Transcript
The most important quality for ministry in the church of Jesus Christ or in any form of gospel ministry is godly character. If productivity becomes the most important quality for us in ministry, if the ability to think quickly, to command attention, to set vision -- if those things are the most important things to us, we are creating leadership dysfunction.
Only One Elder Qualification Is a Skill
It's very interesting to me if you look at the qualifications for elder in the New Testament, there's only one of them that's a skill -- it's the gifting to teach. Every other quality is a character quality. And when godly character begins to take a second seat to productivity and achievement, we're already beginning to march down a road of trouble and dysfunction.
I think of another word that I think is one of the most provocative words in the New Testament. It's the word ambassador. We have been called to be ambassadors of the King. Now, what is the only thing an ambassador ever does? The only thing an ambassador ever does is represent and so, my job is not to produce, produce, produce, produce. My job is to be a faithful representative of the methods and message and character of the King that I represent.
Now, we would pray that that would produce results but if we are result-driven and character-minimizing, we have walked away from the biblical model of leadership. There's a reason in the New Testament that the definition of a leader is character, character, character. God knows something about us. He knows if that doesn't have a high value to us, we will never accomplish what He's called us to accomplish as His ambassadors.
