There are four qualities we use to judge a diamond: cut, clarity, color, and carat.  But what qualities do we use to judge leaders in ministry?

Tanya Prive over at Forbes.com describes the top 10 qualities that make up a great leader.  I liked the article a lot.  There is a lot of practical wisdom in it for leaders in ministry to apply as well, so I recommend you give it a read.  However, when I began to apply these qualities to Moses, the greatest leader ever, I found that Moses would not be considered a great leader by her standards because he lacked 9 of the 10 qualities she cites.  What made Moses a great leader was one quality that doesn’t look much like a quality of a leader at all.  But before I give it to you, first let me run down Prive’s top 10 list and apply them to Moses.

1. Honesty – Moses covering up his murder of an Egyptian doesn’t quite check the honesty box.
2. Ability to Delegate – Moses had to be instructed to delegate by his pagan father-in-law after burning out playing judge to over 2 million people.
3. Communication – Moses was a confessed stutterer and employed his brother Aaron to do all the talking.
4. Sense of Humor – Moses didn’t laugh off problems when they arose.  Take for instance the golden calf incident. Many died that day for their failure to believe.
5. Confidence – Moses was far from confident.  In fact he was afraid that no Jew would believe his message was from God let alone Pharaoh.
6. Commitment – Here is the one quality Prive lists where Moses shined.  Even though he was heavily criticized by the children of Israel, Moses never left their side.
7. Positive Attitude – Moses didn’t believe in the ability of his followers unless it was the ability to fail to follow God.
8. Creativity – Moses didn’t have the ability to create out-of-the-box solutions to many of the problems he faced throughout his ministry.  God was the one instructing him to lead the people through the Red Sea, to command water from the rock, and to collect manna in the morning.
9. Intuition – Moses didn’t have great intuition.  When facing problems he often didn’t know what to do.
10. Ability to Inspire – Moses wasn’t an inspirational leader.  Many grumbled against his leadership and were willing to go back to Egypt because they thought their life as slaves was better than following Moses’ leadership.

So what was it that made Moses the greatest leader of all time?  Moses was humble.  He was keenly aware of his shortcomings.  He knew that the mission was too big for him.  He knew that the people wouldn’t be inclined to follow him. He knew that the journey out of slavery into a life of freedom would be arduous.  He knew that he didn’t have what it took to save God’s people.  And the fact that Moses was sober about his lack of qualifications to lead God’s people made him the greatest leader ever.  Why?  Because in his humility, he was dependent on God for everything.

Think about it.  What if you didn’t believe you had what it took to lead in your context of ministry, and what if you didn’t try to cover up that fact?  What would be the result of your leadership?  The result would be a greater dependence on the Spirit to work in you.  I think that is what God is after with his called leaders.  He doesn’t want us to lead his mission through our strengths.  Instead he wants us to be so overwhelmed by the task of leading his mission that we, like Moses, begin confessing our weaknesses.  Once we do, God won’t reject us.  In fact, the very opposite is true.  He will receive us and use us to lead his purposes because we will be clinging to God in dependence on his strengths and resources not our own.  This is the quality of humility as a leader: being overwhelmed by the task, but depending on God to fulfill his leadership purposes through us.

Humility is what all truly great leaders have in common.  Abraham couldn’t produce a child on his own.  Isaac couldn’t bless the right child on his own.  Jacob couldn’t receive the blessing on his own.  Joshua couldn’t lead the people into battle on his own.  David couldn’t claim the kingdom on his own.  Elijah couldn’t make people believe on his own.  Paul couldn’t complete his mission on his own.  They all came face to face with their limitations.  The reason why we know these leaders today is that they humbled themselves by trusting that God was going to use his resources through them to bring about his purposes.  We then would be foolish to believe that the work God gives us can be achieved on our own.  God gives us the work to lead others for his purposes so that we can turn around and humbly depend on him to carry out the task.

So if you want to be a great leader, stop trying to be qualified in God’s eyes.  Instead, be humble.  Confess your disqualifications for leading in ministry, AND depend on God and his strength as the source of your leadership.