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Many Christian leaders are in serious trouble in Sri Lanka, and I believe a primary cause is because we leaders have not sufficiently heeded Paul’s call: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 4:16). Let me mention six areas where we have been careless.

Sacrificing family life at the altar of ministry
We have been so busy with ministry that we have not given quality time to our families. The result is discontented spouses and children. If our overly zealous labor for the Lord makes our spouses unhappy, our children will rebel against God, blaming him for family problems. Furthermore, if we fail to communicate sufficiently with our spouses, we may end up conversing too intimately with a close colleague of the opposite sex. The consequence is an affair.

Sacrificing the Word at the altar of experience
Today Christians are relying less on the Scriptures and increasingly on exotic spiritual experiences. Believers find immense emotional gratification in these personalized “words from the Lord.”

At the same time, ministers are not devoting the necessary time and energy for effectively teaching the Word. Their negligence fosters believers’ dependence on experiences for spiritual nourishment.

Unless Christians are grounded in the Word, we could have a very immature, ungodly and nominal church in a few years. Currently, this lopsided emphasis on personal experience is nurturing unscriptural and unchecked practices in many churches.

Sacrificing our time alone with God at the altar of activities
Our busyness can make us so restless that we struggle to stop and spend time alone with God. The failure to be still in God’s presence results in our insecurity. We become afraid of silent self-examination, and we take refuge in further activity rather than in God.

As a consequence of this cycle, we lose the glow of God’s nearness in our lives and the Spirit’s freshness leaves our ministry. Many ministers are either burned out or only a shadow of the potential they exhibited in their early ministry years.

Sacrificing holiness at the altar of giftedness
How is it that leaders who are committing adultery, abusing their wives (verbally or physically), telling lies or dishonestly using money still have such prominent and apparently powerful ministries? Some say that gifts remain even after a person moves away from the Lord. Perhaps so.

But I also think that people have certain needs, and those needs may be met by a church’s relevant, attractive and well managed program. That church will attract people even though its leaders’ lives may not meet with God’s approval. It’s the result of good marketing and management techniques.

Our great danger lies in choosing to overlook gifted ministers’ sins because of their success. Too much is at stake if they bow out of the ministry. We must not forget that the Bible teaches that unrepentant adulterers cannot enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10).

Sacrificing high ministry standards at the altar of growth
Today Christians are passionately challenged to join ministries that will fulfil their churches’ growth goals. Consequently, relatively new, enthusiastic Christians are sent to new areas as workers. But they are not adequately mature for such work. They have primarily received teaching on motivation for missions and training in ministry techniques. When they face a crisis they may act unwisely or in an ungodly manner. We are hearing of Christian workers who are inconsiderate toward their neighbors, who tell lies to get visas to travel abroad, who take revenge and pay bribes. Many end up as serious casualties after a few years.

Paul is clear that one appointed as an overseer “must not be a recent convert” (1 Tim. 3:6). Indeed, new believers must get involved in the mission of the church. But they must not be sent to lead ministries in new fields till they are mature. There are no shortcuts to preparing godly ministers of the gospel. Jesus lived with his disciples for three years, spending hours teaching them before they were ready to launch into mission. Similarly, converts from godless backgrounds will need quality mentoring by godly leaders before Christ’s nature is stamped onto them.

Scrupulous accountability in the use of funds
Christians are increasingly suspicious that their leaders are not sufficiently transparent in their financial dealings. As a result, unity in the body suffers. Money is the one area that Acts 2 and 4 mentions as an example of Christians being of one heart and mind. But today heart unity is usually not extended to the use of finances. With money and possessions it is always “better to be safe than sorry.” It is better to feel constrained by rules than to have the freedom for indiscriminate behavior in such a dangerous area.

Let us regard with fresh seriousness Paul’s words: “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27).

Ajith Fernando directs Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka. This column is excerpted from a pastoral letter he sent to his local directors.

July 5, 2002