Principles for Christian Leaders

Living connection with God

Those employed in our various institutions—our publishing houses, our schools, and our health institutions—should have a living connection with God. Especially is it very important that those who have the management of these great branches of the work be men who make the kingdom of God and His righteousness the first consideration. They are not fit for their positions of trust unless they take counsel of God and bear fruit to His glory. They should pursue a course of life that will honor their Creator, ennoble themselves, and bless their fellow men. All have natural traits which must be cultivated or repressed, as they shall help or hinder in obtaining a growth in grace, a depth of religious experience.—5T 422, 423 (1885) PCL 212.3

November 23, 1879, some things were shown me in reference to the institutions among us and the duties and dangers of those who occupy a leading position in connection with them. I saw that these men have been raised up to do a special work as God’s instruments, to be led, guided, and controlled by His Spirit. They are to answer the claims of God and never to feel that they are their own property and that they can employ their powers as they shall deem most profitable to themselves. Although it is their purpose to be and to do right, yet they will most surely err unless they are constant learners in the school of Christ. Their only safety is in humbly walking with God. . . . PCL 213.1

Those who have a humble, trusting, contrite heart, God accepts, and hears their prayer; and when God helps, all obstacles will be overcome. How many men of great natural abilities and high scholarships have failed when placed in positions of responsibility, while those of feebler intellect, with less favorable surroundings, have been wonderfully successful. The secret was: The former trusted to themselves, while the latter united with Him who is wonderful in counsel and mighty in working to accomplish what He will. PCL 213.2

Their work being always urgent, it is difficult for some to secure time for meditation and prayer; but this they should not fail to do. The blessing of heaven, obtained by daily supplication, will be as the bread of life to the soul and will cause them to increase in moral and spiritual strength, like a tree planted by the river of waters, whose leaf will be always green and whose fruit will appear in due time.—4T 537-539 (1881) PCL 213.3

I am constrained to address the men to whom God has entrusted sacred things. Regard God with holy fear. Pray that you may be born again. If you have this new birth, you will not delight yourself, as many of you have been guilty of doing, in the crooked ways of your own desires, but in the Lord. You will desire to be under His authority. You will strive constantly to reach a higher standard. Be not only Bible readers, but earnest Bible students, that you may know what God requires of you. You need an experimental knowledge of how to do His will. Christ is our Teacher. He is made unto us “wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Let every teacher in our schools and every manager in our institutions study what it is essential for them to do in order to obtain pardon, comfort, and hope.—MS 11, 1889 (August 10) PCL 214.1

We are to have only those connected with our institutions who will hear the Word of the Lord and appreciate and obey His voice. When a man will plead and urge to have his mind and his judgment to be supreme in any one of our institutions, you can have no greater evidence that that man does not know himself and is not qualified to manage. He will make mistakes, and injure rather than restore. He does not know what responsibilities are involved in his relation to God or to his fellow men. PCL 214.2

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be?” Those who walk humbly with God will not be striving to obtain greater responsibilities, but will consider that they have a special work to do, and will be faithful to their duty.—Letter 73, 1896 (October 12); TM 420 PCL 214.3

Follow the example of Jesus—Men may be placed in high positions of trust in the cause of God; but they can claim nothing from Him unless they practice His Word and rule in righteousness, seeking to copy the example of the meek and lowly Jesus. The leader in the work, as verily as the humblest lay member, is dependent upon God for power to exercise a pure, uplifting influence. PCL 214.4

The Lord says to the workers in Washington and Nashville, “Review your operations.” You must rise above every cheap and selfish principle and be imbued with the Spirit of God. Unless the workers experience the daily converting power of God upon their hearts and lives, they will not be pleased to meet the record of their deeds before the bar of God, when every man will be rewarded according as his works have been.—Letter 372, 1908 (October 6); PM 72 PCL 215.1

Safeguard God’s honor in institutions—O let us feel that we are rich in the mercy and grace and love of God. This is our property. God’s honor must be preserved in His institutions. They must never be corrupted, never come under the control of human organizations who work out their will and ways. Never by word or deed let those connected with them make Christ ashamed. Christ and the Father have identified Their interests with these institutions, and with all suffering humanity. Then let us blend with God, and identify our interests with these arms of His power. They are His human agencies. God and heaven and angels are united with us in the work of making these institutions a success.—Letter 158, 1900 (November 12) PCL 215.2

Keep the heart with all diligence—The first work of teachers, physicians, directors, is to submit themselves to the yoke of Christ. They must obey the words, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.” This is the result of keeping self under the sanctification of the truth. Our first business, and that which should always be made the highest, is to expel from the soul temple everything that will not harmonize with Christ. His Spirit must abide in us by faith. We are to keep the heart with all diligence. —Letter 178, 1899 (November 6) PCL 215.3

We are warned in the Word of God that sleepless vigilance is the price of safety. Only in the straight path of truth and righteousness can we escape the tempter’s power. But the world is ensnared. Satan’s skill is exercised in devising plans and methods without number to accomplish his purposes. Dissimulation has become a fine art with him, and he works in the guise of an angel of light. God’s eye alone discerns his schemes to contaminate the world with false and ruinous principles, bearing on their face the appearance of genuine goodness. He works to restrict religious liberty, and to bring into the religious world a species of slavery. Organizations, institutions, unless kept by the power of God, will work under Satan’s dictation to bring men under the control of men; and fraud and guile will bear the semblance of zeal for truth and for the advancement of the kingdom of God. Whatever in our practice is not as open as day belongs to the methods of the prince of evil. His methods are practiced even among Seventh-day Adventists, who claim to have advanced truth.—Letter 55, 1895 (September 19); TM 365, 366 PCL 216.1

Lift the standard higher—I tell you in the fear of God, the standard must be lifted higher and still higher. The presence of men in every position of trust in our institutions should have a purifying ennobling odor of his unselfish life; his generous, self-sacrificing spirit, his sympathy and love after Christ’s likeness should purify the atmosphere. When he presides, his practical example is eloquent for good. His words in council come not from exalted human passions, come not from a forward self-sufficient, self-exalted spirit, but his unobtrusive virtues are of more value than weight in gold. He is more precious than mountains of gold and silver. PCL 216.2

The man in the midst of things of time and sense walks with God by faith. He keeps eternity in view, and self is hid with Christ in God. Indwelling godliness appears. It pervades his conversation, imparts to his character a steadfastness of purpose, sanctifies his interactions with saints and sinners. He carries with him a moral efficiency. He feels that he has no right to be sharp, or dictatorial, or arbitrary in any of his decisions. For God is his Master, not the human agent. Men of this mold are the only true representatives of Jesus Christ.—MS 45, 1893 (c. 1893) PCL 217.1