. By ability, I mean you must have both the gifts from God the spiritual gifts, as well as experience through which these gifts and skills have been developed and tested and proven. Now, spiritual gifts are listed primarily in four places in the New Testament: in Romans 12, and 1st Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1st Peter 4.
The nature and overlap of these lists of gifts in Scripture imply that they should not be seen as either absolute or exhaustive. By that I mean, by not absolute I mean that it's possible for some gifts to be listed in Scripture that are not given today, and by not exhaustive I mean it's possible for some gifts to be given by God today that are not listed in Scripture.
There is for instance, no gift of prayer or evangelism listed in Scripture but that does not necessarily mean there isn't such a gift of prayer or evangelism. The key question that we’re looking at here is what gifts are needed to be a church leader. The answer is, very simply the gifts necessary to do the work of a church leader, the gifts necessary to equip followers of Christ to do the work of the ministry.
So of course the gifts implied, even in the names of the offices will be needed. And in light of the concept of offices, a gifted church leader should be reflecting the person and the work of Christ in his offices as prophet, priest, and king.
And in a prophetic role, usually that means communication gifts, the area of preaching or teaching those are listed in Romans 12:6 and 1st Corinthians 12:19; if you understand the gift of prophecy as being similar to preaching, that would be there. Romans 12:7 actually refers to the gift of teaching, that is a different gift from merely preaching. And 1st Corinthians 4:11 actually refers to a gift of speaking, which is a different Greek word than a gift for prophecy or the gift of teaching.
In the priestly role, this would be gifts of shepherding or encouraging in Romans 12:8. There is reference to the gift of exhortation, the Greek word translated there is also found in 2nd Corinthians 1 translated as “comfort” that God comforts us in our affliction. And so this would be the gift of being able to comfort and tend, and care for God's people. For example, a pastor or a shepherd is someone who needs the gifts necessary to love the sheep well, to care for them; Jesus said if you love me, tend my lambs, and feed my sheep. A good Shepherd has the ability to feed them well in terms of Scripture, care for them when they’re hurt or sick, and even defend them against anything that threatens them. Often the reference there is to false doctrine or false teachers.
Then as we come to the kingly role, often people look to Romans 12:8, the gift of leadership sometimes 1st Corinthians 12:8, the gift of faith.
There's a danger in listing all these, please don't misunderstand, this doesn't mean that you must have strong gifts and skills in all these areas, no such person outside of Jesus has ever. And your awareness of a lack of giftedness or skills in an important area can be very, very good because you intentionally focus on the developing of those gifts and skills more. And you actually have an advantage in some ways, because you must serve Christ out of your weakness in those areas and God often specializes in showing his strength in someone's weakness.
The third element we call virtuous affinity speaks to the desire and the heart motivation to plant or pastor a church. Paul writes in 1st Timothy 3 “the saying is trustworthy, if anyone aspires to the office of overseer he desires a noble task.” This word translated “desires” here is actually a very strong Greek word that desires strongly a noble task. The assumption here seems to be that those called to the office of overseer desire it, they feel compelled to do it.
Now granted, a lot of people have aspired to the office, and they have not been gifted or called to it. Many aspire to this office for wrong reasons, they need to be in control or authority, the need for security, whatever. But the opposite is also true, a lot of people have not aspired to the office but they have been called because they just haven't aspired yet, they haven't desired yet, for many the desire does not come until after the gifts have been stirred up while they have been serving.
But it would not be normal for someone called to be a church leader not to desire it, just as it would not be normal for someone called to marry someone else not to desire it. It can happen and the desire can come later, it just does not seem to be the normal way that God calls his leaders.
The last element, we are calling, confirmed opportunity. It is possible for someone to have true spirituality, proven ability, virtuous affinity, and still not have the necessary element of a confirmed opportunity. In other words, there must be people who see these elements in your life and confirm God's calling by giving you an opportunity to use your gifts in serving them. There must be a need somewhere, and an opportunity where people want you, call you to lead them, and to shepherd them, and to equip them. And you of course have an understanding of what that need is in its vision and the sense of calling to plant, grow, and multiply a church there to help meet that need.
Pastor and author Tim Keller makes a point that not everyone has the same starting point in seeing and developing these three elements of ability affinity an opportunity. In other words, for some leaders they have the entry point of ability and then they move from that to discovering affinity and then an opportunity unfolds itself.
Or for others they have an affinity first and a desire to do a particular work, and then the opportunity arises, and all of a sudden they see the need to develop the ability and they do, or somebody just has an opportunity thrust on them and pretty soon they start having a desire to do it and develop the abilities. And so as you begin to explore these different elements in your life, understand that they often appear in different orders.