Since its inception, the PCA has recognized the biblical offices of elder and deacon as essential to the life and health of the church. Yet, in practice, our training and development of these leaders often falls short of the weight Scripture places on their calling. Too often, officers are left to lean on instinct, personality, or cultural expectations of leadership rather than being intentionally formed in the way of Christ.
Without intentional leadership development, congregations suffer under the weight of leaders who confuse authority with control (Matthew 20:25-28). Decisions become reactionary rather than resting in the confidence of God’s sovereignty (Romans 8:28). Pride leads to personality-driven ministries that fracture the body, while fear leaves churches hesitant to engage faithfully with the culture around them. Without intentional training, leaders may drift toward pragmatism, allowing the world to set the agenda instead of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
These dangers are not abstract. In the PCA and across the broader evangelical landscape, leadership abuse, integrity failures, and a lack of gospel-shaped vision have undermined the church’s witness. In too many cases, charisma and competence are elevated above holiness and humility, with devastating consequences. If our churches are to thrive, we must take seriously the responsibility to select, train, and develop leaders who shepherd not from a place of personal promotion but from a posture of self-sacrifice.
The Danger of Pride and Fear in Leadership
Two great enemies regularly undermine Christian leadership: pride and fear. Left unaddressed, both distort the heart of ministry and hinder the church’s witness.
Pride tempts officers to treat leadership as a platform for influence, control, or recognition. By worldly standards,, leadership equals privilege and status, but Jesus radically redefined leadership as service: “…whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28, Mark 10:45).
David Mathis warns that our present age has absorbed the lie that leadership is “king of the hill,” when in fact biblical leadership is not an ascent to privilege but a descent into servanthood.. The danger is especially acute in the church because pride often masquerades as zeal or competence. An elder may see himself as the indispensable strategist, or a deacon as the efficient problem solver, but if they lose sight of Christ’s model of humility, they risk serving their own reputations rather than Christ’s kingdom.
Fear is the opposite temptation. Fearful leaders retreat in the face of cultural pressure, avoid hard conversations, or shy away from calling the church to costly obedience. Trevin Wax describes this as “one-directional” leadership: allowing culture to dictate the church’s agenda rather than protecting the flock on every side by speaking “the right word in the right moment to the right people.”.
Fear reveals unbelief in God’s sovereignty. Scripture reminds us that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). A fearful elder forgets that Christ has promised to build his church (Matthew 16:18) and that all things, even cultural opposition, are under God’s providence. When fear drives leadership, it produces passivity, compromise, and retreat rather than courage and faithfulness.
Pride and Fear: A Common Root
Though they appear different, pride and fear share the same root: a refusal to fully subordinate ourselves to Christ. Pride exalts the self above God’s purposes; fear diminishes God’s sovereignty and magnifies cultural threats. Both place the leader, rather than the Lord, at the center of ministry.
Intentional training and ongoing development are indispensable for combatting these threats. Pride and fear must be continually confronted through discipleship, accountability, and reflection. Leaders who consistently confront these dangers through ongoing training can serve from a place of humble courage, embodying the pattern of Christ, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:6–7).
The Responsibility of the Church
If pride and fear are the ever-present threats to Christian leadership, then leaders must be trained to resist these threats. Paul’s qualifications for elders and deacons emphasize integrity, maturity, and humility over raw ability (1 Timothy 3:2–7; Titus 1:5–9). Paul further reminds Timothy, “What you have heard from me… entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).
Robert Kim, reviewing Juan Sanchez’s “The Leadership Formula,” observes that the problem facing the church is not the absence of leaders but the absence of healthy leaders. Churches need men marked by “character, conviction, care, and competency,” Sanchez writes. When churches rush to elevate men based on charisma or skill, but not godliness, they set both the leader and the congregation on a path to harm. When they invest deeply in training, accountability, and discipleship, they produce shepherds who guard the flock and reflect Christ.
Rooted, Reflecting, Reaching
Morgan Angert, senior pastor at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Athens, Georgia, developed a framework for ongoing officer development known as Rooted, Reflecting, Reaching. This model offers a balanced vision for what Christlike leadership requires:
- Rooted in the Gospel: Leaders must be firmly grounded in Christ and his Word (Colossians 2:6-7). This rooting protects against pride, which tempts officers to rely on their own strength, and against fear, which doubts God’s sufficiency. A rooted leader draws his identity and confidence from the gospel, not from personal achievement or cultural approval (Philippians 3:8-9).
- Reflecting God’s Kingdom: Leaders must display the character of Christ in their relationships. To reflect his kingdom means leading with humility, compassion, and integrity. Having this posture requires training that confronts pride—so leaders do not dominate—and fear—so leaders do not shrink from guiding faithfully. Leadership that reflects Christ is gentle and lowly, like Jesus.
- Reaching Out to Others: Leaders must be outward-facing, sacrificially giving their time, energy, and resources to serve the church and community (Galatians 6:9-10). Training here must target pride, which resists inconvenience, and fear, which resists risk. A reaching leader embraces Christ’s call to serve, even at personal cost.
The strength of this model lies in its balance. A rooted leader without reflection may know doctrine but lack compassion. A reflecting leader without reaching may love people but fail to lead them in mission. A reaching leader without roots may serve energetically but drift from the gospel. Healthy leadership requires all three—and in each case, leaders must be trained to recognize and resist the distortions of pride and fear.
A Lifelong Commitment
Christ has given His church shepherds and servants not to lord authority over others but to build up his body in love (1 Peter 5:2-3). To fulfill this calling, we must equip leaders to resist pride and fear and to lead from a place of rootedness in the gospel, reflection of God’s kingdom, and reaching love toward others.
Leadership development, then, must be lifelong and cyclical, woven into the discipleship fabric of the church. Future leaders must be identified early, discipled intentionally, and tested patiently. Current leaders need ongoing study, mentoring, and accountability so they are refreshed and sharpened.
In every phase, the church must explicitly train leaders to name and confront pride and fear. These temptations will remain as long as leaders serve, but when leaders are Rooted, Reflecting, and Reaching, they embody the servant leadership of Christ and strengthen the church’s mission.
Mike Hodges is vice president of public safety for Piedmont Healthcare, a U.S. Army veteran, and a ruling elder at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Athens, Georgia.