Obedience Over Education: Rethinking Leadership in the Body of Christ

In most Western churches, leadership is often identified through credentials. Degrees, titles, speaking ability, and theological training are common indicators of spiritual readiness. But for believers living under persecution, the primary qualification for leadership is startlingly simple: obedience to Jesus; Especially in sharing the gospel.

We have learned this from years of experience in places of persecution: Believers in those settings are chosen for leadership based not on what they know, but on what they do.  Specifically, how faithfully they evangelize.

This contrast raises a question the Western church must consider: Are we recognizing and raising up leaders according to Jesus’ priorities?

Evangelism as a Pathway to Leadership

For believers living under persecution, leadership is not built in classrooms but in the marketplace through broad seed sowing and a bold witness. Here is a typical model we've encountered in persecution:

• Lead 5 people to Christ: you may begin teaching others.
• Lead 15: you’re eligible to serve as a deacon or elder.
• Lead 30: you may be considered for pastoral or church-planting roles.

This is not a formula for earning influence but a reflection of spiritual fruit. The question isn’t how much someone knows about ministry, but how fully they obey Jesus’ command to make disciples.

The Western Model: Knowledge Over Fruit

In contrast, many churches in the West have emphasized education over evangelism. Leaders often pursue formal theological training, which certainly has value, but degrees are sometimes seen as a substitute for disciple-making.

Someone can hold a doctorate in church planting and never have led someone to Christ outside the church. Meanwhile, in persecuted contexts, leaders rise to the top as they faithfully and boldly share Jesus in the marketplace, reaching their immediate family and their community.

This isn’t an argument against education. Rather, it’s a call to re-align our priorities. Knowledge is meant to serve obedience, not replace it. 

Fruit of the Spirit vs. Gifts of the Spirit

Another key distinction is between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. For those living under persecution, leaders are recognized primarily for the fruit of their obedience—faithfulness, courage, humility, love. In the Western church, leaders are often selected for their gifts—teaching, administration, communication.

But gifts without fruit can be dangerously misleading. Believers in persecution remind us that true spiritual authority comes from living out the gospel, not just explaining it.

What Leadership Should Look Like

If the church is to reflect the mission and model of Jesus, then its leaders must be those who go. Jesus didn’t call the best-educated people. He called the willing. He commissioned His disciples not to stay and study, but to go and proclaim.

This doesn’t diminish the value of training. Instead, it raises the bar for discipleship. Training should equip believers to obey—not just to speak, but to live the gospel boldly and consistently in the everyday spaces of life.

For the church to thrive in both freedom and persecution, it must measure leaders not by their knowledge alone, but by their obedience to Christ’s commands.

A Challenge to the Church

The model of believers in persecution should not make Western believers feel guilty. It should make them hungry. Hungry for a deeper faith, for a gospel that moves beyond comfort, for leaders who lead not just with words, but with witness.

The stories we share are not meant to shame anyone. They are meant to wake us up. If the church wants to raise up leaders who will endure, multiply, and obey, it must return to the simple, costly call of Jesus: “Follow me.”