When we don't take God's standard of Christianity, of what's acceptable in leadership seriously, then what we give everyone who looks to our churches, our ministries, our example...is nothing but confusion in the Body of Christ.
God is very clear in what He expects from us. God does not bless our ministries if we are living in sin. He doesn't work that way. He is not glorified if we aren't doing things to glorify Him but to glorify ourselves.
The reason for all of our ministries should always revolve around Jesus. And if He doesn't approve of something, then it shouldn't show up in HIS ministry right? It's not a hard thing to grasp and yet we have all sorts of "sin" leading from our stages, front and center. ANYTIME someone is placed in front of anyone and we tell the people, "they know what to do, follow them" they are automatically leaders whether they have a title, name tag, or not.
Leadership is serious business and God expects us to do it right. We are to lead people to Him not away from Him. That means we cannot show favoritism in the Body of Christ.
Just ONE Example: We may think that we'd never do something like that but how many times do we allow the woman with the short skirt and cleavage bearing shirt up on our stage on the praise team? Is God pleased with this? Is He being glorified? The answer is no. If the woman is a Believer, which I hope she would be before she was ever involved in the minstry(you can't lead what you don't know), and she knows that God is not okay with immodesty because it WILL cause someone else to stumble, then she has no right standing in leadership with a rebelious attitude toward God. He is not pleased. Will she be upset if you tell her that it's God's rule and she can't particitpate in ministry untill she submits to God on this issue? Possibly, but not enforcig God's standard with her is not loving her. It's leading her astray by allowing her to think it's absolutely acceptable behavior. And what about all the men or young boys that see her? Are they not equally as important to protect from falling into sin? By allowing her to continue because you don't want to make her upset, are you really saying that she is more important than all the men or boys in the congregation? Is this a reflection of God's heart?
The amazing thing about God is that He sets the standard of Christian living and ministry so that there is NO Favoritism. See, it's so simple. He says, here's the standard of what's acceptable as Children of God, who minister in My Name, and He gives us very plainly what is acceptable and says, here it is...if you meet this criteria, then you have my blessing, I'm pleased, you can represent Me to the world.
But we don't operate on His standards, we try to make our own, we make it complicated, we show favoritism, and people get hurt, people get confused, and people get lost.
Bottom line is this: We don't get to make up the rules. God already gave us the rules, (As Leaders) we are the enforcers of the rules because we love God and because we love people. We don't add to the rules, we don't take away from the rules. We give people Jesus. We teach them what it means to be obedient.
We understand that not only will we stand in judgement before God for every action, we also realize that they too will stand before God for every action, and that is why we can be motivated enough to help them do the right thing and help make it as hard as possible for them to be disobedient to God while serving in our church. If they don't like us for it...they can talk to God about it.
* don't provide opportunities for people to sin in ministry. don't wait for them to come around someday and start doing things the right way on their own. you are the leader...lead them. if they choose to disobey, then remove them from ministry (that's your responsibility) and let God deal with their disobedience (that's His job)
* remember that people are only ignorant untill they've been told the truth. ALWAYS deal with issues by sitting down with the person and going over scripture as to why something is not acceptable. this will help YOU always make sure that it's God's rules and not your own, but also because it is our job to give them TRUTH. But once they have been told the truth, it is no longer ignorance but a choice. Let them choose, but if they choose disobedience then you must be the leader who obeys God and does the right thing.
*our ministries rise and fall with leadership. if the leadership and ministry workers are solid in their walks with Christ, then God is at the center of that ministry. I always say, "show me your ministry workers and I can tell you exactly what kind of leaders you have"
. be a Godly Leader, your people will always be a reflection of who you are.
*you cannot afford to be intimidated by the people you lead, you have to love them more. you are their leader...have courage to do what is right. Stay strong and please God.
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