1 Timothy 3:1

Plain English Version

I’m writing about church leaders now. You sometimes hear people say, “If anybody wants to be the person that leads God’s people, that’s a very important job that they want to do.” And that’s right. So you have to be very careful about the person you pick to be a leader.

Cross References

Luke 15:10

Well, just like that, whenever somebody turns back to God, God’s angel messengers in heaven are really happy too. Whenever one bad person stops doing bad things, and lives God’s way, God’s angel messengers in heaven are really happy.”

Acts 1:20

Peter kept on talking. He said, “God also told David to write about Judas in the part of God’s book called Psalms. He wrote, ‘Empty out his house, God, and don’t let anybody else live in it.’ And he also wrote, ‘Let somebody else have his job.’ ”

Acts 20:28

Now you leaders have to make sure you keep on following Jesus properly, and you have to help God’s people to follow him properly too. The Holy Spirit picked you to be their leaders, so look after them properly. Remember, God bought his people with the blood of his own son.

Philippians 1:1

I am Paul, and this letter is from me, and it is from Timothy too, because he is helping me write it. We work all the time for Jesus Christ. We are sending this letter to all God’s special people at Philippi, you people that belong to Jesus Christ. We are writing to you Christian leaders, and to you church helpers, and to all you Christians.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

And the next thing, friends, tell lazy people that they have to work. – And if somebody is frightened, talk to them in a way that helps them to be brave. – And help anybody that is weak. – And don’t get angry with anyone, keep on trying to help them. –

1 Timothy 1:15

You sometimes hear people say this, “Jesus Christ came into this world to save bad people, to make them into better people.” That is very true, and everybody has to believe it. And it tells the story about me too. I was really bad. I was worse than anybody else.

2 Timothy 2:11

Listen to these things that you sometimes hear Christians say. They are very true. They say, “If we follow Jesus and stop doing bad things, it is like we die with him, and so we don’t do anything bad any more, and then later we will live with him.

Titus 1:7

Church leaders are in charge of God’s work on earth, so they have to be really good people, and then nobody will say anything bad about them. Whenever you pick people to be church leaders, – Don’t pick people that think they are better than everyone else. – Don’t pick people that get angry too easily. – Don’t pick people that drink a lot of grog. – Don’t pick people that get into fights. – Don’t pick greedy people, that want lots of money and things.

Titus 3:8

That is all very true. I want you to teach those things strongly. I want you to be sure that people understand those things. Then the people that believe God’s message will think more about doing good things. And those good things will help everyone.

1 Peter 2:25

Before that, you were going the wrong way and getting lost like sheep. But now you have come to Jesus, and he looks after you and shows you the right way to live, just like a man looks after his sheep.

1 Peter 4:15

You know that people that do wrong things get trouble. Don’t be like them. Don’t kill another person. Don’t steal things. Don’t make trouble for other people. Don’t do wrong things like that.

1 Peter 5:2

You church leaders have to look after God’s people. God gave you the job to look after them, so you have to do it properly, like a man with sheep looks after them properly. God wants you leaders to be happy while you do that job. Don’t just do it because you think you have to, or because you want money. Do it because you want to help God’s people.