A Sunday School Lesson On Leadership

Here is a Sunday school lesson or Bible study on leadership.

Leader’s Responsibilities

Second Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Some of the things that are missing in churches today are rebuking, correcting, training, teaching, reproving, and equipping the members in righteousness or righteous living (living rightly). A man of God who is truly a leader won’t be shy in teaching the church what they need to know. The Proverb is true, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (27:6) so we all need to be wounded by the Word in order to be healed of our ungodly ways. The word of God cuts but it cuts in order to heal (Heb 4:12) and the Word can discern our thoughts, intents, and motives as God sees into our hearts and nothing is hidden from Him (Heb 4:13) and just as “Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another” (Prov 27:17) and we all need it because rust never sleeps.

Who does it feel to be corrected, rebuked or reproved?

Does it change your thinking if you know it’s best for you?

How does “iron sharpen iron” among the body of Christ, the church?

Leaders are Servants

Luke 22:26 “But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.”

Who is the greatest in the church? Is it the pastor, the elder, the deacon, or the Sunday school teacher? What if I said what Jesus said, “The greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matt 23:11)? Jesus said “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10:42-44) so “let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves” (Luke 22:26). If a church leader isn’t willing to do the hard work of serving others then how can they expect the church to ever follow where he leads?

What is an attribute of a church leader you admire?

What is it about serving that makes us see that as being inferior?

Why is the least the greatest in God’s eyes?

Imitating Leaders

Hebrews 13:7 “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”

The author of Hebrews was speaking about the leaders of the church or the spiritual leadership and wrote that you and I are to “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb 13:17). If we truly understood that God will bless a godly leader then we might make a greater effort in becoming a servant to all and live a life that others would want to follow. As it was with Joshua and the Israelites, where it was written, “And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand” (Joshua 24:11) so it should be with those who are church leaders in that they can trust God to bless those godly leaders for they acknowledge that God is the One Who brings victory.

Are there things in a church leader that are a good example to the members?

What are things in a church leader that you see as not being a good example?

What makes it easier to follow a godly leader?

Ungodly Leaders

Zechariah 10:3 “My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.”

The danger of being a leader is that they can lead others into the pit just as it’s happening today as “Some have strayed from these ways and turned aside to empty talk desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions” (1st Tim 1:6-7). The Apostle Paul had trouble with some in the church at Rome and wrote, “if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal” (Rom2:19-21)? No one wants to follow a church leader who preaches one thing and then lives contrary to their own teachings. A church leader has greater responsibility and because of that, James warned that “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1).

Why will there be a stricter judgment on teachers?

What do you do if you see a church leader teaching error?

What is it that makes God angry with church leaders who are leading people astray?

Conclusion

I urge you in your study to look at all of the Bible verses and read them aloud in the class so that you can get the most out of this lesson on leadership because today because Paul wrote that “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2nd Tim 4:3-4) and I believe that time Paul wrote about has come. If you are a church leader, the Apostle Paul tells you to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2nd Tim 4:2).

What should a church leader ensure in his teachings?

What if your church starts to want teachers to “suit their own passions?”

What has changed in your thinking about leadership from this study?

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.