The Character Of A Leader

by rev. James Wong

This week we will look at the Character of a leader. In Christian leadership the heart comes before the skill. The heart issue is much harder to deal with than the skill aspect of leadership. The heart needs the transformation of God’s Words to put it right and skill can be learned. Therefore, character is the basis of Christian leadership and the skill of leadership must improve along the way as a person serves God.

The Today’s English Version (TEV) translation of the bible of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-10 tell us in detail the Character of a Christian leader. When we combine the two lists we can learn two important lessons as follows:

1. Church leadership is a noble task. “This is a true saying: If a man is eager to be a church leader, he desires an excellent work (vs.3).” Leader here refers to an overseer (Greek episkopos = "overseer, supervisor, one who looks over the work of others.") Christian leaders are to have the kind of character that will enable them to lead by example and supervise the work of others without strain. To be a Christian leader is a noble task because it is a task of serving the church of God. It is serving and giving, not controlling the church of God. This is a distinctive character of Christian service laid down by our Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 10:45 where he said he came to serve and to give his life for the salvation of others.

2. The qualification of Christian leadership. This is based on the character of the person. Let us all grow to become qualified for the noble task of serving others in taking responsibility in Christian leadership.