Let’s talk about leadership. Some, in both the religious and secular world, would argue that quality leadership is among the highest priorities of any group of people with a goal to achieve. In the famous words of John Maxwell, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” This is true whether you are running a business, building a community organization or social club, forming a movement to change culture, or overseeing the church of God.
Declaring Spiritual Independence
For some, talking about spiritual leadership carries a connotation of oppression, and they fight against it. There are entire movements within the Christian community that argue against “organized religion” or any kind of spiritual oversight within the church.
Partly, this comes from evangelicalisms roots in the Protestant reformation, when the unbiblical overreaches of the Catholic hierarchy were overthrown. To be sure, this was necessary. The church was never intended to have a king claiming to sit on the throne of Jesus Christ in the world. The church was also never intended to choose its leaders based on wealth, family lineage, or political and military abilities.
Jesus said that the leadership structure of His church would be “upside down” from the world’s leadership, and that the highest level leaders would be “servant of all” (see Mark 10:42-45). Remembering the long history of spiritual abuses by church leaders for centuries, we thank God for reforming the structures, and moving Christianity back to the grassroots levels. This, however, does not nullify the need for leadership.
Still, there are many today who want to throw off all spiritual authority. They believe that “personal salvation” implies complete autonomy in their spiritual life and sanctification. Not only do many want to do away with large organized structures of leadership, such as denominational oversight or national fellowships, but they want to do away with pastors and elders in the local church.
In my ministry in East Africa, where I oversee Sozo Ministries’ 35 churches, I have been accused of being an abusive spiritual dictator for simply following clear and biblical church discipline procedures to correct or remove unqualified pastors within our network. Recently, when I removed a pastor from our ministry for refusal to repent of sin and comply with our ministry policy, I felt the need to let our broader network know. There was nothing said about his sinful behavior or that he had been removed for wrongdoing. I simply said that this pastor “has chosen to leave Sozo Ministries International and will no longer be representing our ministry in any capacity.”
This, however, was met by a personal attack from someone outside of our ministry, who knew the pastor, but not the full details of his sin. They claimed I had made a direct attack on this pastor, intending to destroy his future in ministry, and accused me of unbiblically elevating myself over others, whereas (in their opinion) God has made everyone equal. According to this person, no ministry leader has the right to pass judgement (i.e. attempt to correct the sinfulness) of other leaders who serve under or alongside them.
I am not sharing this story to justify the actions I have taken within our ministry. I believe the Bible when it says I will stand before God and be held to a higher standard for how I have led my ministry (James 3:1), and I do not take that reality lightly. I am simply using this experience to point out how some want to throw off any spiritual leadership, as though God’s intentions were to invest all authority into individual Christians privately, rather than to publicly call leaders to stand as overseers of His church.
God Appoints Leaders
The truth is that God’s original plan was that every individual would be equal, and would be led by Himself alone. However, since the day sin entered into the world, God has appointed leaders among humanity.
- He appointed the man to be the leader in his home (Genesis 3:16).
- He appointed the formation of nations (Genesis 11:8, Deuteronomy 32:8), and the establishment of national leaders (Genesis 17:4, Daniel 2:21).
- He began to raise up righteous men to stand in positions of leadership for the benefit of His people, like Joseph (Genesis 41:44 and 50:19-20) and Daniel (Daniel 2:47-48).
- He appointed men who would be deliverers and defenders of His people, Israel (Moses, David, Nehemiah).
- He appointed the Judges (male and female) to defend His people, and keep the peace within Israel.
- He appointed Priests to act as mediators between Himself and sinful humanity.
- He appointed Prophets (male and female) to declare His Word and call His people to faithfulness and repentance.
- He appointed Kings to lead the nation of Israel in righteousness.
- In the New Testament, Jesus appointed the 12 Apostles to build the church He established, after He returned to heaven.
- Later, He gave to the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (male and female in each category) to lead the church until we all, finally, reach maturity in Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16). (I believe this will happen at His return.)
While it is true that at the final judgement men will cast all their crowns (authority) at the feet of Jesus, we cannot deny that until that day comes, God looks for, calls, and appoints men and women who will lead in every area of life, including the church.
Am I Called by God?
One of the most challenging questions we must ask ourselves, if we are to take on a role in spiritual leadership, is whether or not God has called us to that role, and if we are qualified to step into the work.
As we move ahead in this series, we will discuss the qualifications for spiritual leadership, at length. For now, let me focus on the “called” question.
I am convinced that God’s “calling” of people into ministry hinges as much on our own willingness and desires, as it does on His sovereign appointment. For example, in the Old Testament, God often speaks of “searching for a man” who had a heart to seek God and lead the people:
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Isaiah 6:8
(God says) And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.
Ezekiel 22:30
(In anointing King David) But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him…
2 Chronicles 16:9
Of course, we know that the leaders God called – Isaiah, David, Ezekiel, and others – had been moved in their spiritual pursuits by the Holy Spirit, to lead them into the place of willingness to lead. Yet, it was ultimately their response to the love and calling from God which made them acceptable to be appointed.
