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What Deborah's Leadership in Judges Teaches Pastors About Unexpected Calling

A Christianity Today reflection on Israel's only female judge offers church leaders a timely reminder that God's leadership choices rarely follow human expectations.

ChurchStacks · 1 min read · 4 August 2026

The news: Christianity Today published a reflection on Deborah, Israel's only female judge, exploring what her story reveals about how God consistently chooses unexpected people for leadership roles. The piece draws on the pattern throughout Scripture of God surprising his people by working outside conventional assumptions about who qualifies to lead.

Why it matters for church leaders: In growing Indian congregations, leadership development is one of the biggest challenges — and one of the most common mistakes is overlooking capable people because they don't fit a traditional profile. Deborah's story is a direct challenge to how we scout, affirm, and release leaders within our churches.

The takeaway: This week, identify one person in your congregation whom you have consistently overlooked for leadership, and have a conversation with them about their calling.

Source: Christianity Today


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