February 19, 2025

The list of qualifications for church leaders should be looked at carefully for two reasons.  
First, it is important that the leaders that are serving in the church are of high character and spiritual maturity.  If a man or woman is not godly, they cannot truly serve the LORD in ministry. Ministry without Christian character and a strong relationship with the LORD is actually about performance and show rather than truly serving the LORD.  We need people who both have gifting and character to serve the LORD.  There have been many skilled people who have had big platforms in ministry that were lacking in the area of character and spiritual maturity.  How destructive is it in when their true character ends up revealed? No amount of talent or skill can make up for the damage of a deceptive life or the hypocrisy of preaching to others a life that is lacking in the personal life of the preacher/minister.  We need to remember that we need to emphasize Godliness and Christian maturity in our leaders over flashy skill and presentation.  God will equip those who He calls to serve, but His priority is finding people of spiritual maturity on the inside rather than those who are outwardly full of charisma and charm yet are hollow and empty on the inside. Skills can be developed, and people can grow in their ability to do ministry, but a lack of spiritual maturity is detrimental and has disqualified many skilled people from continuing on in fruitful ministry.

The second thing we need to consider is this:  these are qualifications for leaders, but they should be the character traits of all believers.  This is not a list to look and say that we can exempt ourselves from because we don't have a title or a leadership position.  The list should be seen as the target for all Christians to strive for as they grow into maturity.  Not everyone in a church will have a title or a leadership position, but what a wonderful thing it would be if all in the church meet the Scriptural qualifications for leadership because of their spiritual maturity in Christ regardless of what title or position they hold.

We are blessed as a church to have many people in ministry and leadership roles who are both Spiritual mature and suitable and skilled for ministry and willing and able to serve the LORD well.