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Qualifications of Overseers

This saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to become an overseer, he desires a noble task. It is necessary, then, for the overseer to be above reproach, the husband of only one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not a violent man but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. It is necessary that he manage his own household well, with all dignity making sure that his children obey him. (If a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he might become conceited and fall into the same condemnation as the Devil. In addition, he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the Devil’s trap.

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