The Character of Leadership

G'day, thanks for joining the Heights Church podcast today. We hope you enjoy our message.

If you're in the Sydney area, be sure to join us at the Heights Church at Gorsham

Road, Cornwall Heights, Sydney, Australia.

1 Timothy 3, and I'm reading from the New International Version,

Qualifications and Overseers and Deacons.

Here is a trustworthy saying, whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.

Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate,

self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness,

not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him,

and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.

If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the

same judgment as the devil.

He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall

into disgrace and into the devil's trap.

In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere,

not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain.

They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.

They must first be tested, and then, if there is nothing against them,

let them serve as deacons.

If you do have a Bible, 1 Timothy chapter 3 is where I will be today.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

If you've got more than one finger, you might want to put one in Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

There will be sort of cross-referencing or hinting to a few things that happen

there, because in Acts chapter 20,

Acts 20 · chapter mention

Paul is also talking to the same set of elders that are being referred to here in 1 Timothy chapter 3.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Today, I'm talking about the standards of leadership in the church.

And so, it's important to understand that as Paul wrote to Timothy,

as Timothy worked in and around the Ephesian church, that Paul addressed a very

localized, specific context,

disconnected in a lot of ways to our modern context, but in a lot of ways the same.

And by doing so, Paul established some timeless principles that churches,

including ours, for 2,000 years have been able to use and refer to to establish church structures,

have have been able to refer to when considering appointing a new leader in

their church, and also as sort of a set of criteria to hold their leaders to account.

Now, you might be sitting there thinking, and very rightfully,

I've got a lot of stuff going on in my life, real stuff.

You might be a high school student thinking, thinking,

Do I really, for the next little while, have to listen about church leadership stuff?

What's this got to do with my assignments that I'm stressed about, my friends at school?

You might be thinking, I've got so much stress going on with my family and my work.

Why do I have to listen or think about church leadership stuff this morning?

I'm not an elder. I'm not a deacon.

Can we not just let the elders and the deacons worry about all of that elders and deacons stuff?

However, the truth is that standards for leadership in the church is something

that impacts every single one of us.

And that includes this morning, you.

And I'll give you five reasons why. Plenty of other reasons why,

but I'm just going to give you five reasons.

Reason number one, Many of us here have at one point in our life had a church

leader make a significant positive impact on our lives.

Maybe at one point in your life, a church leader helped you in a very difficult time.

Maybe they were pivotal figures in your coming to faith in Jesus.

Maybe at one point in your life, a church leader believed in you.

Listened to you, encouraged you,

advocated for you, or gave you important spiritual and emotional care.

If you are sitting there this morning, I'd encourage you to think back to who

that person or persons might have been for you.

And by doing so, be reminded that the types of people that we place into leadership

positions definitely matter.

Reason number two, Many of us here, and sadly many who no longer go to church,

have at one point in their life been disappointed,

hurt, and sinned against by somebody in a position of leadership power in the church.

And we all know that in the history of the church, abuse of power by those in

leadership positions have happened all too often.

We all know stories of church leaders who have done abhorrent,

terrible things to those who are vulnerable.

Church leaders have too often been a force for evil rather than a force for

good, and And people get hurt through emotional manipulation,

authoritarian domination.

And all too often, there are scenarios where people will finally think,

okay, finally, I'm in a movement that I believe in because of a leader.

This leader has sufficiently motivated me, got me on fire, made me think that

everything I do, yes, I'm fully on board in this church movement because of

the charisma, the influence, the power of a church leader,

they've had their hopes and their dreams peaked only to tragically be let down

and have their spirit and their faith demolished because the character of the

leader didn't match the enthusiasm that they were able to generate.

The types of people that we place in leadership positions matter.

Reason number three, the standards that are set out for leaders are done so,

not just so that a select few can attempt to live up to those standards and

everybody else doesn't have to worry about it,

but rather these standards are set out so that within churches,

there might be leaders who seek to be examples of those characteristics,

characteristics, examples to all of us as all of us seek to grow in Christ and

in the fruits of the Spirit.

Many, potentially all, of the characteristics that are outlined for elders and

deacons are actually required from all of us.

