Do Not Be Hasty In Appointing Leaders? Q & A

The following question was sent to me.  With permission from the sender, I am posting the question, along with my response.

Question:  

I have a question about scripture. In 1 Tim. 5:22, Paul says "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands". Why? My study note says this refers to the choosing of church leaders, but that doesn't make any sense to me.

Answer: 

I can’t say that I’m positive about this, but when we are instructed not to be hasty about appointing church leaders, I think it probably has something to do with being careful about exposing people to “disappointment” while they are still young in the faith. 

Let me explain…

When a person accepts a church leadership role, that person is usually exposed, by virtue of the position, to things in the church which may be unpleasant.  For example, in a leadership role it is likely that the person will, at some point, be involved in some type of conflict resolution between people in the church.  And the sad reality is that this new leader will quite possibly see people—who he/she had thought were mature Christians—behaving in selfish, unloving, ungracious, immature ways.

Again, the point is that this kind of experience can be unsettling and very disappointing to someone who is new to the faith.

I hate to even write something like this, but it is the sad reality of flawed human beings—even Christians.  Will the new leader see people, with God’s help, rise above this kind of immaturity, sometimes?  Yes, of course, he will!  Thank God!  But, not always.

The new leader won’t see these disappointing types of things all the time, and he or she will also see wonderful acts of generosity and kindness and grace.  But the reality is that people in the church don’t always behave in the ways that God calls us to behave and leaders often see more of this than others.

This is not an attempt to hide things from people or to be deceptive.  In fact, often disagreements between people or other types of trouble in the church become known by others, anyhow.  But wisdom seems to suggest that these leadership roles—in which a person may be exposed to difficulties and petty behaviors and disappointing words and actions by other Christians—need to be filled by spiritually mature people who can handle seeing this type of thing without becoming too rattled, or having his/her faith shaken.

So, there is wisdom in appointing people to leadership who have some “seasoning” in both the church, and in life, and in living the faith.  The leadership person needs to be firmly rooted in the faith.  The person needs to be spiritually mature (this does not necessarily mean “elderly” in terms of age).  The person needs to understand that people—even Christians—can be deeply flawed and hurt each other. 

Think about the leadership qualities and insights that are mentioned above.  They take time to develop, don’t they?  These qualities and insights don’t, usually, come quickly.  That’s why, in my opinion, we are instructed not to be “hasty” in appointing leaders.