This is Part 5 of the Biblical Leadership Series. Click here to go to Part 1.

So far in our series we have looked at many areas of leadership, from discerning a call, being a great follower, and what the leadership roles are for. Now, as we continue looking at the biblical qualifications for all ministry leaders, we will set our attention on the spiritual calling qualifications for leadership. If I were to divide this category in half, I would say we will look at the “spiritual” qualifications in this post and the “calling” qualifications in the next (though they tend to blend together).

This category of qualifications looks at the person’s spiritual life, ensuring they are mature believers with a heart for God’s people, rather than for their own benefit.

As we said in the previous post, these qualifications are generally taken from 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-9, and 1 Peter 5:1-4. I will attempt to put them into a logical order, so we can see how they are developed in a person’s life.

Qualification 1: Not A Recent Convert (1 Timothy 3:6)

The foremost expectation of any leader in Christian ministry is that they are a mature believer in Christ. This should seem obvious, yet in practice, it is one of the most overlooked qualifications I see as I minister around the world. It seems that so many churches and existing leadership teams are so desperate for “laborers in the field” that they will quickly appoint anyone to the team based on non-essential qualities. They look at the person’s enthusiasm for the church to grow, or at their charismatic and likable personality, and quickly appoint them to help lead others. This is a mistake! The most essential thing is that a person has come to faith in Christ, and has been discipled into some level of maturity, before they are assigned a leadership role over others.

I was appointed too early.

I, myself, was appointed to ministry leadership too early, and there were many challenges that came because of it. This happened because the church leader assigned over me as a youth was also appointed to ministry while not being a mature believer, and therefore the cycle continued.

At age 16, I was saved at a church camp, but lacked ongoing discipleship in my life. A few months later I became a quick hypocrite as I began drinking a lot of alcohol with my non-believer friends, while keeping on a “holy mask” on in church each Sunday. It didn’t take long for my youth pastor to discover the truth. Yet, as he himself was not qualified in this regard either, we began to drink together on Saturday nights, before attending church together on Sunday mornings.

Since I had my “holy mask” held tightly in place, it wasn’t long before I was considered one of the leaders in the youth group, and began getting asked to occasionally teach in Sunday school and other youth meetings. It wasn’t until I was 18 that God really began speaking to me about my hypocrisy and leading me toward Bible college that I truly repented and began to grow.

Once I moved to Bible college, I truly saw the level of immaturity in my own life and set out to grow in the Word and in the Christian life. However, as the small church I joined after the move was desperate for help, I was quickly appointed as the Youth Pastor for the church’s 8 or 9 teenagers. (This was November of 2003, from which I count my actual ministry service as having begun.) I pray that my time as a youth pastor was beneficial to those kids. However, the reality is that I was the one growing the most, and didn’t do well at pouring into them as I should have.

If God Calls You “Too Soon”

I have talked to many new believers who immediately feel called to ministry once they are saved. I make it a point to never doubt that calling or discourage them. However, I am also quick to point out that God lives outside of time, yet He works through our time. Just because God has called you, does not trump the process of growth. He is the one who said leaders cannot be new converts, so if He has called you “too soon,” then you must seek to grow in maturity, in order to be worthy of fulfilling that call. Remember, “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).

Qualification 2: Not Puffed Up With Conceit (1 Timothy 3:6)

Paul continues writing to Timothy as to why a person cannot be a recent convert, by giving two additional reasons. The first is that it runs the risk of puffing them up with conceit. If someone is appointed to lead without the character of a leader, they will be prone to arrogance and pride.

Again, I have seen this over and over again in many, including my younger self, where the “role” of leadership has given an overconfidence in the “responsibility” of leadership, making the person unwilling to hear correction when necessary. After all, if God and the Church has appointed you to lead, then how can anyone tell you that you are wrong/misguided/immature/sinning? We all know what happens when pride sets in (Proverbs 16:18).

Instead, before an individual can be appointed to leadership, they should develop a maturity in Christ that understands, “this is not about me.”

The Downfall of Arrogant Ministers

The problem with people who live in pride and think ministry is about themselves is that whether things go good or things go bad, the response is always wrong.

When things go well in ministry it adds to their sense of pride and arrogance, making them even more unwilling to face correction. As they get more puffed up, they celebrate. “Look what I have done!” They view themselves as God’s gift to the church, rather than a lowly servant to all.

On the other hand, when things go wrong in ministry, it will wound their ego. In the best cases this will lead to burnout, causing them to step out of ministry and seek healing and restoration. In the worst cases, they become like a wounded animal, seeking to tear down others around them. They will not take responsibility for failure; they will find someone else to blame.

Qualification 3: Not Under the Devil’s Condemnation (1 Timothy 3:6)

The second problem Paul identifies with new converts in leadership roles is that they can easily fall into condemnation. When they get puffed up with pride, but then fail or fall into sin, the enemy is always there to catch them on the way down. He doesn’t just let you hit rock bottom, he wants to make you suffer while you’re there.

One of the biggest challenges of the gospel life is learning to live free of condemnation when you stumble and fall. The Bible is very clear:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

^{Romans 8:1}

However, this truth must be applied not only to our hearts, but to our minds. When the devil comes near to whisper in your ear that you are a failure, you cannot be used by God, or even that God cannot love you, you must be able to overcome these lies with truth. New believers seldom have this ability. They must be discipled and grow in it.

