The Marks of a Spiritual Leader

by John Piper

God has given leaders to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry, building her up in the faith and knowledge of God (Ephesians 4:12).

But how does the Bible define spiritual leadership? What characteristics are essential in leading biblically? And what is the ultimate goal?

In this short essay, John Piper answers these questions by explaining the true marks of a spiritual leader. Saturated in Scripture, and loaded with practical illustrations, this booklet will be instructive and challenging for anyone in a position of Christian leadership, as well as for anyone aspiring to lead spiritually.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-l...

Genres: Leadership, Christian, Theology, Nonfiction, Christianity, Faith, Religion

47 pages, ebook

First published December 15, 2011

About the author

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem.

John is the author of more than 50 books and more than 30 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and twelve grandchildren.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are qualities that are pointed out by John that I find myself struggling in, ones I had not even thought about much, if at all. I was encouraged, challenged by this tiny, timely, and important book of depth. Always am thankful of Piper and his continued ministry that teaches me something new each encounter.

[Jeffrey Nsofor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever read a book that felt like the Author was right in front of you; teaching and explaining in detail the very contents of the book? This is one of those books that I would recommend to every leader particularly Pastors, Church Elders and even Church Administrators. The wisdom herein I believe would prove relevant even in the Corporate World.

It captures the very essence of Leadership as well as its requirements. Here is one of the many wisdom nuggets in the book “A leader takes time to plan his days and weeks and months and years. Even though it is God who ultimately directs the steps of the leader, he should plan his path. A leader is not a jellyfish that gets tossed around by the waves, nor is he an oyster that is immovable. The leader is the dolphin of the sea and can swim against the stream or with the stream as he plans.”

[Maui Rochell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I promised to myself that 2016 will be the year I will start reading books about spiritual leadership. I bought a lot of leadership self-help books from the last year's MIBF and I just discovered this year that www.desireGod.org have a lot of free Christian books to download.

I created a leadership category in my profile and here's to my first entry book! :)

Brief but informative. Piper discussed two major marks in being a spiritual leader namely The Inner Circle of Spiritual Leadership and The Outer Circle of Spiritual Leadership. Anyone in the church can be a spiritual leader in a group if given the proper training. Also the leader itself should have a heart to lead not for himself but for the Lord and to be a good example.

This is a great starter for those who wanted to assess yourself with the marks of being a good spiritual leader.

[Ashley Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully brief overview of characteristics of a spiritual leader! Chock full of pieces that could be examined deeper and deeper to gain an even fuller picture of the great leader Piper has in mind. It has a very nice blending of Scriptural references with common sense observations!

I do wish it had with it some sort of self-evaluation tool, but perhaps that could be developed personally.

[James Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book as a platform to think more on this topic for myself, but I disagreed with some of what he wrote. This book is a short list of Piper’s required characteristics for a spiritual leader and while I respect Piper a lot, in the context of this book I think he could have done better. As I was reading through it, I couldn’t help wanting to make changes such as which characteristics were included and which weren’t, how the descriptions were written, and wanting to rework the classification system used in the book, but overall a great starting place to begin thinking about this. And it still is Piper so even though I did want to change quite a bit, a lot of it is still quotable and convicting.

[Rūta Eisāne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ļoti kodolīgi un skaidri aprakstītas iezīmes, kas veido un pēc kurām būtu arvien vairāk jātiecas dievbijīgam garīgajam vadītājam. Lai gan grāmatiņa ir īsa, lasīšana krietni ievilkās, jo katrā lapaspusē bija vismaz viena vērtīga atziņa, ko pierakstīt blociņā.

This book in a straightforward and clear way captures the characteristics and values that a spiritual leader should have and should be striving to cultivate in themselves (and others). Although the book itself is very short, it took me more time to read than I had expected, because each page contained at least one valuable lesson I wanted to write down in my notebook.

[Zach Hollifield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing earth shattering. Doesn’t need to be. Just really, really good.

[Caleb Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spiritual leadership: “knowing where God wants people to be and taking the initiative to use God’s methods to get them there in reliance on God’s power.”

[Colby Reese · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great little book on being a good leader that is thoroughly biblical.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great long form article on the character that should exist in Christian leadership.

[Kofi Opoku · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stuff. A helpful read for present or would-be elders.

