What Are We to Do with Church Leadership?

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who labor among you and preside over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them most highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. (1 Thes. 5:12–13, NET)

We are today experiencing a two-fold crisis in leadership: inadequate leaders and improper attitudes toward leaders. It has always been this way in the world, but today it seems to be reaching some sort of crisis, and it is doing so on a worldwide scale.

The ancient cultures of Asia and Africa are becoming less respectful of leaders, and in the West we are becoming increasingly carried away by the cult of personality, worshiping certain persons or demonizing others. We have unrealistic expectations for our leaders and when they are unable to fulfill them, we turn on them viciously. And this is true in the church as well.

The inspired author has given us three attitudes toward church leadership that every church should dearly value and seek to hold on to: We are to know our leaders, we should esteem them in love, and we should not be divided among ourselves as we do so.

We are to know them: The NET Bible quoted above translated this word “to acknowledge,” and that means that the church should in agreement acknowledge who the spiritual leaders are. There should not be division about this. The church in Corinth was divided among themselves as to who they respected. One said, “I am of Paul,” another said, “I am of Cephas” or Peter (1 Cor. 1:12), and this led to division and conflict.

Sometimes charismatic people will suddenly appear in churches and seek to draw people to themselves in order to build some power base. Why someone would do this is to meet their own needs of insecurity, or perhaps to gain a position in church leadership they have coveted. It is as wrong to covet a position in church leadership that someone else holds, as it is to covet anything else in life (Exod. 20:17). No good can come of it.

But there is more here than just to acknowledge who the leaders are. It is also a call to get to know these leaders. Albert Barnes made the brilliant observation:

The word “know” seems to mean that they were not to make themselves strangers to them — to be cold and distant towards them — to be ignorant of their wants, or to be indifferent to them. While a people are not obtrusively to intermeddle with the business of a minister, any more than they are with that of any other man, yet there are things in regard to him with which they should be acquainted. They should seek to be personally acquainted with him, and make him their confidant and counsellor in their spiritual troubles. They should seek his friendship, and endeavour to maintain all proper intercourse with him. They should not regard him as a distant man, or as a stranger among them. They should so far understand his circumstances as to know what is requisite to make him comfortable, and should be on such terms that they may readily and cheerfully furnish what he needs. And they are to “know” or regard him as their spiritual teacher and ruler; not to be strangers to the place where he preaches the word of life, and not to listen to his admonitions and reproofs as those of a stranger, but as those of a pastor and friend. (Albert Barnes, New Testament Notes)

The leaders should, of course, take some responsibility in this matter. They should make themselves available, and also seek out people themselves to converse with.

We are to esteem them highly in love: The spiritual leaders of the church have an awesome and holy task — to preach the Word of God to hungry souls. The task alone calls for respect to be paid to the one who holds it, and not just respect but godly affection and love. Godly love is the love of grace that loves a person not for what he has done, but for what he can become in Christ Jesus. The nature of the gospel demands that those who teach and preach of God’s love should be loved themselves. If the church harbors anger or a lack of love toward its ministers, there will be a conflict in each heart that dislikes or distrusts the preachers and teachers. This will impede their spiritual growth.

The church leaders should seek to make themselves lovable, and to do this by the Holy Spirit. They should not resort to worldly manipulations but they should, as Paul did, seek to commend themselves to all people through their graciousness and compassion, and through their godly character. Paul wrote:

But as God’s servants, we have commended ourselves in every way, with great endurance, in persecutions, in difficulties, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in troubles, in sleepless nights, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness; in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love. (2 Cor. 6:4–6)

There is no shortcut to gaining respect. Though every spiritual leader should be given a chance to prove him or her self, and encouraged in love from the beginning of their ministry.

Yet the emphasis here is on the attitude of the average Christian toward the teachers of God’s Word. Certainly no man is perfect, and each minister will have his short-comings. There will be those preachers and teachers whom we will be more fond of than others — that is the nature of life. Yet we each have an obligation before God to love the leadership in our church and to esteem them highly in love — undeserved gracious love — for the work that they are doing.

We are to be united in doing all of this. There is nothing that the devil enjoys more, I believe, than disrupting the fellowship of a church through sowing seeds of discord and unhappiness. A church that is divided in its leadership cannot become the church it needs to be in ministry and outreach. We are to do all that we can to promote unity and not division within the body.

The following verses in 1 Thessalonians give God’s command to the leaders of the church, but these two verses above are practical instructions for the common Christians or common church members. Know your leaders, esteem them highly in love, and be united in their support.

_______________________________________________________________

All over the world, the common way that seeds of discord are planted among the church is for someone to start talking negative about the pastor. They will spread all kinds of stories — perhaps true, perhaps not — but eventually they will heap one lie upon another. They will usually invite a few members to come to their house “to pray” for the church, but it becomes a gossip session instead against the leadership. Do not be deceived. If you have been invited to such a meeting, do not go. Tell others what is going on. Do not let a group of self-appointed manipulators destroy the church that Jesus Christ has built.

Usually in such groups the criticisms against the leadership will be vague, unclear, or made up all together. Paul wrote: “Do not accept an accusation against an elder unless it can be confirmed by two or three witnesses. Those guilty of sin must be rebuked before all, as a warning to the rest” (1 Tim. 5:19–20). Do not be a party to false and groundless attacks against a man of God. If there are legitimate concerns, dealing with morality or doctrine, then first take them to the man himself (Matt. 18:15–19). If he will not hear them, then take the concerns to the leadership of the church. Most churches have some reasonable steps in their constitution to deal with such matters. Do it all in a fitting an orderly way (1 Cor. 14:40).

If your valid concerns are not addressed, then I recommend you seek to find another church, and peacefully leave without causing more problems than necessary. Each church belongs to Jesus Christ and should be treated with respect.

Wise Solomon wrote:

My son, if sinners entice you,
Do not consent.

If they say, “Come with us,
Let us lie in wait for blood,
Let us ambush the innocent without cause;

Let us swallow them alive like Sheol,
Even whole, as those who go down to the pit;

We will find all kinds of precious wealth,
We will fill our houses with spoil;

Throw in your lot with us,
We shall all have one purse,”

My son, do not walk in the way with them.
Keep your feet from their path,

For their feet run to evil
And they hasten to shed blood.

Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net
In the sight of any bird;

But they lie in wait for their own blood;
They ambush their own lives.

So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence;
It takes away the life of its possessors. (Proverbs 1:10–19)