My first post in this series is here.

Having considered the lessons on truthfulness we can learn from Donald Trump we now turn to another, perhaps more dangerous and consequential problem – the fact that Trump is not only a liar but a narcissist. Everything is about him, and that, and that alone, makes him unfit for leadership, certainly in the spiritual realm, though it has to be said there is something about leadership that attracts narcissists. Leadership is a natural objective for narcissists because it feeds their motivational aims of status, power, and being the centre of attention. But the consequences of a narcissistic leader are immense. If you don’t always agree with their views and opinions, if you don’t constantly massage their already inflated ego, then you become ‘persona non grata’ and are ridiculed, humiliated or discarded as happened recently when Presidents Trump and Zelensky meet in the White House. That was all about Zelensky daring to challenge Trump and not simply ‘suck up to him’.

When business man Alan Sugar was asked about dealing with Donald Trump, famous for his deal making, Sugar’s response was revealing: “The only way you can deal with him is to not disagree with him.”

Narcissistic leaders are often reactive and antagonistic and will use corruption, manipulation, and exploitation to get what they want. Now, that’s bad enough in the secular and political world but catastrophic in the local church and in the spiritual sphere as I have myself witnessed on more than one occasion.

I shudder when I recall a pastor speaking at a fraternal I attended many years ago at which we were discussing pastoral issues and church discipline. His comment was that he didn’t understand why we had all these problems. “If someone disagrees with me,” he said, with a straight face, “I show them the door. I exercise a sort of benign dictatorship.” To which the friend sitting next to me commented privately, “Dictatorship, yes; benign, not so sure”.

And what really troubles me is that this is happening today largely because churches, when selecting leaders are placing all the emphasis on competency rather than on character. But that is to reverse the biblical order. I think of the leadership group in a Glasgow congregation who, when I asked them what sort of man they were looking for to be their next Pastor, their immediate reply was, and I quote, “As long as he has a PhD we will be happy”.  I think of the then Principal of one of the largest evangelical Bible Colleges in UK who told me that due to the influence of secular academics, he was producing, and again I quote, “Pastors with PhDs who can’t pray.”

There is no doubt that the overriding emphasis of the Scriptures on a man’s suitability for ministry is on his character. Alec Motyer wrote, commenting, I believe, on 1 Timothy 3:1-7, “The New Testament does not give a job description but a character reference.” And Murray McCheyne famously said, “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness”. If someone is in Christian leadership because it boosts their sense of self-worth or plays into their egocentricity, then disaster awaits.

Another consequence of this, also demonstrated by Trump, is that narcissists will generally gather around them colleagues who will agree with and support them and rarely, if ever, challenge them. In Trump’s case, as illustrated by that famous encounter in the White House which was clearly a set up to humiliate President Zelensky, the Vice President, J D Vance, tried to out-Trump Trump, and that’s the sort of people narcissists appoint. On the other hand, Scripture says, “in the multitude of counsellors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14) and” “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6)

Especially, though not exclusively, in the spiritual sphere, leaders lead by serving those they lead. They lead for the benefit of others not of themselves. Everything about Trump is about Trump. There is no clearer demonstration of that then the recently published AI generated video he published about his proposed Trump Gaza paradise. It was nauseating to say the least and, to anyone other than Trump, would have been profoundly embarrassing.

I have known leaders of churches and Christian organisations who have seen their church or organisation as ‘theirs’ and who manipulate and bully others with the aim of furthering their own ’empire’ or cause, rather than seeing the people in their charge flourishing and maturing in their service for Christ.

By contrast, some years ago, when I was serving as the CEO of an international mission agency, we interviewed a candidate to serve as my deputy. At interview he was asked what gave him most satisfaction in his role as a leader. His answer was that it was seeing those he led growing in their gifting and effectiveness and in their Christlikeness. That answer alone effectively got him the job. Those of us who are called into spiritual leadership roles are to there to lead by serving and we not only need the grace of God