As part of the process of starting a new church, the topic of how we intend to raise up leadership always comes up in discussion when we talk with folks about how things have been going. Now, there are the usual “pat answers;” such as, “Our leadership is comprised of elders who are qualified according to what the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and Titus chapter 1.” While these principles are undoubtedly true, we feel that a few more qualifications need to be true as well.

Since we are organizing ourselves as a network of small churches (based in homes for the most part), our leadership structure needs to be somewhat decentralized by definition. We need a group of guys who can think by themselves, make right decisions about what is going on, and give away the ministry to the next batch of leaders coming up in maturity so that they can continue to grow the church and expand its influence. How do we know if we possess the right leadership qualities to “innocently” lead God’s people? Ed Gungor, author of the book “Religiously Transmitted Diseases” states it this way:

Unless we can agree to letting someone else do the dream we feel we have from God, we are not spiritually fit to do it — we are not innocent enough to do it in a way that honors God.

And,

. . .you must ask yourself the right questions to discover the right answers. Let me give you four:

1. Am I willing to allow another person to do what I think I must do?
2. Am I willing to do what I am doing, even if no one else knows I am doing it?
3. Am I willing to have others copy me and not give me any credit?
4. Am I willing to let God use me for a season, and then be OK with Him later putting my work into the hands of another?

So, in addition to being Biblically qualified for leadership, elders in the new church need to have that “innocence” that is the mark of a true leader. After all in a lot of churches around the world, the leaders aren’t really leading — because nobody is really following.

Lord, make me into the leader You want me to be so that others may know You and become leaders as well.