Lead E-Book

Paul David Tripp

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

The church is experiencing a leadership crisis. What can we do to prevent pastors from leaving the ministry? For every celebrity pastor exiting the ministry in the spotlight, there are many more lesser-known pastors leaving in the shadows. Pastor and best-selling author Paul David Tripp argues that lurking behind every pastoral failure is the lack of a strong leadership community. Tripp draws on his decades of ministry experience to give churches twelve gospel principles necessary to combat this leadership crisis. Each of these principles, built upon characteristics such as humility, dependency, and accountability, will enable new and experienced leaders alike to focus their attention on the ultimate leadership model: the gospel.

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“This book is the perfect complement to Tripp’s Dangerous Calling. The warning of ‘functional gospel amnesia’ captures so well why this book is needed. Leaders do not need more gimmicks. Leaders need more grace. They need more gospel.”

Daniel L. Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“The strength of this book lies in the way Tripp shapes his treatment of leadership by two things: his understanding of the gospel, and his grasp of the organic nature of the local church. At one level, this is an easy read; at another level, it is sometimes probing and painful.”

D. A. Carson, Emeritus Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; Cofounder, The Gospel Coalition

“Tripp knows the heart and hurts of the leader. He writes with a vulnerable compassion borne out of shared experiences and a conviction rooted in deep biblical wisdom. Lead is by far the best book on ministry leadership I have read and one to which I will undoubtedly return.”

Mark Bailey, President and Senior Professor of Bible Exposition, Dallas Theological Seminary

“Wow. I had no idea that reviewing this book would become so very personal, so penetrating—an experience of leadership surgery that sliced my soul open with conviction and then sutured it shut with grace. Tripp is among the few who have the experience, stature, transparency, and clarity to call church leaders back to the urgency of gospel transformation in ministry. May God give me, and all of us, ears to hear these truths . . . and enough courageous humility to apply them!”

Dave Harvey, President, Great Commission Collective; author, I Still Do

“While this book is written primarily for pastors and ministry leaders, it is appropriate for any Christ-following leaders who operate in the sacred or the secular. As a leader who spent thirty years in c-suite roles in business and now almost four years as a leader in a global ministry, I found the twelve gospel principles to be spot on. I encourage any leader, either in business or ministry, to pick this book up and digest it.”

Steve Shackelford, Chief Executive Officer, Redeemer City to City

“Only read this book if you are desperate to be a more humble, gentle, and gracious servant of Christ. If you want something that will chart your way to ecclesiastical fame and celebrity-pastor status, this is not it. This book is about sacrificial, humble, death-to-self leadership—not self-centered, superficial, self-promoting, narcissistic authoritarianism. On every page, Tripp challenges us to recapture a thoroughly biblical approach to leadership in the church, and that is precisely what we need as we lead amid the raging battle all around us—a battle for our joy, our perseverance, our lives, our families, and for the people we serve—to the end that God would get all the glory, and not us.”

Burk Parsons, Senior Pastor, Saint Andrew’s Chapel, Sanford, Florida; Editor, Tabletalk

“Tripp’s books have been some of the most influential in my life. Lead is no exception! You will find within the pages of this book practical, gospel-centered help as you lead and serve others.”

Jennie Allen,New York Times best-selling author, Get Out of Your Head; Founder, IF:Gathering

I think I have read everything Paul Tripp has written! Few people have inspired and instructed me with clear, gospel-saturated wisdom like he has, and I’m excited to see him apply this wisdom to leadership. As is often said, everything rises or falls on leadership, including the family, the home, and the spiritual self. Dangerous Calling was eerily prophetic in its anticipation of the fall of a number of high-profile leaders, each one adding to the heartbreak of a church in a leadership crisis. I am grateful to see that conversation extended, and I hope many will not only read this book, but saturate themselves in the gospel it puts forward.”