Reason number four why this matters for all of us, and this might be my favorite one,

each of us, every single one of us here, all the way back to Adam and Eve in

the garden, every single one of us are all too often susceptible,

to being impressed by the wrong things.

All of us can be too easily impressed with somebody speaking the right words

that hit us in the right spot.

We can be too easily impressed with glitz, with charisma, with spectacle,

with power, and with talent.

1 Timothy chapter 3 is a reminder to look for and to be impressed by and to

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

be drawn to character over gifting,

to be drawn to integrity over external success.

And finally, reason number five, why the standards for leadership is important

for all of us is that the church is valuable. The church is immensely precious and valuable.

It has a value that has been imputed and imbued by the blood of God's Son.

In Acts chapter 20, Paul gathers together the Ephesian elders.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

And one of the things that he says to the elders, he says, be shepherds of the church of God.

It's the church of God that he bought with his own blood.

Those who would be leaders, as it says in 1 Timothy 3, seek a noble task,

but they do a solemn and heavy task as well.

So the character of those who lead in the church is important.

And let's think quickly about a few things, that a list of characteristics like

1 Timothy chapter 3, let's think about a few things that it is not.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

First of all, 1 Timothy chapter 3 is not a legalistic stick that we can beat our leaders with.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

It is a list for the Ephesian church for a specific context.

Many of the characteristics are applicable across the ages, but we also know

that people are complicated.

Complicated every person is different every context is

different and so within the standards

and the principles that are outlined in god's word we also

need to be able to be flexible maintaining the spirit

of the principles outlined while not demanding that

our leaders in every second of their life be perfect in every single way the

second thing that one timothy three is not It is not a tool on which we can

project our personal grievances or our personal preferences.

Personal disagreement with an elder or a pastor or a deacon is not a reason

to go looking through 1 Timothy chapter 3 as to why this person who you've had

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

a personal disagreement with might be disqualified for leadership.

And third of all, 1 Timothy chapter 3 is not an excuse for anybody to shirk

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

responsibility or to feel like that you are let off the hook.

Too often in the church, in the history of the church as well,

the gap between those who are in leadership and just, you know,

the regular people who come to church, that gap is stretched and extended far

beyond what it was ever intended to be.

Perhaps if you incorrectly believe that it's only the pastor's job to do all

the ministry, it's only the pastor's job to run the services,

which a lot of people do incorrectly believe from time to time.

You might also be tempted to incorrectly believe that it's also only the pastor's

job to live faithfully and with obedience.

So elders and deacons, when the Baptist tradition in which our church finds

itself in, there have been typically two offices of church leadership that have been recognized.

Elders and deacons. If you find yourself in a different denomination or tradition,

you might find different words, titles, names that are described for these offices.

And there might also be a third, sometimes a fourth office that is talked about.

In the Baptist tradition, we have elders and we have deacons.

Elders, also known by different people or at different times as pastors or overseers

are primarily responsible for the spiritual oversight of the church.

They focus on teaching and preaching and shepherding the congregation.

In many Baptist churches, including our own, there may be multiple elders.

In fact, many churches say that not only can there be multiple elders,

but rather there should be multiple elders, including both paid staff and lay leaders.

In our church at the moment, we have Mark, but we also have Tony Edwards.

They are the elders of our church.

Deacons, on the other hand...

People who assist with the practical needs and ministries of a church.

They often help with administrative tasks, care for the physical needs of the

church, and support the elders in their ministry.

And we find in the New Testament that both roles have a lot of overlap and that

both roles are vital to the health and functioning of the church.

But they also have distinct responsibilities and qualifications.

In fact, here at the Heights Church, we have a document that outlines the responsibilities

of the elders and the deacons here.

The elders' responsibilities include determining the mission,

the ongoing vision and strategy of our church.

Their responsibility is teaching from God's Word.

That also includes the oversight of preaching schedule and roster and topics,

includes empowering not just themselves to speak, but empowering other people

to grow in their ability to teach.

They pray for the church and its ministries. They develop the corporate prayer

of our church and they participate in pastoral care.

And they also meet weekly, I believe, to talk about important things of the

church and to pray for the church.

