Developing Leaders in the Local Church

Leadership is crucial at so many levels, whether it be in the family, in small groups, in large or small organisations, schools, athletic teams, neighbourhoods, voluntary associations, work crews, or in the church. Leaders provide vision, find direction, inspire, take responsibility for themselves and others, and help move individuals and social groups forward to maturity and effectiveness in life and work. It has been observed that today there exists a vacuum of leadership in “the West.” This affects society at every level. The Scriptures are rich with instruction on the kind of people who lead effectively. The goal of any Christian ministry is to produce maturity. New Testament study reveals this as a goal for each Christian and each local church. Key in this development is that there be mature people in leadership. Too often this has been sacrificed with unfortunate results. It has been observed that the leadership team is a microcosm of the church—that the church will rise no higher than its leadership. The same is true of para-church organisations and, for that matter, all groups of people, both religious and secular. Biblical principles, when applied in the lives of people, bring a positive result in both character and “style” of leadership. The Bible has a lot to say about leadership development from the standpoint of specific instructions as well as example. The Scriptures direct us as we consider how to develop leaders and also offers guidelines by which we may test the various models of leadership in our present world. There is no shortcut to maturity and there is no shortcut to mature leadership. All of us embark on life’s journey with a variety of backgrounds and experiences which affect the progress we make in our growth. One thing is sure, no matter how much we know, or what our spiritual or psychological heritage might be, it takes time to mature.