Letters to Peter, 2

(My friend Peter has set me a challenge for 2024: each month he is going to ask me a question for me to answer. I want my answer to come from the heart, so I will try not use books, except the Bible. And I will try keep it to 500 words. Thanks for the challenge Peter. I hope others find it helpful too.)

2. How do you go about seeking leaders for your local church, (within a team leadership model) and what characteristics should they have?

February 2024

Dear Peter,

I thank the Lord for putting me in local churches that have had godly leaders. They weren't perfect, and still aren't - I am one of them now! But when a leader has a close relationship with the Lord, that sweetens even their mistakes.

There is, I think, a lot of bad leadership about. Recent scandals to hit church and agency alike have been very saddening to read. Marcus Honeysett's Powerful Leaders, is compulsory reading for Brits involved in church leadership. Likewise, Not So With You, edited by Mark Sterling and Mark Meynell, looks very helpful too.

When I was a student I was immensely helped by J. Oswald Sanders' little book, Spiritual Leadership, which I picked up from an OM book table in Belgium and devoured while hitch-hiking round Europe after the month of ministry. It is probably out of print now but had lots of helpful biblical wisdom and encouragement.

But your question focusses on leadership in the local church, and that is more specific. You have already narrowed the question further by telling me that your church operates with a 'team leadership model'. 

Leadership in your church will largely be circumscribed by the church's ecclesiological commitments. It seems to me the local church's structure must allow for both respect for authority (1 Tim 5:17) and accountability. 

That having been said, the NT tells us, in my understanding, of two offices that the Lord has given to lead the local church: elder and deacon. I like the way Matt Smethurst distinguishes between the two roles: he says that an elder serves by leading and a deacon leads by serving. When elders and deacons work together, with their respective gifting recognised by the congregation, a church is truly blessed. 

Also with Smethurst, I believe the biblical pattern is for a plurality of elders, rather than a single minister giving pastoral oversight (1 Tim 3; Titus 1).

More generally, though, a local church needs leaders for all kinds of works, and they don’t all have to be elders or deacons, although you could say that anyone who serves is a kind of deacon.

Many volumes have been written on this. I hope you will want to read further. But, in answer to your question, I hope the following tips would be helpful:

1. Only people who have a credible profession of saving faith in Christ should be leaders in the local church. You can ensure this (not perfectly but as best you can with the help of the Spirit) by keeping church membership only to those who have such a profession. If among your church membership there are those who have clearly never experienced the grace of God then you need to do something about that. You will need to keep a very careful oversight over the church membership so that decisions that are made by the congregation in regard to leadership are spiritual decisions. 

2. Make sure that you are looking for the right people for the right roles. The qualifications for elder and deacon are clear from the passages above.

3. Take note of who comes to the prayer meetings. If they don’t show up to the prayer meeting they really should not be in leadership. What is the point of appointing a leader for a work in the church if they don’t demonstrate their need of the help of the Lord by coming together with the Lord’s people to pray?

4. Look for who is already serving. The people you want to serve the church in leadership are those who are already looking for ways to serve. Do they serve the teas and coffees or help out on the media desk? Do they have a track record of faithfulness in serving? Do they arrive on time when they are on a rota? This is the sort of thing Paul was getting at when he said that “They must first be tested” (1 Tim 3:10).

5. You are not looking for perfection, but are they quick to accept when they have done something wrong? Are they teachable or stubborn? I would rather have someone who is only barely competent but willing to learn than a whizz-kid who is full of themselves.

6. Likewise, are they quick to forgive when someone wrongs them? I don’t think the Bible requires us to forgive the unrepentant but the lack of forgiveness toward one who has acknowledged their sin is deadly. A church member who harbours bitterness should not be in leadership of any kind.