[Alexandru Balaur]

If you'd like to study the subject of spiritual leadership you better start with this book instead of other big ones. Contains a lot of useful stuff on 40 small pages.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This booklet has some gold in it. Piper breaks it into two parts--inner and outer. The inner has to do with the self-watch of the spiritual leader and the outer has more to do with the leadership of others. I like the focus from the start that spiritual leadership is to help people glorify God.

The second part is particularly useful as Piper lists 18 marks of a spiritual leader. These are principles drawn from Scripture and helpful in at least two ways. First, a man who is in leadership or is wrestling with his calling into leadership can be helped by thinking through these marks with honest self-examination of whether he has these or not. Second, the marks are useful in identifying others in the church who may potentially be leaders. Perhaps a third use would be the congregation being equipped in what to look for and expect from spiritual leaders.

As with anything from Piper, there are odd statements here and there. Nevertheless, this is a useful little book.

[Brian Pate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blog post about spiritual leadership. Very good.

Spiritual leadership = "knowing where God wants people to be and taking the initiative to use God's methods to get them there in reliance on God's power" (i).

Great section on spiritual retreats (4-9).

Marks of leadership
- Restless
- Optimistic
- Intense
- Self-controlled
- Thick-skinned
- Energetic
- Hard thinker
- Articulate
- Able to teach
- Good judge of character
- Tactful
- Theologically oriented
- Dreamer
- Organized and efficient
- Decisive
- Perseverant
- Lover
- Restful

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short read is REALLY helpful for any man wanting to be a better leader. Not even specifically for pastors but any Christian man.

This book is jam packed with helpful traits of what spiritual leadership looks like. If you’re looking for a brief reminder or a simple guide to use in mentorship, this book is for you!

[Noah York · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very short, understandable, and to the point read by Piper. This is not just a read for anyone seeking pastoral ministry, but anyone seeking to disciple others effectively. It contains the seasoned counsel of godly leaders both past and present. This is an excellent read for any godly Christian to learn how to make other godly Christians.

[Bethany Magdziarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and Practical

This a great short read on what it means to be a leader by one of the most influential leaders of the time. I specially enjoyed how he outlined what should be happening in the “inner circle” (personal life) and “outer circle (relating to other people). It could definitely be used as a study through each characteristic mentioned.

[Kyle Grindberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good nuggets here and there, should not have been a standalone book (to be a standalone book it needed way more content, it felt more like a conference talk distilled into a book). I also found it strange that the qualifications for elder and overseer were lacking, but again, that might also be a function of its length.

[Robbie El · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Piper’s writings on leadership in this text should not really be considered a book due to its length, it’s definitely a useful resource. I can easily envision this being a required reading assigned to those aspiring to leadership in church settings. Many of the marks however, are universally recognized as leadership qualities that can produce good results in any leadership position.

[Elijah Abanto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This quick-read book is a distilled form of wisdom that I desire to get back to from time to time to help me become the leader God wills me to be. Help me, Father, to become like Jesus, the ultimate Spiritual Leader.

[Gioia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. I had to read it for training as I entered leadership positions in the dorms at my college. It was soo impactful to me. It had many things where I saw a need to improve, but also things that I saw that I definitely possessed.

[Danny Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely more of a booklet than a book. Piper does a great job writing punchy chapters on leadership which are sometimes overlooked in a Christian context, I'm thinking specifically of being decisive and being thick-skinned.

Definitely worth the short read.

[Noah Buresh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, little resource on spiritual leadership. It is certainly more practical and contains some helpful nuggets for self-reflection. But like all other Piper books, if you’ve read one of them, you’ve probably read most of all of them.

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Pipers better little books! Great quick read on leadership.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet! Loved the first chapter and the core marks of a spiritual leader. Keeping it short helped with making it memorable.

[Brandon Current · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread. Short and potent. Reads like a robust bullet list.

[Madeline Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly insightful, blunt and direct!

Inner and outer circles. Inner desire, outer instruction that has created in me a hunger for the urgency I once had!

[Kyran Chew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple and short, but clear and deeply thought-provoking. A must read for all Christians in leadership positions especially lay-leaders.

[Amanda Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for a pocket book although a few observations are more his cultural persperctive.

[Ben Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful primer on leadership.