What does true Christian leadership look like? And what if your experience of church leaders has been the opposite?
In 1 Thessalonians 2:1–12, the earliest of Paul’s letters, Paul answers critics who called him a fly-by-night huckster. In doing so he gives us a picture of real Christian leadership, using four family images:
- Brothers and sisters: equals who serve each other, not leaders who rule over others
- Children: innocent, with no greed, flattery or manipulation
- A nursing mother: giving and caring, sharing “not only the gospel of God but our lives as well”
- A father: encouraging, comforting and urging us to live lives worthy of God
This teaching is for leaders and shepherds in the church, and for anyone who senses God calling them to lead. It is also for those who have been hurt by leaders who failed them. What you went through was never God’s pattern.
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:1–12
