At the very least, this outline is must reading for leaders

John Piper’s article, The Marks of a Spiritual Leader, is one of the best things I have read in a long time on spiritual leadership.  It reminds me in tone of J. Oswald Sanders book, Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer.

Piper organizes his thoughts around an inner and outer circle of leadership:

Biblical spiritual leadership contains an inner circle and an outer circle. The inner circle of spiritual leadership is that sequence of events in the human soul that must happen if anyone is to get to first base in spiritual leadership. These are the absolute bare essentials. They are things that all Christians must attain in some degree, and when they are attained with high fervor and deep conviction they very often lead one into strong leadership. In the outer circle are qualities that characterize both spiritual and non-spiritual leaders. What I would like to try to do now in this paper is simply explain and illustrate these qualities on the inner circle and the outer circle.

From here, the article is outlined:

The Inner Circle of Spiritual Leadership

  1. That others will glorify God
  2. Love both friend and foe by trusting in God and hoping in his promises.
  3. Meditate and pray on His Word.
  4. Acknowledge your helplessness.

The Outer Circle of Spiritual Leadership

  1. Restless
  2. Optimistic
  3. Intense
  4. Self-controlled
  5. Thick-skinned
  6. Energetic
  7. A Hard-Thinker
  8. Articulate
  9. Able to Teach
  10. A Good Judge of Character
  11. Tactful
  12. Theologically Oriented
  13. A Dreamer
  14. Organized and Efficient
  15. Decisive
  16. Perseverant
  17. A Lover

Read the whole thing here.

HT: JT

Published by Chris