In 1 Timothy 3:1 (ESV), the apostle Paul writes, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” The church needs good leaders (or overseers), but in order to be a good leader, they must lead with integrity.
In the very next verse, 1 Timothy 3:2, Paul goes on to provide the qualifications for a church leader: “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.”
The list goes on, but those first few words really stand out. “An overseer must be above reproach…” This is a high bar of moral integrity, and one we must consider as we select leaders in the church or seek to be leaders as well.
Whether you are an aspiring pastor or have been leading a church for years, rather you’re a new discipleship group leader or an elder in your church, it is important to remember that you must lead with integrity in the church. In this article, we’ll explore what this means and how it can be done.
Study the Truth
In Joshua 1 (ESV), God speaks to Joshua as he steps into his new role of leadership. In verse 8, God shares one of the keys to leading with integrity, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
In order to follow the law, Joshua was called to meditate on it day and night. The more we expose ourselves to the truth, the more that truth will take hold of our hearts and transform us. As leaders, it can sometimes be easy to focus on teaching others the truth, but we must be careful to remember that we need the truth ourselves. Study it, preach it to yourself, meditate on the truth, and then you will be equipped to lead with integrity.
Remember that Good Deeds Don’t Balance Out Sin
There was a story a few years ago about a musician in a gospel musical group who had to drop out because there was too much temptation. Other members in the group were singing their hearts out on stage, but failing morally in tremendous ways once they were backstage. Here is how the musician explained the problem:
“They believed they were doing ministry. And, over time, they started to believe that they were kind of owed some moral slack because of all they were doing for the kingdom. They weren’t consciously making these reasoned arguments, he said, counting the balance of souls saved at concerts over against cheating on spouses in the green rooms. If asked, anyone there would have been able to argue that only grace counts us righteous before God. But at the more unconscious level, he said, they started to see their “ministry” as a kind of system of indulgences balancing out their sins.”
This idea that doing ministry or leading others earns us some indulgences is simply false. Leaders should be above reproach, and we do not earn forgiveness or grace by doing ministry. We must remember that Christ has already done all the work to earn our righteousness, and not allow our freedom to lead us into greater sin.
Embrace Biblical Accountability
Many famous leaders in the church have had major moral failures. The idea that any one leader can avoid those temptations on their own is often part of the reason they fail. As people, we need good, biblical accountability.
This means that leaders need people in their lives that they can trust, who are willing to speak the truth even when it hurts. Leaders need both aspects of accountability as well – we need someone who will push us to live righteously and someone who can encourage us to repent and turn from our sins.
No leader is above the need for accountability, but people are often nervous to hold their leaders accountable. As a leader with integrity, you must make the extra effort to surround yourself with a few people that will help hold you accountable.
Life-on-life discipleship
We’ve shared a few good ways to help maintain your personal integrity, but life-on-life discipleship brings all those different methods together into one place. When you’re in a small group with other committed believers, you will frequently be reminded of the truth, get equipped for more effective leadership, receive accountability from those who love you, be encouraged to go on mission, and frequently pray together.
Our TEAMS model of discipleship and bible study is a great way to help you and your group maintain integrity. TEAMS is designed to help people become mature and equipped believers. When you are actively growing in your faith, it is much more natural to lead with integrity.
Cultivate a Culture of Integrity
Maintaining personal integrity is obviously important for leaders, but they are also called to equip their followers to live with integrity. Here are a few key principles that will help you cultivate a culture of integrity in your church or sphere of influence.
Lead by Example
One of the best ways you can cultivate a culture of integrity is to lead by example. When people see you living with integrity, they will be encouraged and see for themselves the powerful impact that leaders of integrity can make..
In 1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV), the apostle Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” This is a bold claim – Paul calls people to imitate his behavior, but this isn’t because he is self-righteous. Paul can make this call because he himself is imitating Christ. As leaders, we must take care to imitate Christ because, whether we like it or not, people will imitate us.
Teach the Truth
One challenge for people who want to do the right thing – they don’t always know what it means to live with integrity. Our modern world is filled with countless conflicting messages about good and evil, right and wrong. If your people spend much time on social media, watching the news, reading popular books, or binging popular shows it can be easy for their views on truth to be skewed.
Fortunately, we have a clear standard of integrity in the Word of God. As shepherds and overseers of God’s people, we have a duty to study the Word, to understand it, and to teach it. Nehemiah 8 provides a great example of this – Ezra is called to teach the word to the people and he does so. In verse 8, it says, “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” The people, who had been living in exile for years, needed to hear the truth clearly and they needed to be given the sense of the Word so they could understand it. And so, leaders today should endeavor to help people hear and understand the truth.
You Cultivate what you Celebrate
It has been said that you cultivate what you celebrate. This is true in parenting, the workplace, the church, discipleship groups, and pretty much every area of life. If you want to push your people to live with integrity, then you should celebrate integrity.
The world often celebrates things like strength, personal power, physical appearance, wealth, and so on. Oftentimes, leaders are raised in the church because of these qualities. If someone is charismatic and inspiring, they get promoted to positions of leadership despite having a lack of integrity. When churches do that, it celebrates the wrong qualities and tells people that integrity is less important than charm or appearance.
Instead, leaders can cultivate a culture of integrity by celebrating and highlighting people of character.
Follow the Model of Jesus
We talk a lot here about how Jesus provides the ultimate model for discipleship. The bulk of his ministry was completed by pouring into the lives of a few people, who could then go on and invest in the lives of others themselves. The apostles lived incredible lives of integrity, and people recognized that they had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:13 (ESV) explains it this way: “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”
If you want to inspire your people to live with greater integrity, then it’s best to follow the model of Jesus, the ultimate disciple-maker. Invest in the lives of a few, and equip them to go and invest in the lives of others.
Learn more about life-on-life discipleship
If you’re interested in learning more about the model of Jesus for ministry or our TEAMS method of Bible study, we have several ways for you to do so. We’ve helped churches from all over the world ignite discipleship movements in their church, and we’ve also watched the model of Jesus transform many lives.
You can learn more about our training method by joining an upcoming information call or, if you’re ready to dive in, then you can apply for one of our upcoming discipleship training cohorts.