What makes a leader, specifically a Christian leader? His charisma? His ability to preach and inspire? His organizational ability? While these gifts can be a blessing to the church, they are not enough. On the contrary, Christian leaders who are 'gifted' with leadership abilities in the worldly sense have a much greater temptation to lead out of human strength than of the Spirit. Human wisdom, human planning and human perspectives can oftentimes be the greatest impediment to the work of the Spirit. This is because the foundation of our reliance is on flesh and not of the Spirit.
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD .
He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives."
(Jer 17:5,6)
As I prayerfully sought the Lord on what He required in His leaders, two things came to mind. The first is sensitivity to the Spirit. A leader must be a person of prayer, and sensitive to the Spirit. True leadership is leadership on its knees. Many of us including myself often just pay lip service to prayer, teach and talk alot about it, but simply do not walk the talk. The alarming thing is that a leader who does not pray, and who cannot hear God, is like a captain of a ship who does not know where he is going. Forgive our sins Lord, hear our prayer and let us hear Your voice clearly. Let us hear what you, Holy Spirit, are saying to Your church.
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD ,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
(Jer 17:7,8)
The second essential quality of a Christian leader is servant leadership. As the world mourns the lost of Pope John Paul, what struck me most in an article about the life of this great man was his commitment to servant leadership. Too many of us exalt ourselves in our God-given positions, claiming glory and infallibility that is God’s alone. In our good intentions, we think we know what is best, guard our turfs and become resistant to views adverse to our own. Like the Sons of Zebedee, we crave the glory of sitting on the right and left of His throne in heaven. Yet the Lord saw things differently.
“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave– just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
(Matt 20:25-28)
Perhaps now is the time for each of us to examine our lives to see if we are leading on our knees or from our exalted pedestals. Let us get off our pedestals and fall on our knees in prayer and servanthood. For only then, will we be fit to lead his church.