EDITORIAL
In the Trenches | Eric Geiger
Healthy ministries are led by healthy leaders. For this reason, the apostle Paul challenged Timothy to “pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 4:16). If a leader is faithful in teaching but unfaithful in life, their lack of character will render their teaching useless because people will be unable to respect them and unable to hear the message.
So, what makes a healthy leader? Here are three metrics church leaders should consider when looking at the state of their leadership health.
1. Healthy leaders don’t confuse competence development with character development.
It’s a story that unfortunately continues to repeat itself: When a ministry leader’s competence outpaces their character, disaster ensues. The way to combat this trend is to take character development more seriously than we do competence development, and not to confuse or equate them.
We must lament the possibility of getting more skilled without being more sanctified. When the apostle Paul told Timothy to hand ministry over to others, he instructed Timothy to find “the faithful who will be able,” not the able who may become faithful. Paul began with faithfulness, believing ability can be developed.
Failures in our competence may cause us to lose responsibilities, or even lose our jobs. That would be painful, but we can recover from that. We can learn and grow and adjust. But drops in our character can cause us to lose our ministries, our credibility and our ability to say to others, “Follow my example as I follow Christ.”
2. Healthy leaders don’t confuse growth in one’s ministry with growth in one’s maturity.
It is a mystery—and I have wished it were not true—but leaders with bad character can build good things. God can and does work through leaders despite their bad character. He works because of the power of his Word, not the power of the person.
For example, God used the Babylonians and the Assyrians to fulfill his warnings to Israel. This does not mean he was pleased with Babylon and Assyria any more than he is pleased with a leader who has bad character. We don’t want to be like them.
Because we want to be leaders who live in a way that is pleasing to God, we must watch our lives carefully. We must care more about growth in our holiness and our tenderness before God than we care about growth in our ministries. We must abhor the idea of growing the influence of a ministry while growing cold to God and other people.
3. Healthy leaders don’t confuse a critical spirit with a critical mind.
Healthy leaders have a critical mind, but not a critical spirit. A critical, evaluative mind helps them make wise choices. A critical mind enables leaders to evaluate the culture in light of the Scripture, to think deeply about how to apply the gospel to the context.
A critical spirit, on the other hand, devours others and feeds bitterness and tends to lead toward a cynical spirit.. It is easily angered, and keeps a record of all wrongs. A critical spirit corrodes the peace and joy of a leader, making them hard to follow.
So where on the spectrum does your leadership lie?