J. D. Greear, President, Southern Baptist Convention; author, NotGod Enough; Pastor, The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina

Lead

Other books by Paul David Tripp

A Quest for More: Living for Something Bigger Than You

Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide for Parenting Teens (Resources for Changing Lives)

Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

Broken-Down House: Living Productively in a World Gone Bad

Come, Let Us Adore Him: A Daily Advent Devotional

Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry

Forever: Why You Can’t Live without It

Grief: Finding Hope Again

How People Change (with Timothy S. Lane)

Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change (Resources for Changing Lives)

Journey to the Cross: A 40-Day Lenten Devotional

Lost in the Middle: Midlife and the Grace of God

My Heart Cries Out: Gospel Meditations for Everyday Life

New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional

Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family

Redeeming Money: How God Reveals and Reorients Our Hearts

Sex in a Broken World: How Christ Redeems What Sin Distorts

Shelter in the Time of Storm: Meditations on God and Trouble

Suffering: Eternity Makes a Difference (Resources for Changing Lives)

Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

Teens and Sex: How Should We Teach Them? (Resources for Changing Lives)

War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles (Resources for Changing Lives)

What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage

Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy

Lead

Paul David Tripp

Lead

Copyright © 2020 by Paul David Tripp

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover Image and Design: Ordinary Folk, ordinaryfolk.co

First printing 2020

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-6763-6 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-6766-7 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-6764-3 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-6765-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tripp, Paul David, 1950- author. 

Title: Lead : 12 gospel principles for leadership in the church / Paul David Tripp.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2020. | Includes indexes.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019041183 (print) | LCCN 2019041184 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433567636 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781433567643 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433567650 (mobipocket) | ISBN 9781433567667 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Christian leadership.

Classification: LCC BV652.1 .T755 2020 (print) | LCC BV652.1 (ebook) | DDC 253–dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041183

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041184

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2021-02-04 04:14:29 PM

To all the leaders who invested in me, shepherded me, confronted me, prayed for me, and modeled for me the patient, forgiving, transforming grace of my Savior.

Contents

Preface

Introduction: Crisis

 1  Achievement

Principle 1: A ministry community whose time is controlled by doing the business of the church tends to be spiritually unhealthy.

 2  Gospel

Principle 2: If your leaders are going to be tools of God’s grace, they need to be committed to nurturing that grace in one another’s lives.

 3  Limits

Principle 3: Recognizing God-ordained limits of gift, time, energy, and maturity is essential to leading a ministry community well.

 4  Balance

Principle 4: Teaching your leaders to recognize and balance the various callings in their life is a vital contribution to their success.

 5  Character

Principle 5: A spiritually healthy leadership community acknowledges that character is more important than structure or strategies.

 6  War

Principle 6: It is essential to understand that leadership in any gospel ministry is spiritual warfare.

 7  Servants

Principle 7: A call to leadership in the church is a call to a life of willing sacrifice and service.

 8  Candor

Principle 8: A spiritually healthy leadership community is characterized by the humility of approachability and the courage of loving honesty.

 9  Identity

Principle 9: Where your leaders look for identity always determines how they lead.

10  Restoration

Principle 10: If a leadership community is formed by the gospel, it will always be committed to a lifestyle of fresh starts and new beginnings.

11  Longevity

Principle 11: For church leaders, ministry longevity is always the result of gospel community.

12  Presence

Principle 12: You will only handle the inevitable weakness, failure, and sin of your leaders when you view them through the lens of the presence, power, promises, and grace of Jesus.

General Index

Scripture Index

Preface

It is one of the distinct, undeserved privileges and joys of my life. I did not train to do it, did not see it coming, and continue to carry the surprise with me to this day. I have been called to put gospel words on page after page after page in book after book. I get up each morning with enthusiasm and appreciation. At first, writing did not come naturally to me. I wrote with about as much confidence as a person, swept into the winter spirit, ice skating for the first time. My first manuscript came back with the editor’s corrections and comments in red, and it looked like a botched transfusion! But I’ve kept at it and am so deeply grateful that this is what I get to do with my life, my time, my gifts, and my knowledge.

