In this study we see four charcteristics of God's appointed leadership for a local church. Christians who dont concern themselves with the biblical qualifications of a spiritual leader, very often end up in churches that have a leadership system that is completely opposed to what the Bible teaches, which often leads to corrupt leaders taking advantage of their congregations. The four charactersitics we will see in our text are:

1. Their Manner (v. 17-19)
2. The Message (v. 20-21)
3. The Mission (v. 22-24)
4. The Mandate (v. 25-27)

What we have in Acts 20:13-38 is a record of the first pastors' conference ever held.  At this conference, the Apostle Paul gathered the elders (pastors) of the Church of Ephesus together and gave them final instructions as to how to lead the Christians in Ephesus in his absence. This passage is not just for elders. The applications here are for every one of us who call ourselves Christian.

Are you growing in your MANNER – Godly character, serving the Lord with humility? Are you growing in love and concern for others, and in steadfastness in trials?

Are you committed to God’s word? Are you teachable? While you may not have the gift of teaching, you should be growing in understanding and applying all of God’s Word to all of your life and then sharing what you are learning with others.

MISSION - Are you faithfully running the Christian race that God has set before you? Are you determined to let nothing keep you from serving Christ?

MANDATE – Are you growing in your God-given DIRECTIVE, to understand the whole counsel of God by studying the bible and joining our different homegroup studies and Family Bible Hour?

We cannot be good leaders in our homes, workplace or in the church unless we are following in the footsteps of Jesus. The first command that He gave to His disciples was to follow Him, and the same is true for us.

Discussion Questions

• 1. Realizing that no man perfectly meets the qualifications for elder (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9), how do we determine if a man is ready for the task?
• 2. Is ministry the calling of every Christian or only of some? Give biblical support for your answer.
• 3. How can we discern whether we are balanced in our understanding of the whole counsel of God?
• 4. Does verse 26 imply that somehow Christians can be responsible for another person’s going to hell? What does it mean?