The deacons in our church, their responsibilities include managing the church

finances, the administration,

addressing the physical well-being of the congregation, supporting and directing

our ministry leadership programs and events,

reporting and responding to practical ministry needs, addressing maintenance,

growth and expansion needs of the church's facilities and resources,

and supporting local and global outreach and mission.

You might be sitting there thinking, cool, glad all that's being taken care of.

But these are such important things. And I'm so glad that it's not just a sort

of like, oh, we'll go off like the vibe of what we're feeling month to month.

But no, rather it is written down to make sure that our church stays on target,

that our church's leaders know what their role is in our church.

Church. So we come to 1 Timothy chapter 3, and it says to people,

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

if you want to be an elder, or if you want to be a deacon in a church,

if you want to put your hand up

and say, yes, I would like more responsibility and more jobs in my life,

sign me up to be an elder or a deacon.

1 Timothy chapter 3 says, great, awesome. That's a noble thing to do.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Mark also says, please put your hand up for those jobs and more.

But it says it is a noble thing to sign up for.

However, there is going to be a list of qualifications that somebody who wants

to do one of those roles must be able to live up to in their lives.

In the early church and in the church today, in our current setting,

it is important that we focus not just on the capacity and the capability of

the individuals who are entrusted with leadership, but that we also focus on character.

I wonder what you, if you were to sort of get a butcher's paper and write down

five things that you think is important in a leader.

I wonder what those five things might be. I wonder if you were to write one

thing, what that one thing might be.

I suspect we might all write down different things that we think is important in a leader.

We live in a world that values leadership. We live in a a world that sometimes

can value leadership too much.

Let's consider what the world often values in leaders as sort of like a backdrop

to the characteristics that we're going to go through in 1 Timothy 3.

The world will value things like charisma and charm, the ability to captivate

an audience and win people over.

The world will value success and achievement.

The world will value confidence and assertiveness, the appearance of always

being in control, always having all of the answers.

The world will value innovation and creativity, the ability to come up with

new ideas, stay ahead of the trends.

The world will value educational background and credentials,

degrees from prestigious institutions.

The world will value public speaking ability, the skill in addressing crowds

and media and audiences.

The world will value physical appearance and presentation, looking like a leader.

The world will value strategic thinking and decisiveness, making quick, firm decisions.

And while some of these qualities are fine, good, good, in fact,

even potentially valuable,

we are able, I think, to notice that often what the world values in a leader

are the things that primarily focus on the outward appearance,

on skills, on talent, rather than the character and the integrity of the leader.

Well, the biblical qualifications for elders and deacons focus mostly on character.

So let's have a look at some of the criteria, some of the characteristics that

Paul gives to Timothy for appointing and upholding elders and deacons.

First of all, it says that an elder must be above reproach.

Elders and deacons must live their lives in a way that don't bring criticism

or reproach on the gospel.

This means that elders particularly should demonstrate a consistent pattern

of behavior that doesn't invite legitimate criticism,

that their personal, professional, and spiritual conduct should align with the

biblical principles in such a way that they are able to even avoid accusations

that can harm the church and the gospel.

Being above reproach is such an interesting idea. When I was about 17,

I had a Bible study leader and we were going through, I don't know if it was

this or somewhere else, but I remember we were talking about,

it came up, what does it mean to be above reproach?

He told me something really interesting about this idea that sort of,

at least for me, gave me clarity about what these two words might mean.

First of all, he said to me and the.

Often it is very important for you to be right.

But often it's actually also important that not only you are right,

but you are right on a technicality, that you will argue the very finite point as to why you are right.

My Bible study leader told me that being above reproach is not about defending

yourself on a technicality.

He said, being above reproach is holding yourself to a standard that you don't

even have to talk about being right on a technicality. Now, he gave me an example.

This is not a legalistic example that applies to you and your situation.

It was one that was helpful for us in that moment to understand,

maybe be helpful for you.

He said, I drink alcohol, and he said, but I don't get drunk.

He said, now imagine a scenario where I'm at a party where there are teenagers

from our youth group at that party and people are drinking, there's families and different things.

And I make the decision, well, obviously I'm not going to drink too much alcohol.

