Acts 6:3 “… Choose seven from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.”
This is one of my very favorite Early Church Leadership passages. It is the embodiment of Ephesians 4:11–13 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
The background of today’s passage is that the church’s food pantry was being mismanaged and the Greek widows weren’t being served. So the Greek widows brought their complaint to the pastors of the church expecting them to resolve the issue.
But instead of the apostles fixing the problem, they put the issue back in the hands of the church. “Choose seven from among you …” In other words, here are the rubrics – you take care of it – we’re called to manage the work of the church (see Ephesians 4:11–13!).
But as intriguing as I find the policy of delegating the works of ministry, what’s REALLY noteworthy is the apostles’ dictum of leadership qualifications. We read three of them:
1. A church leader must be full of the Spirit. That is, they must be spiritually focused and attuned. Spiritual leadership is Job 1.
2. Leaders must be full of wisdom. My grandma would have said a leader must have an “old soul.” I think what’s most important is the understanding of a leader’s role and responsibility as a church leader. Church leaders are charged with making decisions that are best for the church over and above what’s best for any church member, any group, any personality, or any other agenda. (And just for the record, there is not a SINGLE instance in the Bible where the majority ever gets it right … in the church, the mission and vision come first, not even the majority rules!) A church leader must be willing to make the difficult decisions of putting church mission and vision over anything else.
3. A potential church leader must be known by the church for these things (spiritually focused and wise). That means leaders must wear their “faith on their sleeves.” They don’t lose their temper; don’t spend their time complaining; they’re not negative; they don’t undermine the work or the decisions of the church leaders; etc. To put that into positives, they’re known to be spiritually focused; they pray … lots … in front of people and with/for people; they’re committed to the Word; they live lives of integrity; they show up; and when they speak up, their words make a difference.
I’ve been known to comment that the church is NOT a business, even though we manage millions of dollars of assets. The church is NOT United Way, even though we too engage good works. The mission of the church is to make disciples, to help people say “Yes!” to Jesus. And the key to meeting that mission is to select … and to follow … spiritually attuned leaders. Indeed, in a church, THAT should be the primary qualification.
How are you preparing yourself for leadership?
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