Hi! I'm new to this. Just wanted to share some of my own musing on this matter.
I believe that the church as a whole will continue to attract to itself the type of spiritual leaders
it advertises for. If we define church leadership as a position of political power where the pastor is the chairman of every ministries. Where he is to be a cut above the people of God with special titles and seperate seating arrangement. ( big fancy chair on the platform)Then the church will continue to attracts power hungry people to itself. I believe we have copied the world's way of doing bussiness and have incorporated it in the church. Most denominations attracts, train and produces leaders the very same way other worldly industries do. Where can we find in the sciptures the practice of hiring a pastor solely on his giftedness ( ability to preach ) We call a candidate. Hear him preach a couple of times. Questions his theology. Ask him some personal questions pertaining to his integrity and spirituality. Then pray about it for awhile and then vote. How many of us would dare marry someone following this procedure??? The scriptures plainly teaches that elders are mainly to be judged by their Christlike characters and spirituality. How can this happen when the candidate comes not from the local church but hundreds of miles away??? We then are forced to make a decision based a on superficial examination. Anyhow.....got to go. I hope that some of my own reflections may resonate with some of you. Love in Christ.