So what I'm going to do, I'm just going to have one beer and I'm going to hold

that one beer in my hand all night and that's it.

Except what happens the next week when one of the teenagers from my youth group

says, There's, hey, you had so much to drink at that party the other night.

Every time I saw you, you had a beer in your hand.

Now, the leader might be able to say, no, no, no, no. Technically,

on a technical only, it was the same beer all night.

I didn't drink more than one beer. I don't believe that getting drunk is something

that anybody should do, especially a leader.

He said, but just by having that beer in my hand, I invited accusation.

Is having a beer in your hand a sin? I don't think so. Okay.

He explained that in some context, in order to avoid even being accused,

it's about thinking about on a three-dimensional view, what are some ways that

I can not only just be right, but what are some ways that I can avoid criticism or accusation?

Not always possible, but an elder in their life must seek not only just to be

technically right, but to avoid accusation.

They have to be above reproach. They are also told that they need to be temperate

and self-controlled, that a leader should be balanced in their judgment,

that an elder should be someone who is not given to at any moment of the day,

the extremes of their emotions and different things like that.

A leader ought to be able to remain as much as possible in different situations, calm and level-headed.

Even when church crises happen, even when church conflict inevitably occurs.

An elder is somebody who's able to remain calm, controlled,

is somebody who's able to de-escalate rather than escalate, somebody who's aware

of their emotions and other people's emotions and is able in the ways that they

have capacity to, to manage both of those things.

Things a leader an elder is

also ought to be respectable that is

that they live their life in a way that that earns

the respect of others think about

in your workplace the people whom you respect what characteristics do they have

about them that wins that respect for you perhaps you might have noticed them

doing some extra hard yards that nobody else would have even noticed they were doing.

Maybe you've seen them have integrity and work ethic, even when they didn't have to.

Maybe you've seen a personality trait in them that you would like to aspire to.

This is an example of something that is obviously going to be ever-changing

in whatever context, but wherever possible, an elder ought to try and live their

life in a way that can win respect.

An elder, we're told in verse 2, is also to be hospitable, welcoming to others.

Welcoming to people that they know in their circle of friends,

but welcoming also to people outside of that.

You might know somebody who has the gift of hospitality, somebody who is known

for their ability to host people.

I once lived with somebody who told me that her gift was the gift of hospitality.

And she described what that meant for her. And somebody who is as introverted

to me, I thought to myself, that sounds awful. That sounds terrible.

Inviting people over to your home all the time, making meals,

having people stay over and be a part of your family.

Yet somebody who is to be an elder in the ways that they have capacity to must

have an element of hospitality in their lives.

If we go on to verse 3, an elder is somebody who's not to be given to drunkenness,

somebody who is able to be, if we follow this principle, free from addictions and substance abuse.

I probably don't have to convince you why it would be important that your pastor

isn't addicted to some sort of substance on a regular basis.

Basis, yet there it is written to make sure that this is something that is true.

Also, probably something I don't need to convince you of is that somebody who

is to be an elder ought not to be violent.

And this is sort of the part of these requirements where it's thinking,

okay, what do I require? What is our church going to require in an elder?

Okay, don't get drunk, don't punch people in the face and just be somebody who's generally nice.

But somebody who's been elder is not to be violent because what they should

aspire to is to be someone who is gentle, peaceable, not prone to physical or verbal aggression.

I don't know if you played sport or still play sport or ever had a coach when you're a teenager.

If you've had coaches in your life, you would know that there are multiple different

types of coaches who use different tools and weapons in order to motivate.

In my experience, a coach who every single game, pregame,

every single halftime, every single postgame, a coach who just screams in angry

outbursts over and over again, the power of that wears off very quickly.

But a coach who is known for their ability to encourage, to empower,

to see the good in what somebody's doing and enable it to flourish more,

to be able to subtly and gently and carefully direct people in their weaknesses towards strengths,

and who maybe just keeps in their back pocket from time to time a more forceful

or firm word, is somebody who's going to be more impactful, perhaps, in what they do.

And we're told an elder ought to be, in a lot of ways, exactly like that.

An elder ought not to be quarrelsome, argumentative, always looking for a fight.