I cannot tell you the number of times, throughout my early ministry years, when I would fall back into old habits, and the condemnation would be overwhelming. This was true whether I had committed “big” sins like running back to pornography or “small” sins like not reading my Bible and praying every day. I would hear the voice of the enemy telling me I was not worthy, and I would run and hide from God, just like Adam and Eve did in the beginning (Genesis 3:8).

Until a believer has learned to always run to God when they fail, and fall back on the grace He offers, they will continue to live with the condemnation of the devil over their lives. In order to be a leader in the church, they must first learn to live according to the grace of God, and not their own abilities. (I highly recommend you read Romans 8:1-11.)

Qualification 4: Not Accused of Insubordination (Titus 1:6)

As a person grows into maturity as a believer and finds there is a calling on their lives, the scripture seems to lay out a pattern for what a movement into ministry ought to look like. They are to be discipled and mentored, serving under someone else’s ministry first, before they are released on their own. I believe it is through this process, which Paul writes to Titus that the upcoming leader must be subordinate.

This was the Jewish pattern for leadership. A child who went through religious school and did well, would continue religious training, and eventually submit themselves to a Rabbi in order to learn from them how to serve the Lord. After some years, when the Rabbi believed they couldn’t impart any more, they would commission their students to become Rabbis as well.

Jesus followed a similar pattern when he called the 12 and spent three years discipling them, mentoring them, and giving them more responsibility as time went on before He finally launched them out into ministry on their own. The process is repeated with Paul’s raising of Timothy, Titus and others into ministry. Even Paul, who many see as set apart in a completely different way than the other apostles, went through this process!

Paul’s Path to Ministry

When Paul was saved and called into ministry (simultaneously), he first submitted himself to Ananias and the church in Damascus (Acts 9:17-19). They even let him preach among them (v. 20), though he wasn’t sent out to the nations yet. Paul expands on what happened next when he writes to the Galatians:

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.

^{Galatians 1:15-24 (emphasis mine)}

Just a couple of notes on this. Paul clearly knew he was called to preach among the Gentiles from the day he was saved. First, however, he went into Arabia to spend time in the Word of God and hear from the Holy Spirit. He wasn’t looking for man’s validation, only God’s. I believe when he went into “Arabia” it was to Mount Sinai where God gave the Law to Moses, and where the prophet Elijah is also rumored to have hidden from Jezebel and heard the Lord speaking (1 Kings 19). From there, Paul returned to Damascus to be discipled, before visiting Jerusalem and then moving to Syria and Cilicia three years later.

Later, in Acts 13:1, we find Paul living in Antioch (which is in Syria), and serving the local church there. He had been discipled, trained, and given opportunities to preach for years. Then, after the Holy Spirit spoke to the church leadership, Paul was finally ordained to be sent out on his own to do the ministry God had previously shown him (Acts 13:2-4).

Serving Another’s Vision

One of the hardest aspects of growing into leadership is the call to be subordinate to another, before we can be trusted to lead on our own. This goes back to my previous discussion of “self-appointed leaders” and the problems posed when someone gets out of God’s alignment and process. However, I firmly believe that the call to serve under another person’s ministry is the greatest test of a leader’s trustworthiness, before God will allow them to have their own ministry. I mean, if a person cannot be humble enough to follow a leader who is doing their best to fulfill God’s vision and command, then how can they be trusted to follow God’s vision and command directly? If they cannot submit to correction and accountability from a mature man or woman of God, first, then how can they be trusted to submit directly to God’s correction and accountability when no one else is there?

Believe me, this is difficult. Though I knew the calling God had placed on my life for many years, I kept being “held back” by God’s Spirit. The first time I visited Uganda in 2007, I knew that I had an assignment here, yet God placed me back in Texas as a volunteer (unpaid) Associate Pastor for over 4 years. As the missionary bug was in me, I also began volunteering with another missions ministry, where, after leaving that church in Texas, I served at the discretion of the Board of Directors for another 3.5 years before God led me out to launch Sozo Ministries.

During those years, I had prophetic words, dreams, visions, and thousands of random thoughts about “my calling,” yet I was appointed to serve those other ministries in those seasons. Looking back, though I was eager to step out and “do my own thing,” I am so glad for the growth in both my maturity and my giftings which came through those years.

In Summary

In looking at someone’s “spiritual calling” into Christian leadership, the first qualification that matters is that they have been established into the faith and ministry life, before they are ordained to lead others. They must not simply be born again, but they must demonstrate growth in their understanding of the Gospel with their own lives. They must be able to overcome the devil’s voice in their own lives, and there must be a humility in them concerning their own calling. This will be proven and improved upon as they submit to those in authority over them, first, as they grow through the process into leadership of their own.

Let’s Connect

In the next post we will continue looking at the “spiritual/calling” qualifications which come into play as someone is finally being commissioned into ministry on their own. To stay connected and make sure you don’t miss any future posts, subscribe to my newsletter below. I promise never to spam your inbox or share your info with others.

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© Anthony Scott Ingram 2020. All Rights Reserved.

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