What are the top three qualities of a good pastor?
What makes a good church leader?
What leadership qualities must someone demonstrate before you will trust them, respect them and follow them?
Feel free to use this simple and memorable leadership teaching with your teams.
Let’s get straight into it.
I believe that when it comes to great Christian leadership these are the main attributes people are looking for, let’s take a look at the ‘3 Cs’…
1. Character
Character is developed over time and in partnership with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
“So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.” Daniel 6:4
Whether you’re aware of it or not, people are watching you constantly: how you act, how you react – people really do expect you to be above reproach. You can’t fake it ’til you make it!
“Knowledge will give you power, but character respect. – Bruce Lee” [Tweet this]
If you you fall short in this area it is considered a moral failure and people will not be quick to forget. Integrity with finance, laziness, lying, being hotheaded – you may be able to hide these things for a while but they will eventually come out and then people will not follow you. So be like Daniel; be ‘above reproach’.
2. Competence
Competence is skill or ability and this can be learned through training or experience.
The greater the calling of God on your life, the longer and more difficult the training.
If you’re weak in a certain area, say administration and account keeping, you can learn and train to get the basics, or even better, make sure you surround yourself with people who are strong in this area who will complement your skill set.
For example, I love to lead worship, just one strum of my guitar and the Holy Spirit is in the room!
But, if my right hand man is not there to take charge of the technical aspects such as setting up the sound system, I would just stand staring blankly at the bag of wires!
Get a good team around you and they’ll make you look good.
3. Courage
Courage is a vital leadership quality. When crises happen the church will look to you for support. They expect you to be confident and to make the right decisive action at the right time.
The difference between a good pastor and a great pastor is his ability to be brave in the face of uncertainty.
Character has to do with moral integrity. Competence has to do with skill, experience and training. Courage has to do with confidence and calm in the midst of problems and challenges.
You may occasionally fail in the areas of competency and courage and still maintain a ‘following’.
However, as a Christian leader and a pastor, a failure in the area of moral character is very difficult to recover from.
Your Turn
How are you doing in these three fronts of character, competence and courage? Would you add anything to the three Cs?
Scroll down and leave us your comment.
Thank you so much Pastor Simon, i believe this qualities will help so much to develop more…. i`m humbly allowing God to do all that is best for Him in my life.I know no one is perfect but We can do all things through Him who strengthen us and help us always. Thank you big time, and God continue using you in our lives
Simple, yet profound and so true.
Thanks for the affirmation
Hi, Simon, Im grateful for your encouraging article. I believe I am weak in the first one. I wish all my heart, mind, thought, action are in accordance with the will of God. But they are not. What shall I do? Help me please.
Hey!
It’s important to remember that character is something that is never “complete” or “finished” and it’s something we’re all working on.
Personally don’t think it’s helpful to focus in on all your flaws to the point you feel guilty every day, instead break it down and make it simple. It’s just how I like to approach things 🙂
So what is character? It’s the sum of your daily habits. So what good habits can you start today to turn this around? What is the character issue? If it’s laziness, you wake up a little earlier and go for a run everyday for the next 2 weeks. Is it selfishness? Take a 30 day challenge where you purposefully bless someone.
Identify the character issue you want to overcome and set a simple, daily goal to change your habits. This could be fun as well as improving your character! I hope this helps!
You are wonderful my brother
God bless and uses you the more
Hi Pastor,I am in from Tanzania.What can I do I as a church as I have already pass through your teaching and discover that there with my Pastor some mistakes that make the church don’t grow.I need your wisdom about this.What can I do then?
Hey! Thanks for sharing!
I think an important thing to remember is that nobody in your church is perfect, including you! 🙂 So please don’t be one of those annoying people who adds more pressure and makes life for your pastor more difficult. Trust me, leadership is a heavy responsibility and we should be trying to make our pastors lives easier.
So how you can cause change in your church? That depends. Are you in a position of influence and leadership already? If so, you could try making suggestion, offer ideas on how you can improve the way you do things to accomplish the church’s mission.
First and foremost, be a helpful encouragement for your pastor. If he/she doesn’t want to make the changes you suggest, humbly accept that and pray that God will continue to lead your pastor and give him/her wisdom to lead.
I think it’s easy to spot what others are doing wrong, but oftentimes we can’t change what others do, we can onyl change ourselves. Is there any way you could support the church more than you’re doing at present? Are their skills and talents you have the church hasn’t seen yet? Look for opportunities to help out and serve. When you reach your potential your church will surely benefit!
I hope this helps. Bless you and the church in Tanzania.
Hi Pastor Simon
I have only been saved since last August, Yet I believe that my calling is in the Pastoral field. I was Baptised after only 7 weeks of being Saved by Jesus. I want to give my life to Christ, Literally fall at His Feet and swear eternal allegiance to Him only.
Am I being foolish or is this truly my calling, HELP!!!
Hi Kulbir, I’ve found the best way to discover your calling is to serve faithfully and loyally in your local church and support your pastor in any way you can. I cannot emphasise this strongly enough. Serve and help your church with your time, energy, gifts and finances and you’ll see your giftings being discovered and developed.
A pastor is not a pastor simply because of a title or office, but because they are reaching new people, building disciples and mobilising and equipping people to discover their God-given destiny. Bless you as you faithfully serve your church in reaching people in your community for Christ.
how about Calling, Charisma
Great ones too Emil, to know and be confident in your calling is key. Charisma also is important. I wonder can Charisma be learned or is something we are born with?
Very True Pastor. Testimony is very important.
When People know that he was not a Good pastor earlier, what would be the Pastors ministry once he wants to repent and want to start a new life with God?
I don’t think people expect their pastors to be perfect and never make mistakes, and while a moral or character can be very hard and take time to come back from, it is possible if people see honesty, transparency and a genuine repentance.
Personally, I can understand when we make mistakes but whatever caused it; a character issue, wrong thinking need to be dealt with. Then there can be a time of restoration. Hope this helps.
Hi Pastor Simon, I am really enjoying this material. To be honest with you, I am busy working on all the three Cs, but that God I can say that I am kind of Courageous. God bless you sir
Don’t worry I think we all are, but these 3 C’s, being easy to remember can help us to focus on being the leader our church needs us to be. The fact you are aware of where you are strong and where you can improve is a great thing, it means you can grow in your gifting as a leader and lead your church better. Bless you.