I don't know if you've known anybody in your life who just every conversation,

they're looking for an argument.

Well, if you want to be like that, okay, that's cool. You do you,

but you can't be an elder.

An elder should not be a lover of money. Somebody who's an elder should be free

from greed and materialism.

So somebody can be successful, but they don't have a love or a passion in their

heart for generating wealth.

That's not the main focus of their life.

They're able to, depending on the context, live modestly and be generous to others.

An elder must be able to manage their family well.

Well, it's an interesting one that's thrown in there, that an elder is somebody

who must be able to demonstrate the same leadership at home as they do in the church.

We're told involved in that, is that an elder is somebody whose children,

we're told, are obedient to them, which for every parent in the room is thinking,

well, that means I'm not going to be an elder.

In fact, I don't know anybody who is ever going to be an elder.

But what's being said here, and this is really important, is that somebody who

wants to be a leader in the church,

cannot rightfully say, yes, I am going to be a leader in the church and I'm

going to do so in a way that means I neglect who I am at home.

Too often in the history of the church, leaders have sort of laid their family

down as a sacrifice on the altar of church ministry.

And we see here and we see elsewhere why this can't be and why this never can be the case.

If you have an elder or a pastor who preaches the word well,

who helps lots of people, who's great with pastoral care, but then you go to

their home and they neglect their kids, they don't have a relationship with

the people in their home, they're not involved with what's going on at home,

they're detached or they're aggressive at home,

anything like that, this is telling us it doesn't matter how good you are in

this space if you're not going to be living up to somebody who's managing also

in that space, you can't do it here.

A elder or a pastor who has a spouse or has children, in a lot of ways,

the spouse and the children should come before their work in the church.

Being a minister, an elder, or a pastor is not an excuse to neglect the home.

I like the idea of managing their family well because a manager is involved.

A manager knows what's going on. A manager has relationships,

knows the dynamics, is interested in the welfare and the furthering of their family unit.

And obviously, not every elder or pastor is going to have children who become

Christians or stay Christians,

not every minister or elder or pastor is going to have kids that maybe necessarily

grow up in a way that the minister or elder or pastor had any control about.

But wherever possible, a minister or elder demonstrates kind,

involved, loving leadership in the home as a priority.

And finally, an elder should be mature in the faith, not a recent convert,

somebody who's demonstrated consistent spiritual growth over many years.

No one should ever become a Christian and then six months later is pastoring a church.

No, somebody should have history behind their journey in faith.

All you have to do is look at the parable of the sower and the different ways

that the seed of the Word of God grows in people.

You don't want to put somebody in a position of leadership who is like the seed

that fell on rocky ground, that grew up quickly and full of passion and full of enthusiasm.

And then just as quickly as it grew, it faded away.

Too often in my life, and I've seen this happen with high schoolers way too much,

is that people are so desperate for young people to be involved in different

leadership positions in the church or to sort of elevate young people into a

position of doing things in terms of ministry is that all they need to see is

a flicker of enthusiasm or a flicker of love for Jesus.

And they think, all right, you're doing a youth talk in two weeks.

All right, you're going to be leading a Bible study group.

All right, you're going to be doing this. And it's like, no,

disciple that person, love that person, give that person and selectively and

strategically different opportunities to grow and to be empowered,

but don't elevate people to positions of leadership that in a way that might

compromise the first and most

important thing, which is their heart and their relationship with God.

And so we've got here a list of characteristics, a list of things that we can

look at a leader and think, are they living up to not those skills or talents

or competencies, but are they living up to that character?

But I don't know if you noticed, amongst all of that,

there was one competency listed, manifested one skill or gifting that an elder ought to have.

That is that an elder is able to teach the word of God.

So amongst all of these lists of characteristics,

Paul does say to Timothy and throughout the history of the church,

there has been a belief that amongst all of those, an elder must be capable

of explaining and applying scripture.

That an elder ought to be able to have a Bible and a group of people who don't

know necessarily what the Bible is going on about,

or people who do and are waiting to be re-educated, re-encouraged like all of

us are every single week,

and they're able to take the Bible and the words that it says and connect it

to the real hearts and minds of those people, that they would have a capacity

to teach and apply scripture into those contexts.

