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The Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate Leader of His Church. However, He sets in every local church sub-leaders who serve Him and other people. Thus, these people are referred to as servant-leaders.
They are pastors, associate pastors, deacons, deaconesses, Sunday school teachers and departmental heads. Now, these leaders are not appointed to be bosses but servants. Thus, they serve God and people.
Now, to enable them to function in a way and manner that please God, Christian servant-leaders are expected to possess and demonstrate character that is Christ-like. Christ-like character is a leader’s guard.
The greatest quality that must hold other traits to form a Christian leader’s character is love. First, they must greatly love Jesus Christ (John 21:15-17). And second, they must love their neighbours as themselves.
Moreover, church leaders must be humble people who do not consider themselves as better than others. They “must be blameless.” The words “must be” stress the fact that what follows is absolutely necessary. Being “blameless” that is, being above reproach means “not to be held” in criminal sense.
This is an important character trait for church leaders; it suggests holy and righteous living. In other words, there must be no unrepentant sin that can be publicly named or pointed to in which the church or civil community is aware of in the life of the leader.
It does not, however, mean that Christian leaders are sinless or have never sinned, but that they cannot be held contempt, either criminally, morally, socially or ethically.
Also, it is expected that church leaders maintain sexual purity. This simply means that a leader must be a one-woman man or one-man woman. It does not mean church leaders cannot have been widowed or be single, for example, but that they are to be solely devoted to one woman or one man each if (and while) married.
This quality comes immediately after the necessity of being “blameless” because the area of sexual purity is where many church leaders fail and, thus, become disqualified to serve as ministers of God.
Another character trait a Christian leader must have is “temperate.” It means he or she is emotionally calm and controlled. It also means he must be alert, watchful or clear-headed.
Moreover, “sober-mindedness” which requires leaders to know how to order their priorities is a related characteristic they must have.
They must be “of good behavior.” It means they must be orderly, excellent as opposed to being chaotic or disorganized.
Similarly, God requires of church leaders to be “hospitable” which means they must be generous, have a love for strangers and be willing to address the plight of others.
Besides being “able to teach,” leaders are required to “not given to wine.” That is, they must refrain from consuming alcohol in order not for their sense of judgment to be clouded when they are called to duty.
Finally, servant-leaders in the church must not be violent people who throw blows. In other words, they must be humble, patient, calm and gentle people who do not react with physical violence when provoked.
By James Quansah
