From our General Superintendent

The Myth of the Omnicompetent: A Leadership Reflection

DAVID WELLS

The last few months have provided a very real opportunity, both personally and as a Fellowship, to review our operations. Upon reflection, the reasonable expectation for leaders such as myself to oversee our internal systems renewal process was not met. On behalf of our leadership team, I sincerely apologize. We recognize the confusion and heartache this has brought to our Pentecostal family, including missional workers and entities, donors, pastors and churches, credential holders, vendors and staff. With a combination of lament, humility and renewed determination, we have broadened the scope of our engagement, seeking out the expertise and resources needed to address and further develop a financial and data system that will serve well on an ongoing basis. As I write this article, we have a way to go. But with the assistance of qualified personnel, diligent work is being done, and progress is being made.

In my personal review of this process, I have once again re-evaluated my own expectations. As I’ve done for decades, I seek to learn from the painful experiences as well as from joyful successes.

I was drawn back to a concept I shared in this magazine four years ago as I paid tribute to one of my well-loved predecessors, Robert W. Taitinger:

There is a tendency to develop a compilation of the various leadership models that we see in our culture and expect those of pastors, missional workers, and specialized ministry leaders. Expectations can range from a pastor or minister to be a C.E.O., a coach, a motivational speaker, a family chaplain, to a presidential, visionary leader with omnicompetent skills. As I have often reminded church and ministry boards, “there was only one omnicompetent leader and we crucified him!”[1]

For many of us, Robert W. Taitinger was one of the people who came closest to being an “omnicompetent” leader, but no one more than he would have resisted that moniker!

In my renewed reflections, it is clear that the church, as the body of Christ, fulfils its mission when a diverse collection of called and gifted persons provide their specific areas of competency, linked with other called and gifted persons’ competencies, to fulfil the shared vision and mission the Lord of the church has given them. No one called and gifted person is the “omnicompetent” but is dependent on others who serve competently in their area of calling.

The Scriptures state it this way in 1 Corinthians 12: 12-20:

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

Whatever our shared task within the family of God—a local church as a vital worshipping body reaching their community with the good news of Jesus, a team of missional workers having kingdom impact in a context where Jesus is not known, or an administrative project to provide support to the mission of the church (including system upgrades!)—every called, capable body member is needed to do their part to see the mission accomplished. One must be linked to the other, like the integrated parts of a healthy human body, each doing their part. The moment one thinks they don’t need the other (i.e., “I’m omnicompetent”) anywhere along the ministry chain, there will be a breakdown. The “Messiah complex” does not serve God’s mission through His church well! As servants of Jesus, we fulfil our calling as part of Christ’s body while empowering and trusting others to do their part also, all under the Lordship of Jesus.

With that deep respect for the whole body of Christ, with all its diverse callings and gifts, a leader such as myself is responsible for overseeing those “body parts” and ensuring their connectivity, allowing the church of Jesus to fulfil its mission. This is true of us who serve in oversight, in local churches, specialized and missional ministries, colleges and seminaries, and in our various offices that serve these ministries. When we fall short, there must be an honest acknowledgement of that to the Lord and His people, and a humble determination to serve with greater knowledge, understanding and wisdom (Proverbs 2:1-11).

Lord, hear my prayer as I recognize Your amazing call afresh, acknowledge my shortcomings, and pray for Your wisdom and power to serve Your people so that, together, we may fulfil the mission we are called to. May each of us be who You call us to be and serve in the way You’ve gifted us to. Especially be with those of us called to serve as overseers. For Your glory, Amen.

 

This article appeared in the October/November/December 2026 issue of testimony/Enrich, a quarterly publication of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. © 2026 The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.