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1. A Leader is Trustworthy
Paul earned a reputation of trust. In Acts 24:23, the Centurion did what Governor Felix did previously, “He commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friend to provide for or visit him.” Even the governors under whom he was imprisoned knew he was a man of integrity.
How does a leader build trust? When people are convinced that you’ll do everything in your power for their good and nothing for their harm, they’ll trust you. A real leader will work hard to make everyone around him successful. His passion is to help make people under his leadership flourish. That is why a true leader must have the heart of a servant.
2. A Leader Takes the Initiative
Acts 27:9-10 says, “Paul advised them saying, ‘Men, I perceive this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also of our lives.’” Paul, a prisoner, advised them. Don’t miss the significance of that statement. He had no rank, no title, no authority, no particular right—but he took initiative and spoke out.
Consider Nehemiah. He identified a problem and came up with a solution (he wasn’t a master builder—he was a butler to the king! But he knew how to identify & solve problems). He delegated responsibility by appointing trustworthy men to oversee sections of the labor, dividing responsibilities according to their abilities; knew how to motivate people; and worked alongside the people. Because of his initiative, the wall around Jerusalem was completed in 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15).
3. A Leader Uses Good Judgment
You might think young leaders are too timid, but it is more common for young men to fail because they are impetuous…they aren’t sensitive, and they don’t seek wise counsel.
4. A Leader Speaks with Authority
Paul spoke with boldness and confidence because he knew God would do what He said. Paul didn’t speak with egotism or insolence, a feeling of superiority or a sense of self-importance or conceit. If you can’t verbally project certainty, confidence, and courage based on knowledge, you’ll find it very difficult to lead people.
5. A Leader Strengthens Others
A real leader’s aim is to make everyone around him better. He makes them stronger, more effective, and more motivated.
6. A Leader is Optimistic & Enthusiastic
Optimistic enthusiasm inspires followers by creating energy, excitement, and hope. People naturally follow a leader who arouses their hopes, and they will back away from someone who is perpetually pessimistic.
7. A Leader Never Compromises the Absolutes
Have you ever noticed how God uses ordinary means to accomplish His will? When the storm came, Paul pointed out, “There will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship” (Acts 27:22). He went on to note, “Unless these men stay on the ship, you cannot be saved” (Acts 27:31).
When it comes to matters of principle—moral and ethical foundations, biblical absolutes, the axioms of God’s Word, God’s clear commands, and the truthfulness of God Himself—it is never right to compromise. The true leader understands that and knows where to hold the line. No one (not just pastors & church leaders, but any Christian leader) can be a truly effective spiritual leader unless he understands the essential truth of Scripture and refuses to compromise its absolute authority.
8. A Leader Focuses on Objectives, Not Obstacles.
9. A Leader Empowers by Example
Here’s a truth any Godly mother knows: Two keys to serving the Lord are prayer and a good breakfast. Paul did not neglect the crew’s physical needs and lecture them about the spiritual needs of their souls. He balanced the spiritual and the physical. Then he himself began to eat, becoming an example for all.
It’s obvious from Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians that their internal strife and other troubles stemmed from a lack of wise and godly leadership in the wake of Paul’s and Apollos’ departure.
10. A Leader Cultivates Loyalty
Paul was loyal to the Corinthian church, and he wanted them to be loyal to him. He wanted them to be loyal to the truth he taught them (2 Corinthians 12:15-19). Loyalty is essential to leadership. The wise leader cultivates loyalty by being loyal—loyal to the Lord, loyal to the truth, and loyal to the people he leads.
Here’s some advice MacArthur offers to graduates, “You can be successful in any profession you choose if you do a few things consistently: Be on time, keep quiet and work hard; Do what the boss tells you; Have a positive attitude; and most important, be fiercely loyal to the people you work for and with. Leadership hinges on trust, and trust is cultivated by loyalty.
11. A Leader has Empathy for Others
Empathy is the ability to identify with another person so much that you feel what he feels (Hebrews 4:15). It is essential to true compassion, sensitivity, understanding, and comfort.
Leaders must give their people room to fail. People need to be built up when they fail, not further flattened. There were three keys to Paul’s sincerity:
- He always operated with a clear conscience;
- He always sought to show himself reliable in words and actions;
- His dealings with the Corinthians were never self-serving or heavy-handed but always driven by genuine, tender affection for them.
12. A Leader Keeps a Clear Conscience
Good leadership is a matter of character, and righteous character depends on a healthy conscience.
13. A Leader is Definite and Decisive
Good leaders must be able to make decisions in a way that is clear-headed, proactive, and conclusive. They must be able to communicate objectives in a way that is articulate, empathetic, and distinct.
14. A Leader Knows When to Change His Mind
While leaders must be definitive & decisive, they must not be utterly inflexible. Everyone makes bad decisions at times. A good leader will not perpetuate a bad decision. Circumstances also change, and a good leader must know when to adapt to circumstances.
15. A Leader Does Not Abuse His Authority
Jesus said that leadership in His Kingdom is different from worldly leadership: “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.” (Luke 22:25-26)
Leaders must remain gentle, compassionate, empathetic, and humble. If they become resentful, repressive, or ruthless, they lose their effectiveness as leader
16. A Leader Doesn’t Abdicate His Role in the Face of Opposition
The apostle Paul had little interest in self-promotion; hence little interest in self-defense. No matter how unpalatable it was to Paul to engage in self-defense, he needed to oppose the threat of these bogus apostles for the sake of the Corinthians. They were in danger of being misled by the false accusations against him.
The starting point in his defense was an appeal to their knowledge of his character. They knew him. They knew him well. They had observed his life, seen his godly character firsthand and up close. They knew what he was like from the inside out.