I only have one thing to offer: the right-here, right-now truths of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. All I ever do with each book is put on my gospel glasses and look at another topic in the life of a believer or in the culture of the church. I have jokingly said that I have written only one book; I just retitle it every year. Because the gospel is so infinitely deep, I know I could keep digging into it for the next century and never reach the bottom. I also know that applications of the gospel to everyday life are so wide and varied that I would also never run out of new things to examine from a gospel perspective.

You see, the gospel is not just a set of historical facts. It is that, for sure. It is rooted in divine acts of intervention and substitution that if not real and historical would rob the gospel of its reliability, promise, and power. But the gospel is not just a set of historical facts; it is also a collection of present redemptive realities. Certain things are true now, and are true of every believer, because of what God historically did and is presently doing on their behalf. There is more. The gospel is a living identity for all who believe. We have become something in Christ, something that is glorious and new and filled with new potential. Good gospel theology doesn’t just define for you who God is and what he has done; it also redefines who you are as his child.

There is one final thing. As I said earlier, the gospel is meant to be a new set of glasses that every believer wears and through which he looks at life. Let me say it another way. The gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to be your life hermeneutic, that is, the means by which you understand and make sense of life. This is important because human beings don’t live life based on the facts of their experience but on their interpretation of the facts. Whether they are aware of it or not, every human being is a meaning maker, a theologian, a philosopher, or an anthropologist, always taking things apart to understand what they mean. As a ministry leader, you are doing theological work not just when you preach, teach, or lead but also in the ways that you think about yourself, understand your ministry, and relate to fellow leaders. Every book I write is written to help people look at some aspect of life or ministry through the lens of the gospel.

Sometimes this wonderful work I have been given is easy and flows fluidly; the words seem to fly out of my fingers and onto the page. But other times I seem to spend a lot of my writing time looking at the unwritten page, debating how things would be best said and praying for wisdom and ability that I do not have on my own. On those days, I’m not sure how much of it is me and the variety of distractions and weaknesses that I bring to the writing process or if it is the topic and all the delicate balances that need to be expressed well. I am not discouraged when the work is hard, because I am deeply convinced that I have been called to do this work—not first because I am glorious in gift and wisdom but because my Lord is glorious in every way, and he meets me in my weakness with strength that only he can give.

I write always as a pastor. This may seem strange to you, but I write with a congregation in view in my mind’s eye. I write with love for the people in view. I write with a passion for them to know the full depth and breadth of what they have been given in the amazing grace and boundless love of Jesus. And I know that because the work of Jesus on our behalf is so completely sufficient, I can be honest. There is no damage that sin has done or will do that hasn’t been addressed by his person, work, promises, and presence. I write convinced that we, the community of believers, can be the most honest community on earth because there is nothing that could be known, revealed, or exposed about us that hasn’t been covered by Christ’s atoning work.

In the end, I trust that my work will not just give people a new way to think about the gospel information that they find in their Bibles but will ultimately lead to heart and life transformation. I write with the hope that my words will stimulate faith, love, hope, courage, joy, humility, perseverance, mercy, and generosity, and that these things will live not only in all the typical places where people live and relate but also in the relationships and work of those commissioned to give leadership to the church.

It is with these hopes that I offer this book to you. I write as a pastor who loves pastors and has a deep appreciation and respect for the daily sacrifices that every ministry leader makes for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the spiritual health of the people of God. Like every other book I have written, I think of it as a gospel book. It is not first a ministry leadership critique but rather a call to let the gospel of Jesus Christ form the way we think of ourselves as leaders, the way we relate to one another as a leadership community, and the way we go about doing our ministry leadership work. This has not been an easy book, because I wrote wanting to examine hard things, but I do so in a way that reflects the hope and love of the gospel. I didn’t want the honesty to diminish the hope or the hope to weaken the honesty. My hope is that as you read, you will be blessed not only with hope but hope that corrects, protects, and sets a new agenda where needed.

