The Leader ID Model is based on the principle that high-potential emerging leaders are already thinking and acting.
Timothy was already functioning well in ministry responsibility in both Lystra and Iconium. He was thinking and acting, and his community recognised his high leadership potential and recommended him to Paul.
The Thessalonian church is only months old at this point and didn’t yet have appointed leaders (such as in Acts 14:23 or Titus 1:5). Yet there are some here who are informally doing the work. Paul would have seen this beginning when he was there, and Timothy would have seen it in a little more advanced state and told Paul about them. Now Paul points them out to the people, but not by title or even by name. The people know who they are – they are serving the people, equipping the people, protecting the people, guiding the people. They are doing the work – not because they have a pastoral job or title but because they love the people and take responsibility and initiative.[1] It is natural and organic.
This is how Paul understands “leaders.” Leaders are those who fulfill the functions of leadership – they are actually doing the hard daily “labor” of leading the people – rather than people with positions and titles.
The leaders here do not have formal titles, positions or religious jobs, and Paul tells the people to know them, recognise them and respect them. True leaders will do the work of leadership, with or without the recognition, but it’s easier and better for everyone if they are “known” by the people (Hebrews 13:17).
Moreover, this shows us how leaders are established in the Body of Christ. They are the ones who are actually doing the work. They take responsibility and initiative. They think and act in a way that serves and builds the life of the church. They do the work first and are identified and recognised later.[2]
Please notice also that these leaders are “among you.” Like Paul, who lived and served “in the middle of” the people (1 Thessalonians 2:7), these leaders did not show up once a week to stand on a stage and give a brief public performance to an “audience.” They lived among the people, deeply engaged with them in the midst of their daily lives, serving them, working hard to equip them and guide them. They weren’t religious professionals running organisational programs. They equipped the people. It was close work, personal work, intense work. They did not function from an office; they labored in the homes of the people and in the marketplace. They were “among” them. Consequently they were well-known by the people.
In Corinth, as in Thessalonica, Paul tells the people to recognise those who are already doing the work of leadership.
[1] Moreover, what qualified these leaders was not a formal degree but their lives in Christ, their character, servanthood and vision, and their initiative in guiding and equipping the people.
[2] This is probably what happened in Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5. Those whom Paul appointed as the new elders in the churches were the ones who had already been doing the work and were recognised by the people.