1 Timothy 3:2e -- Leadership quality #5: respectable

To catch up on our adventure through 1 Timothy, click here and read from the bottom post up.

1 Timothy 3:2e (NIV):

"[Now the overseer must be] respectable..."

Leadership quality #5: The leader must be respectable.

The idea of being respectable is being proper and socially acceptable to the group you lead.

A leader will pretty much lead people who are like him. This is why you will rarely see a three-piece-suited dandy effectively leading a group of blue-collar workers--or vice versa.

You have to be respectable to the group you lead. If you lead a group of musicians, you had better know your chops. If you aspire to lead teenagers, you had better be up on their culture.

The word respectable has different implications for different people. Paul said that he was all things to all people, that he might reach some (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Don't try to be something you aren't. But realize that, in large part, the people who follow you will be very much like you.

Understand the culture of the people you are trying to reach (just as a "foreign missionary" brushes up on the country they are to go to).

Raise your leadership level: To be respectable, maybe there are some areas you need further education on, whether formally or informally. Check out your options. And make sure you keep up with the culture of those you are trying to reach. Be culturally literate so you can more effectively communicate.