May God richly bless you and all you do in his name!

Paul David Tripp

May 13, 2019

Introduction

Crisis

I love the church. I love its worship, I love its preaching, I love its gospel theology, I love its community, I love its witness to the world, I love its ministries of mercy, and I love its leaders. When I have the privilege of standing before a gathering of church leaders, I am always filled with a deep sense of honor and appreciation. I know well the road that every pastor travels because I have walked that long road myself. I know the burden of being a member of the core shepherding and leadership community of the church. I have the highest respect for those who answer the call to give their life to church ministry. I know the average pastor is overworked, understaffed, and underpaid, so I have such appreciation for those who have chosen to live that life. I am a member of a wonderful church, with godly and dedicated leadership and life-giving gospel preaching. Being part of its community is one of the joys of my life.

The love that I have for the church is why I am concerned for the leaders of the church. My concern has deepened as I have gotten call after call, calls that have come as a result of my book Dangerous Calling.1 The particular call that follows came from the head of a local church board with which I had a loose ministry partnership. He was shocked, hurt, angry, and confused. He called for my help, but I’m not sure he wanted my help, at least not the help that I felt constrained to give him. It wasn’t long into the conversation that his anger turned toward me. I wanted to help him and his band of fellow leaders through the dark and rocky road that they would walk over the next several months, but his anger told me I wouldn’t be invited in. I put down my cell phone after our talk and sadness washed over me. It wasn’t the first time, and I knew it wouldn’t be the last. I carry that sadness with me. It drives me to prayer, it makes me celebrate God’s grace, and it motivates me to think that we can and we must do better.

What concerned me with the call that day and many other similar calls is not that my leader friend was shocked, hurt, and angry. He should have been shocked at the duplicitous life of the senior pastor he was calling about. He should have been hurt that his pastor loved his pleasure more than he loved the people he’d been called to feed and to lead. The caller needed to be righteously angry at the violation of everything God designed his church to be. But what concerned me and left me sad after the call was that there was no introspection, no wonderment about the nature of the leadership community that surrounded the fallen pastor, and no apparent willingness to talk about things other than what to do with the pastor who was the focus of his anger.

I wish this conversation had been an exception, but it wasn’t. We have all been witnesses to the fall of well-known pastors with a huge amount of influence and notoriety, but for every public falling, there are hundreds of unknown pastors who have lapsed, have left both their leadership and their church in crisis, or are spiritual shells of the pastors they once were. We have talked about the idolatry of celebrity, about pastoral immorality, and about seduction of power, but I am writing this book because, very often, behind the failure of a pastor is a weak and failed leadership community. We don’t have just a pastoral crisis; I am convinced from conversation after conversation with pastors and their leadership that we have a leadership crisis.

Could it be that the way we have structured local church leadership, the way leaders relate to one another, the way we form a leader’s job description, and the everyday lifestyle of the leadership community may be contributing factors to pastoral failure? Could it be that as we leaders are disciplining the pastor, dealing with the hurt he has left behind and working toward restoration, we need to look inward and examine what his fall tells us about ourselves? Could it be that we are looking to the wrong models to understand how to lead? Could it be that as we have become enamored with corporate models of leadership, we have lost sight of deeper gospel insights and values? Could it be that we have forgotten that the call to lead Christ’s church is not summarized by organizing, running, and funding a weekly catalog of religious gatherings and events? Could it be that many of our leadership communities don’t actually function like communities? And could it be that many of our leaders don’t really want to be led, and many in our leadership community don’t value true biblical community?

I knew when I wrote Dangerous Calling, which addresses the unique temptations that every pastor faces, I would need to write another book addressing the community of leaders that surrounds the pastor. I have needed the years since Dangerous Calling was published, with all of those sad and difficult phone conversations, before undertaking it. I have needed to sit face-to-face with scores of pastoral newbies and veterans. I have needed many hours of examination and reflection. But I am excited to use my voice in the hope that it will ignite a conversation that I am convinced we need to have but often are not having.

