If the Holy Spirit Isn't Moving Among the Leadership...

How leadership dryness contaminates the entire congregation

When death touches leadership

In the early church it was the age of miracles. The sick were healed in Peter's shadow, the dead were raised at the apostles' touch, thousands were converted daily. The Holy Spirit moved with power that made Jerusalem tremble.

Then Ananias and Sapphira lied.

They weren't ordinary members—they were respected leaders in the community, people others looked to as examples of spirituality. When hypocrisy touched leadership, the entire spiritual atmosphere changed immediately.

The fear of God that had previously produced miracles and growth now produced fear and caution. The leaders' incongruence had contaminated the whole church's spiritual atmosphere.

"Great fear seized the whole church" (Acts 5:11, NIV).

Not admiration for God's justice. Fear. Anxiety. Suspicion.

Because when leaders fall, they don't fall alone. They drag down with them the trust, faith, and spiritual freedom of everyone who followed them.

The spiritual physics of contamination

There's an implacable spiritual law that many leaders don't want to accept: if the Holy Spirit isn't moving powerfully in leadership's private lives, He'll hardly move in the church's corporate life.

People learn more from what they see than from what they hear. If they see leaders who talk about prayer but don't pray, about faith but live in anxiety, about love but are critical, they absorb the hypocrisy, not the message.

The phenomenon is called "unconscious modeling": the congregation unconsciously imitates the leaders' real spiritual level, not the proclaimed one.

If leaders have a formal relationship with God, the church will develop formal spirituality. If leaders are lukewarm but well-organized, the church will become efficient but cold.

If leadership lives on spiritual routine instead of authentic passion, the entire community will slip into lifeless religiosity.

But members also contribute to this toxic dynamic.

When members feed leadership hypocrisy

As a member, you might unconsciously encourage your leadership's hypocrisy.

You applaud powerful preaching, but never ask the pastor how his soul really is. You get excited about prayer talks, but have never personally prayed for your leaders' private spiritual lives.

You want them to inspire you, but don't want to know about their struggles. You demand they be strong for you, but don't offer them the strength of your intercession.

You put them on pedestals where it's impossible to be vulnerable, then complain when they seem detached. You load them with perfection expectations, then get scandalized when they reveal they're human.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: often leaders become hypocrites because members punish them for honesty and reward them for performance.

When a pastor confesses he's going through spiritual dryness, some members start looking for another church. When a leader admits struggling with doubts or fears, some believers lose confidence in his guidance.

So leaders learn to hide, to pretend, to wear masks. And you, as a member, become complicit in their hypocrisy.

The contagion that kills faith

When leadership lives in hypocrisy and members feed it, devastating spiritual contagion is created.

Leaders, feeling they must always "perform" spiritually, stop growing authentically. Members, seeing leaders who seem "arrived," stop striving to grow.

The pastor preaches about faith while his private life is dominated by anxiety. Believers listen and think: "If even he, who's so spiritual, is anxious, then anxiety must be normal for Christians."

Leadership talks about intimacy with God while their devotional life is non-existent. The congregation absorbs the subliminal message that you can serve God without really knowing Him.

Leaders preach about love while there are unresolved tensions and conflicts among them. Members learn that Christianity is compatible with superficial relationships and hidden resentment.

The final result? A spiritually sick community that considers spiritual mediocrity normal.

David: when the leader's sin contaminates the nation

Look what happened when David sinned with Bathsheba: the entire nation was struck by plague (2 Samuel 24).

The king's hidden sin had public consequences for all the people. It wasn't just a private matter—the leader's spiritual condition influenced everyone's spiritual condition.

David wasn't just the political king. He was the people's spiritual representative before God.

When he fell spiritually, he opened a breach through which the enemy could attack the entire nation. His private compromise became public vulnerability.

And today? If your church's leaders live in spiritual compromise, they're opening breaches through which the enemy can attack the entire community.

If their prayer life is dead, corporate prayer will be powerless. If their faith is lukewarm, the church's faith atmosphere will be cold.

If there are divisions and jealousies among them, the congregation's unity will be fragile. If they live in hypocrisy, authenticity will become rare throughout the community.

Paul: the authority of authentic example

Paul had courage to say "follow my example" because he knew his private life was consistent with his public message.

"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1, NIV).

It wasn't arrogance—it was transparency. Paul knew believers needed concrete models, not just abstract precepts.

But to be able to say "follow my example," Paul had to live a life worthy of being followed. He had to be authentic in private, not just eloquent in public.

