If a temple leader cannot conduct religious services, is hiring an outside spirit medium enough?

Inviting someone in does not by itself mean that the leader has fulfilled their responsibility. First consider whether you understand what the person is doing and have the ability to judge whether it is right. You cannot believe everything simply because the person says it is a deity’s instruction.

I once encountered someone who opened a temple after being told they had a divine mission. Unable to conduct the services personally, they brought in an outsider. I asked how, without understanding, spiritual perceptions or experience, they could distinguish whether that person was acting correctly or might be a fraud. Invoking a deity’s name cannot settle that question.

If these things are still unclear, perhaps the time has not yet come for you to shoulder responsibility for others. The deity worshipped in the temple and the conduct of the person carrying out services need to be considered separately. Even if the deity is upright, a person may still develop harmful intentions. Leaders need to choose carefully and learn from observable behaviour. We cannot trust every later person automatically simply because worship at the temple felt good in the past.