This book is not a depressing critique. You can go to Twitter for that—the place that has revealed to us all that judgment is much more natural to us than grace. I want to propose a positive character model for local church or ministry leadership. There is so much written about a leader’s gifting, about having the right people in the right seats, about leadership structures, and about how to make decisions and drive vision. All of these things are important, but they are not the most important thing. I want to turn your thinking toward the foundational character and lifestyle of a healthy church leadership community. My hope is that the result will be insight, confession, and community transformation.

Jim called me because the secret, sordid life of his senior pastor was no longer a secret. Like so many situations, the computer was the tool that had exposed the secret. At first, Jim and his fellow leaders were in denial. They simply could not believe that this stuff was going on in the life of the man they had worked alongside and trusted for years. They thought maybe his computer had been hacked, but when they approached him, they changed their thinking, because he had a denier’s answer for everything. Now they had to work through their disbelief as well as all the plausible explanations their pastor had given and that, frankly, they wanted to believe. The more they dug, however, the more they were unable to deny the truth of what was uncovered, and the more they uncovered, the more they had to confess that there was an awful lot about this pastor that they did not know. They were like ten people in a canoe built for four launched by raging rapids toward a waterfall ahead.

To add to their out-of-control feeling, this crisis had shattered their unity. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that the crisis had exposed how thin and easily shatterable their unity was. The men who were most loyal to the pastor argued and debated with the men they thought were rushing to judgment; the organizational guys argued with the men who tended to be more pastoral; and in all of these debates there was way too much judgment of the others’ interests and motives. Meanwhile, a shocked and hurting congregation was not getting from their leaders what they needed.

As I walked with these leaders through their distress and confusion, engaging them in conversation after conversation, it was clear that they were foundationally unprepared for what they were dealing with. It wasn’t just that they were structurally unprepared; they were, more importantly, unprepared in terms of character and relationship. The fact that such basic things were missing complicated and obstructed their calling to lead their church through that very difficult moment. And in their unpreparedness, they spent as much time debating among themselves as they did dealing with the crisis and the man at the center of it.

It’s not just the little, unknown churches that are unprepared. We have all watched flagship churches deal with similar pastoral crises, and we have seen them act and speak too soon, only to then retract what they have said and done and then suggest another view and another course of action that they soon also modify. We’ve seen leaders in these churches publicly disagree with one another. We have seen loyalty, power, and division control decisions rather than biblical wisdom. How many failed pastors will there be, how many more broken and hurting churches, before we humbly ask questions about how we are leading the church that the Savior has entrusted into our care?

I celebrate the wonderful, vibrant, and healthy churches that I partner with around the world. I love the energy that we are pouring into church planting and church revitalization. I love that gospel-centered churches are speaking ever more loudly as advocates for what is just and right for those who have no voice. I am not at all depressed; I am excited. But I am concerned that weaknesses in the leadership community have the power to not only weaken the function and witness of what appears to be a very healthy church but may also, in what seems to be an instant, cast that church into a quagmire that can damage and divert its ministry for a long time. In some situations it appears that the glory will never return.

The courage that propels me to approach this topic is rooted not in my wisdom or experience but in the presence, power, wisdom, and grace of my Redeemer. As I begin writing this book, I am once again remembering what gave me hope and motivation when I wrote Dangerous Calling—Matthew 28:16–20:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The disciples had been through a whirlwind of unimaginable things; the late-night arrest of their Messiah in Gethsemane, Jesus’s trial and torture, the public crucifixion, the sight of his empty tomb and his post-resurrection appearances. Try to put yourself in their place. Try to imagine the confusion, the internal debates, the fear, the doubt, and the wonderment of the future. Imagine the joy of his appearances crashing against the struggles of belief that would accompany the miracles and the mystery. Consider what happens next in the context of what the disciples were dealing with emotionally and spiritually.

