I ponder today that another church leader has failed to live up to what they confess. It appears to be simply the tip of an iceberg of moral, organizational and biblical truth failures that assault our convictions all too often.
As I hear these reports of failure, I am once again pressed back into checking my own life. The many checks of attitudes and actions are abundantly clear from scripture and need to be accessed by me on a daily basis in time with my Heavenly Father in His word. I find no “fear” in submitting to His regular reminders of the dangers in me that can and do affect His children.
It is little wonder that James reminds us that: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” James 3:1. As he continues, the power of the tongue (and the life) is immense. James 3:2-12
A few dangers of leadership:
We have too many people who love us.
We begin to believe them
We were not made to carry the responsibility for so many, much less in the top down “aloneness” of our “pastoral” model.
We have believed the lie that we are “senior” or “lead” to the other leaders around us.
We don’t really have an accountability “heart.”
We have forgotten that nothing in our leadership actually belongs to us. It is God’s sending, it is His message, they are His people, and, the results are fully dependent upon Him. The glory belonging to Him should never be in doubt…. by anyone.
We try to insert ourselves into too many “Christian” structures rather than humbly carrying out the task God gives us.
We have defined our worth by what we do.
We have embraced the lie of our significance.
As we reflect on the role of leadership in our churches, I commend a few suggestions to all of us:
If you are in the leadership role, take time everyday to assess the dangers.
If you are not in the leadership, measure those who you follow in these dangers.
If you would like more thoughts on the subject, you can find them in my reflections on the topic of leadership of Christ’s people. www.dwightpaulsmith.com, resources section, books, “Alone at the top.”
As always, be careful who you follow!