As we begin to look at the appointment of spiritual leaders within the New Testament church, Paul writes to Timothy,
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
1 Timothy 3:1
This implies that being “called” into the position of a pastor or elder has as much to do with your own desire and pursuit, as it does with Jesus’ calling.
Discussing this verse, Simon J. Robinson says,
“The word ‘aspires’ is the translation of a word which describes someone who is taking specific steps towards a goal he has in mind and the word ‘desires’ refers to the passion that drives him. Paul is not talking about someone who might like to be a leader because of the status it brings, but about a man who has a conviction that God has called him to this ‘noble task’.”
Simon J. Robinson, Opening up 1 Timothy, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2004), 55–56.
The first step to knowing you might have a calling from God to ministry is that you have within you a desire and a willingness to serve God’s people without seeking personal glory or benefit. This is a rare characteristic to be sure, yet as Paul continues to list the necessary qualities these men and women must demonstrate (1 Timothy 3:2-13 and Titus 1:5-9), and this selfless lifestyle shines through in each one of them.
Am I Called By The Church?
A second question that must be asked, which is also under attack in the modern world, is “has my calling by God been verified by the church?” Meaning, if you say that God has called you, has this been confirmed by the men and women who have led you in the faith throughout the course of your Christian life.
One of the qualifications we will discuss in a future post is that they “must not be a recent convert” (1 Timothy 3:6). There is a need for them to have been discipled and raised up to maturity in the faith.
From the examples given in the Old Testament, continuing throughout the history of the church, there has been a process of “ordination,” where a persons gifts and callings are recognized by the church, and hands are laid on them, commissioning them into public ministry. We see this in Acts 13:
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers…While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
Acts 13:1-3
This was the public recognition of God’s ministry calling on Paul and Barnabas by existing church leadership. Yet verse 4 says of this ordination ceremony that, they were “being sent out by the Holy Spirit.”
Paul also reminds Timothy of the time when the elders laid hands on him, appointing and releasing gifts into him for ministry.
Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.
1 Timothy 4:14
Paul later writes to Timothy that as he appoints elders in the church not to prejudge what he sees or to show partiality in this work. He specifically commands him, “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands…” (1 Timothy 5:22).
Self-Appointed Leaders
Biblically speaking there cannot be legitimate spiritual authority that has been established on it’s own. If there is a call to lead God’s people publicly, there will first be recognition and release by existing church leaders who have seen you grow in spiritual maturity, develop your gifts, and discover the calling on your life.
There is a major crisis in the modern church in this regard! On the one hand, we have many self-proclaimed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, overseers, bishops, and more, whose giftings have never been publicly recognized or verified by the broader church body. These men and women simply take on the title for themselves, and enter ministry without support or connection with others.
Right now, one of our Sozo Ministries’ pastors in Uganda has been handed the reigns of a church which was founded and built by a self-appointed “prophet.” This man was able to use deceptive means (and likely a lot of witchcraft) to build a big following in the name of Jesus, but by the grace God, the truth about this man was revealed, and he was chased out of the community. Our pastor is now working with this large, but spiritually immature group of people to disciple them into true Christianity. It has proved to be a difficult task, as the faith they have been taught has no foundation in truth. We must be wary of any spiritual leaders who have not been affirmed by spiritual fathers and mothers in the faith
On the other hand, the crisis in the church extends to the fact that many called and appointed leaders remain ignorant and insecure in their spiritual authority, and they do not attempt to raise up and release other leaders into public ministry. Either they do not know the responsibility they have to equip leaders in the church, or worse, they blatantly ignore it because they fear it would threaten their own leadership role if other anointed men and women are raised up.
Let’s Look at Leadership
As we spend the next few weeks looking at the requirements for biblical leadership, it is my desire to call all men and women of God to rise up and meet the qualifications of mature Christianity. If you are already in a spiritual leadership role, it is my desire to spur you on in your personal growth and development in Christ, as He leads you to repent and/or further affirms your standing in the church.
If you are desiring to step into a spiritual leadership role, then I pray you discover what it means to truly be a man or woman of God who leads from truth and integrity, rather than simply relying on the fact that “God called me.” After all, “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
If you are someone who despises the thought of spiritual leadership, I hope you can see that the bible not only mandates it, but also gives guidelines to keep it healthy and on track. On the other hand, if you are currently in submission to bad spiritual authority, I hope you will discover God’s true plan for His leaders, and can be set free to submit yourself to better pastors and overseers, who will represent Jesus well.
Whether you feel a calling to ministry or not, I encourage you to stay tuned to this series, as spiritual leadership will affect your life in some way or another. Let’s seek to find out how to live in submission and in authority, biblically.
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© Anthony Scott Ingram 2020. All Rights Reserved.
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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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