Jesus, knowing that there was both doubt and belief in the room, was about to commission this group of fearful believers to carry the gospel of resurrection life to the world. Yes, he would commission these men at this cataclysmic moment. I likely would’ve thought, They’re not ready, it’s just too soon. They need to know so much more. They need to come to a deeper understanding of what just happened. They need time to mature. But in the middle of the most amazing, confusing, and gloriously mind-bending moment in history, Jesus did not hesitate; he simply said, “Go.”

I love the words that follow because they tell us why Jesus was confident to draft these men, at that moment, for his worldwide gospel mission. He was confident not because of what was in them and what he knew they would do, but because he knew what was in himself and what he would do. So he said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He was saying to these men that there was no situation, no location, or no community outside of his authority and sovereign rule. He wanted them to understand that everything in heaven and on earth was under his command. Consider why this was so vital for these men who desperately needed his grace in order to bring his message of grace to the nations.

I don’t know if you’ve ever considered this, but the reliability of God’s promises of grace to us is only as great as the extent of his sovereignty. God can only guarantee the sure delivery of his promises in the places over which he has control. I can guarantee what I promise to you in my house, because I have some authority there, but I cannot make the same promises for my neighbor’s house, over which I have no control. Jesus is saying, “As you go, you can bank on everything I have promised you because I rule every place where you will need those promises to be fulfilled.” God’s promises of grace are sure because his sovereignty is complete.

But Jesus had more to say. He then looked at this room of men, with the mixture of doubt and faith in their hearts, and said, “Behold, I am with you always.” These words are much deeper than Jesus saying, “I’ll be there for you.” Jesus is taking one of the names of God: “I Am.” He says, “Know that wherever you go, the I Am will be with you, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the one on whom all the covenant promises rest, the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the one who is Alpha and Omega. I am the I Am, and I would never think of sending you without going with you in power, glory, wisdom, and grace.” The disciples would find all they needed for what they were being commissioned to do in the power, presence, and grace of the one sending them.

It is with the same assurance Jesus gave to the disciples that I write this book. Because of the completeness of Christ’s authority, the inescapability of his presence and the surety of his promises, we don’t have to be afraid of examining our weaknesses and failure. The gospel of his presence, power, and grace frees us from the burden of minimizing or denying reality. The gospel of his presence, power, and grace welcomes us to be the most honest community on earth. We are not cemented to our track record. We are not left to our small bag of personal resources. Because he is his best gift to us, our potential is great and change is possible. And so it is the gospel of his presence, power, and grace that gives me the courage and hope to write about a very important place where change needs to take place. May the same grace give you an open heart as you read.

A Model

The foundation of everything proposed in this book about the shape, character, and function of the leadership community of the church of Jesus Christ is this: the model for the community that is the church, and most importantly its leadership, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I know that this seems both obvious and vague, but I am persuaded that it is neither, and that if the primary driving force of leadership in local churches around the world was the gospel of Jesus Christ, many of the sad things we have seen happen in the lives of leaders and their churches would not have happened.

I want to invite you to examine with me a passage that lays down a gospel foundation for all relationships in the church, from the average person in the pew to the most influential, culture, and mission-setting leaders. Let me say, before we look at this passage, that no organizational or achievement-oriented leadership model should overwhelm the values and call of the gospel as the core structural and functional model and identity for local church and Christian ministry leaders. As I have reflected upon this passage, my mind has gone to the thousands and thousands of pastors, ministry leaders, elder boards, and deacon boards around the world, and I have wondered if the community norms of this passage are their normal experience as leaders. The passage comes in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Eph. 4:1–3)

It should be noted that Paul’s first application of the truths of the gospel, which he has just expounded for the Ephesians, is to remind them that it is those very truths that are to form the way they think about themselves and their relationships to one another. Those truths are to be the foundation stones of whatever community structures they build. There are few more important applications of the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ than to consider how they set the agenda for the way we live with, relate to, and work with each other as members of the body of Christ. And let me point out that there is no exception clause for pastors, elders, and deacons or some different community model for them in this passage or in any of the similar passages. The gospel, which is our hope in life and death, also sets the agenda for how we live, relate, and lead between the “already” of our conversion and the “not yet” of our final home going.

