Aspiring to the Episcopate

"The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way— for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil" (1 Timothy 3:1-7 NRSV).

There was an odd tradition in the early church after the first century C.E. of electing unwilling men to episcopal office. In other words, a good candidate for church office at that time was expected to be one uninterested in being in church leadership. Since by that time the monarchical episcopate had replaced most competing models of church governance, including that put forward by the Apostle Paul, and the office of bishop was thus fairly important. I supposed that if a man showed he wanted such a lofty (though not always so lofty, in times of hardship and persecution) people would decide he couldn't be trusted.

Several years ago I participated in an attempt to start a new congregation in the area where I was raised. One of the leading men in the group suggested in a study that those selected for leadership should be men who weren't angling to get it. He wasn't talking about anyone in our particular group, mind you, just laying out a general principle. He likely had a scenario in mind similar to what I believe the early church tried to avoid with its tradition of conscripting men for the episcopate.

The passage I quoted above from 1 Timothy speaks of a man aspiring "to the office of bishop" and casts it in a positive light. It is a good thing for a man to seek to be a church elder, so long as an essential part of that process of becoming a leader he develops the qualities the Apostle goes on to describe. He's expected to obtain personal qualities like temperance and hospitality as well as be a good father and husband. The logic of this is that, quite simply, a man who can't lead his family well can't possibly be able to shepherd a church.

In my fellowship of churches, independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, I am an ordained evangelist. This is distinct from the role of elder/bishop*, and there was no requirement for me to be a married man with children to assume this responsibility. For the presbyter/bishops, though, this is one of the essential requirements. Even still, as years go by and I raise my family I am seeing more and more the value of what I am learning as a husband and father for my work of ministry. I'm gaining experience in patience, understanding and motivating others that can translate fairly easily into the life of the church. Reflecting on this recently and thinking about our long-term plans to return to Brazil and continue to serve the church there (bi-vocationally, of course) I came to realize that I need to pay closer attention to what I'm doing now in my own household. Yes, I am attempting to develop better work skills and deepen my theological understanding, but the most fundamental training I am receiving is in the crucible of the home.

Having never before looked beyond my calling as an evangelist to any other role in the church, I now admit to having new aspirations. Eventually, when the time is right, I want to be a pastor/elder.

*Note: As I see the terms pastor/elder/bishop used interchangeably by Paul the Apostle to speak of the same role, I use them this way as well without breaking them into separate "offices."

See Also:
The Organization of Early Christian Churches (some of my much earlier ramblings on this topic)

This post is a part of the November Synchroblog on "leadership." Check out what all the synchrobloggers have to say below.

Jonathan Brink - Letter To The President

Adam Gonnerman - Aspiring to the Episcopate

Kai - Leadership - Is Servant Leadership a Broken Model?

Sally Coleman - In the world but not of it- servant leadership for the 21st Century Church

Alan Knox - Submission is given not taken

Joe Miller - Elders Lead a Healthy Family: The Future

Cobus van Wyngaard - Empowering leadership

Steve Hayes - Servant leadership

Geoff Matheson - Leadership

John Smulo - Australian Leadership Lessons

Helen Mildenhall - Leadership

Tyler Savage - Moral Leadership - Is it what we need?

Bryan Riley - Leading is to Listen and Obey

Susan Barnes - Give someone else a turn!

Liz Dyer - A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Polls…

Lionel Woods - Why Diverse Leadership is Good for America

Julie Clawson - Leadership Expectations

Ellen Haroutunian - A New Kind Of Leadership

Matt Stone - Converting Leadership

Steve Bradley - Lording or Leading?

Adam Myers - Two types of Leadership

Bethany Stedman - A Leadership Mosaic

Kathy Escobar - I’m Pretty Sure This Book Won’t Make It On The Bestseller List

Fuzzy Orthodoxy - Self Leadership

Sonja Andrews - Leadership In An Age of Cholera

Tara Hull - Leadership & Being A Single Mom

Glen Hager - Election Day Ponderings On Leadership