When he went through difficulties, he shared them honestly. When he made mistakes, he confessed them openly. When he struggled with temptations, he spoke about them without shame.

His authority didn't come from hiding his imperfections. It came from showing how a sinner saved by grace can live authentically for Christ.

But what would happen if Paul visited your church today?

Would he see you as someone imitating Christ, or someone playing a role? Would he see your leadership as authentic examples of Christian living, or as spiritual actors who've learned the right lines?

The brutal test of authenticity

Here's the most brutal test to measure your leadership's spiritual health:

If someone followed exactly their example of private spiritual life (not the public one), what kind of Christian would they become?

If they imitated their real prayer life, their real Bible reading, their real faith applied to daily problems, would they be a mature or mediocre disciple?

If they copied their way of treating family, managing stress, reacting to criticism, facing temptations, would they be following Christ or compromising with the world?

And you, as a member, if someone imitated your private spiritual life instead of what you show at church, what kind of believer would they become?

If they followed your example of generosity, service, love for the lost, growth in the Word, who would they become?

Paul could say "follow my example" because his private life was an authentic translation of his public message.

But when there's disconnection between message and life, the congregation perceives the inauthenticity and loses confidence not only in the leader, but in the message itself.

The moment of absolute truth

But there comes a moment—maybe this is the moment—when you must confront a truth that can change everything:

If your church is spiritually lukewarm, maybe it's not because the world has become more difficult.

Maybe it's because the leadership has become colder.

If people don't respond to calls to holiness, maybe it's not because they're hardened.

Maybe it's because they don't see holiness modeled in those who call them.

If corporate prayer is powerless, maybe it's not because God doesn't want to answer.

Maybe it's because those leading prayer have lost intimacy with God.

And you, as a member, if you're not growing spiritually, maybe it's not just leadership's fault.

Maybe it's because you're not asking God to transform you, but waiting for someone else to transform you.

Maybe it's because you're consuming spirituality instead of producing it.

Maybe it's because you want to be inspired without being challenged, built up without being changed.

Elijah: when the prophet must be restored

Even Elijah, Israel's most powerful prophet, went through a period of spiritual dryness. After victory on Mount Carmel, he fell into deep depression and wanted to die.

God didn't rebuke him for losing faith. He fed him, let him rest, and then gave him a new revelation of His presence.

Before returning to public ministry, Elijah had to be restored privately.

The lesson for every leader is clear: if you're spiritually exhausted, you can't fake power. If you're inwardly dry, you can't water others.

Your first ministry isn't to the congregation—it's to your soul.

But members also have responsibility: instead of expecting leaders to always be strong, you should intercede for their restoration.

Instead of consuming their spiritual strength, you should contribute to their edification.

Instead of judging their moments of weakness, you should support their growth journey.

The Holy Spirit's ultimatum

But here's the final truth you can't avoid:

The Holy Spirit doesn't bless hypocrisy, even if it's well-organized.

He doesn't anoint spiritual performance, even if it's technically correct.

He doesn't move through leaders who pretend to have what they don't have.

He doesn't transform congregations that prefer illusion to reality.

If you want to see God's power in your church, someone must have courage to remove the masks.

Someone must stop acting and start living.

Someone must choose to be authentic instead of impressive.

And that someone could be you.

Today.

Because the Holy Spirit is waiting. He's not waiting for you to become perfect.

He's waiting for you to become real.

He's not waiting for you to have all the answers.

He's waiting for you to have enough honesty to admit your questions.

He's not waiting for you to be strong enough to lead everyone.

He's waiting for you to be humble enough to let Him lead you.

The choice that determines everything

Leaders: Are you willing to risk your reputation to recover your authenticity? To be vulnerable about your spiritual needs instead of pretending to have everything under control?

Members: Are you willing to intercede for your leaders instead of judging them? To contribute to their spiritual strength instead of only consuming it?

Everyone together: Are you ready to build a community where it's safe to be real instead of perfect? Where the Holy Spirit can move through authentic people instead of spiritual performances?

Because when this happens—when authenticity replaces hypocrisy, when vulnerability replaces performance, when truth replaces acting—then the Holy Spirit can return to move.

Not as a polite guest who doesn't disturb your programs.

But as the mighty wind that transforms everything He touches.

And then—only then—you'll see again what they saw in the early church:

Miracles you can't explain. Conversions you can't program. Transformations you can't control.

But that you can only worship.

The final question is this:

Is it worth giving up your masks to see God's glory?

Or do you prefer to keep up appearances and remain without His presence?

You can't have both.

The choice is yours.