My purpose here is not to do a detailed study of Ephesians 4:1–3 but to propose how its gospel values can begin to form the way we think about how we function and relate as church leaders. I want to suggest that if you really do want your relationships to be worthy of the gospel you received, then you will value humility, gentleness, patience, forbearing love, and peace, and if you value these gospel characteristics, you will ask yourself, “What would my leadership community look like if we truly valued these things more than positions, power, achievement, acclaim, or success?” Let me answer this question by suggesting six characteristics that will mark out a leadership community formed by gospel values.

1. Humility

Humility means that each leader’s relationship to other leaders is characterized by an acknowledgment that he deserves none of the recognition, power, or influence that his position affords him. It means knowing, as a leader, that as long as sin still lives inside you, you will need to be rescued from you. Humility means you love serving more than you crave leading. It means owning your inability rather than boasting in your abilities. It means always being committed to listen and learn. Humility means seeing fellow leaders not so much as serving your success but serving the one who called each of you. It means being more excited about your fellow leaders’ commitment to Christ than you are about their loyalty to you. It’s about fearing the power of position rather than craving it. It’s about being more motivated to serve than to be seen. Humility is always being ready to consider the concern of others for you, confess what God reveals through them, and to commit to personal change. Humility is about firing your inner lawyer and opening yourself up to the ongoing power of transforming grace.

2. Dependency

Dependency means living, as a leader, as if I really do believe that my walk with God is a community project. It means that because of the blinding power of remaining sin, I give up on the belief that no one knows me better than I know myself. Dependency means no longer being afraid of exposure, because I really do believe that there is nothing that could be known, exposed, or revealed about me that has not already been addressed by the person and work of Jesus. It means living as if I really do believe that isolated, individualized, independent Christianity never produces good fruit. It means acknowledging that every leader needs to be led and every pastor needs to be pastored. Dependency means acknowledging theological understanding, biblical literacy, ministry gifts, and ministry experience and success do not mean that I no longer need the essential sanctifying ministry of the body of Christ. It means confessing that as long as sin remains in me, and that apart from restraining grace and the rescuing ministry of those around me, I continue to be a danger to myself.

3. Prepared Spontaneity

If you acknowledge the presence and the seducing and deceiving power of remaining sin, you will also acknowledge that everyone in your leadership community is still susceptible to temptation and is still at risk. You know that sins, small and great, will infect your community and obstruct and divert its work. You live with the knowledge that everyone in your leadership community is still in need of rescuing and sanctifying grace. So you set in motion plans for dealing with the sin, weakness, and failure that will inevitably rear their ugly heads. You will not be shocked by, deny, or minimize what God, in grace, reveals but deal with it forthrightly in a spirit of biblical love and grace. You will not be more concerned with defending the reputation of your leadership community than dealing with its failures. Prepared spontaneity means that because you have taken seriously what the gospel says about ongoing spiritual battles in the heart of every leader, you have prepared yourself to deal with the sin that God exposes, even though you don’t know beforehand what he will, in grace, expose.

4. Inspection

Inspection means that we invite people to step over the normal boundaries of leadership relationships to look into our lives to help us see things that we would not see on our own. It means inviting fellow leaders to watch for our souls. It means inviting them to interrupt our private conversation with protective biblical insights and restorative gospel truths. It means acknowledging that self-examination is a community project, because we are still able to swindle ourselves into thinking that we are okay when we are in danger and in need of help. So every leader must be willing to live under loving, grace-infused, patient, and forgiving biblical inspection.

5. Protection

We all sin, but we don’t all sin the same. For reasons of history, experience, gift, biology, and a host of other things, we aren’t equally tempted by the same things.