What does this not mean? Does this mean that, okay, in order for someone to

be a minister, someone needs to be talented in public speaking?

No, it doesn't mean that.

Does it mean that they should have one particular style of speaking or teaching?

No, it doesn't mean that.

Does this only apply to preaching from up the front?

No, it definitely doesn't. In fact, it doesn't say say, preaching, it says teaching.

This would include sermons, sure,

but it would also include one-on-one conversations, leading Bible studies.

And so what we ought to look for is somebody who loves the Word of God,

who is interested in the Word of God in their own lives, but also has a capacity

for the context that they are in to be able to explain,

teach, and apply what God's Word word means for us in our lives today.

Somebody who is able to teach is also able to promote and provoke other people

to be able to teach as well.

That somebody who is in charge of the teaching of a congregation isn't just

the one who says, well, that's it, no one else is ever going to teach,

but rather is able to foster an environment of both teaching and learning.

What we're told here is that the Word of God matters, and an elder is somebody

who understands that and is able to be able to sort of broadcast that out in

a way that is good for the life of the church.

And you might be thinking, okay, so elders, pastors, I get that job.

But wait, what is a deacon?

I hear about deacons from time to time, and I'm too afraid to ask what a deacon is.

Well, here at church, our deacons actually way outnumber our elders.

And our deacons are people of a variety of skills, talents, and perspectives.

And we're told that in order to be a deacon, that you also ought to have certain

criteria in your life, many of which are the same, that a deacon ought to be

worthy of respect, that a deacon ought to be sincere.

A deacon also ought to not drink too much and punch people in the face.

That a deacon also should be someone who's had a proven faith over time.

Somebody who is faithful in their marriage, if they're married,

and somebody who is empowered to be a leader that That works in not just on

the stage type leadership,

but in all of the various many other ways that we need leaders in our church.

And I don't know if you know this, but every month our deacons and our elders

gather together for a church council meeting and they talk about important stuff.

And I know this because I go from time to time and let me tell you,

they do talk about important stuff and they get stuff done.

They talk through the hard stuff and they also encourage each other and with

the idea of being optimistic about looking ahead about what our church can be.

So for those in our church who aren't elders or deacons, we need to know a few things.

One, that we would want to be a church that raises up a variety of leaders and

who supports them by partnering with them in ministry and by praying for them.

We also in our own lives would seek to live up to some of these Godly characteristics.

But in future times, when you're involved in a church,

you ought to remember that one of the ways that we are given to safeguard against

leaders damaging the church is saying, hey, before you come and do this role,

let's just check on some of the things that we are encouraged a leader should be.

And so as a church, we should be encouraged, we should be motivated,

whether in formal leadership or not, because we know that leadership is not

just something that you need a title to do, but we ought to strive to grow in these areas,

knowing that every single one of us lives a life that can have a profound impact on those around us.

And so I hope this morning it's been okay with you to sort of wade through sort

of these just list of characteristics.

I hope that this morning you have been empowered to think, yes,

I'm part of a church and that's important, that this place matters.

And so the sort of leaders that we have also ought to matter.

But I pray this morning that if nothing else, you have been reminded that God

tells us, do not just be impressed by outward appearance.

Do not just be impressed by worldly success, but be impressed by somebody who

turns up every time, who's somebody who is humble and strives just to live for the Lord.

Be impressed by the quiet strength of a life lived in faithful obedience to Christ.

And may we, all of us, always remember the value that God places on his church,

purchased with the precious blood of his son, Jesus. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for the leaders in our lives, and we thank you for the elders

and the deacons in our church.

Lord, we thank you that you outlined standards, criteria.

For how they should be living their lives. And I pray that as we've been reminded

of those, that we might also be motivated and encouraged about the standards

that you might call us to live to.

And so this morning, God, we want to say ultimately that we acknowledge that

we fall short of these standards all the time, all of us.

And for that, Lord, we are truly sorry.

And we ask again, God, for your mercy and your kindness. us.

We ask, Lord, that you help us not to drift towards legalism,

but help us to drift towards an eagerness to grow, to be like your son, Jesus.

And we pray that our leaders here at this church might feel supported to do that as well.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.