17. A Leader is Sure of His Calling
Nothing is more debilitating to leadership than self-doubt. People who have qualms about their own giftedness or calling never make good leaders, because at the most basic level, they are uncertain about whether what they are doing is right.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” No leader can be truly successful who considers the present task a stepping stone. You can’t be distracted by the future and effective in the present. If a leader takes care of the present task with all his power, the future will open up greater opportunities. Living in the fantasy of these future opportunities, however, debilitates us in the present.
18. A Leader Knows His Own Limitations
Jesus said, “Without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The converse is equally true. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13. Both sides of that truth are equally important.
In no way did Paul imagine himself intrinsically adequate for the task to which God called him. And that realization kept him dependent on divine grace in every aspect of his leadership. No true leader can boast of having attained his position merely because of superior talents, physical attributes, communication skills, or whatever.
If God didn’t use homely, ordinary clay pots, there wouldn’t be any spiritual leaders at all, because there aren’t any people who aren’t beset with blemishes and human weaknesses. The greatest of all leaders in Scripture were fundamentally flawed. God delights in choosing menial, plain, foolish, common, despised, ignoble people, whom society might say are good for nothing. By using common, ordinary clay pots, God puts his own glory on display in bold relief.
19. A Leader is Resilient
This is a marvelous partner to the virtue of humility. The leader, while knowing in his own weakness, must be strong and stalwart. Christ calls us all to the kind of sacrifice that is best characterized (the way Paul portrayed it) as perpetual dying.
20. A Leader is Passionate
An apathetic leader is a contradiction in terms. No true leader will ever be uncaring. As Oswald Sanders put it in his book Spiritual Leadership, “Great leaders who have turned the tide in days of national and spiritual declension have been men who could get angry at the injustices and abuses which dishonor God and enslave men.”
Other strong affections—including joy, gladness, sorrow, compassion, fear, and love—are equally essential in leadership. The person who is cold, unfeeling, aloof, or apathetic can never be a truly effective leader. “Meekness”—a humble attitude that expresses itself in the patient endurance of offenses—is not a weakness; it is power under control. After all, no one was more powerful than Christ; yet He said, “I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29).
21. A Leader is Courageous
No one who lacks the courage of basic convictions can possibly be an effective leader. People don’t follow cowards. At times, the leader’s courage is expressed in confrontation.
For every good and noble effort of Christian leaders in business, politics, education, the military, or any other pursuit, there is inevitable engagement with the kingdom of darkness. Since all Christians, in whatever they do, are supposed to be engaged in the advance of Christ’s kingdom, they face opposition from the powers of evil.
“The weapons of our warfare” are the instruments of truth—The Word of God. The gospel. Sound doctrine. The truth of Scripture.
22. A Leader is Discerning
One of the fundamental qualifications for spiritual leadership is a knowledge of the truth, an ability to recognize lies, and skill in using the truth to refute laws.
23. A Leader is Disciplined
A common pitfall that can easily disqualify a person from leadership even after he has made a good start is a lack of personal discipline. Self-control is vital to lasting success in any endeavor in life.
Influential leaders are the ones who devote themselves to personal discipline and make the most of their gifts.
Pride has been a peculiar snare for many; a lack of purity and self-control has caused others to founder. Moral and personal default has been the downfall of many in leadership. It all stems from a lack of discipline. The price of victory is discipline, which means self-control, sacrifice, and hard work. Discipline has to become a passion. It involves voluntary self-denial.
If you don’t have control of your time, you won’t have control of any aspect of your life. And if you don’t operate deliberately, on the schedule you have planned for yourself, your life will be ruled by crises and problem people. You cannot be an effective leader if you are always at the mercy of things out of your own control. Similarly, don’t say you’ll do something you cannot do, and don’t make a promise you don’t intend to fulfill. Your word is your vow. A person who doesn’t keep his own commitments is invariably undisciplined in the rest of his life.
24. A Leader is Energetic
MacArthur notes that he has never known an effective leader who was lazy or idle. Leaders must be industrious and diligent. It is a necessary prerequisite to the initiative, the enthusiasm, the decisiveness, and the resilience required in leadership.
25. A Leader Knows How to Delegate
It is simply not wise leadership to try to manage everything with hands-on oversight. Leaders who take that approach invariably frustrate their people by micromanaging, and they sabotage their own effectiveness by getting bogged down in the details.
One of the chief values of delegation is that it helps equip others to lead. The leader who follows that plan will reproduce more leaders.
26. A Leader is Christlike
Leadership is all about character—honor, decency, integrity, faithfulness, holiness, moral purity, and other similar qualities. This perfectly summarizes every fundamental requirement of a true leader: A leader is Christlike.
So who is fit to Lead?
In every list of qualifications Paul gave for church leaders, the first and most indispensable qualification for men in leadership was that they be “blameless” (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6-7). It describes a person whose Christian testimony is free from the taint of scandal—someone who is upright, sound in character, and without any serious moral blemish.
Three principles set the standard for all leaders in the church:
(1) Plurality of Leadership
Every ministry described in the New Testament was a team effort. There is an undeniable biblical pattern for multiple elders, team leadership, and shared responsibility—never one-man rule. Leadership by a plurality of godly men has several strong advantages. The sharing of leadership burden increases accountability and ensures the decisions of leadership are not self-willed or self-serving.
(2) Priority
Church leaders are instructed in Acts 6:2-4 to follow the pattern of prayer, ministry of the Word of God, and servant ministry—in that order.
(3) Purity
Choosing people of character to lead the people of God is critical, so the work of ministry gets done the right way, by the right people, devoted to the right priorities. People, not programs, were on Paul’s mind as he came to the end of his life. People are the most vital and valuable resource any leader can cultivate.
May these Pauline Principles serve you well, as you shoot for the stars!