Christian Leadership.
Even though in Scripture we do not find the word Christian leadership we see the concept as evident throughout Bible and in addition some scholars have attempted to study it and have come up with definitions of Christian leadership by mainly drawing them from the Bible. I will use some of these scholars who have written about this topic.
Michela Ayers seems to divorce the word Christian Leadership by saying the following “While theology attempts to explain God, leadership is essentially man-centered as it is anthropological and sociological in nature” (Ayers, 2006, p. 5). For leadership, she says “leadership concerns itself with the person of the leader and the dynamics between leaders and followers that result in a form of influence” (Ayers, 2006, p. 5). She seems to explain the anthropological approach to Christian leadership as one where the leader has to lead people and has to be able to exercise influence on the people that he leads, at simultaneously there is a divine aspect to it as Christian leadership is a God-given responsibility to relate, influence and partner with people in different areas of life, being empowered by the Holy Spirit to achieve God’s mission and purpose.
Jesus exemplifies such leader who was effective as he was one with the capacity to serve and love those that were his followers. The biblical text describing his type of leadership is Philippians 2:5-11. The model that Jesus is exercising is being a servant leader which was unthinkable in the Roman Greco world as a slave was of very low status in society and leadership was associated with pomp and high status, Jesus is counter-cultural here as he is not about the pomp and pageantry even though by his status he was equal to God, he did not consider that something to grasped but rather took on the form of a servant instead (Phil. 2-5:11)
In John 10 it tells us about Jesus who is, the good Shepherd and as a result his sheep follow him, (John 10:4) and in this verse, it is the familiar voice of the shepherd that the sheep follow. In 1 Peter 5, the elders are described as shepherds who must look after the flock because they are under the Chief Shepherd who is Jesus. So Christian leadership is always under Christ and they, the leaders, are primarily his servants and must in turn serve the flock by leading them. Considering the shepherding leadership in 1 Peter 5 Strauch says this about it “It is characterized by intimacy, tenderness, concern, skill, hardworking, suffering and love “ (Strauch, 1995, p. 16).
Paul also in Acts 20:28 describes the role of elders as shepherds of the sheep that God has entrusted them with. One of the functions of a shepherd in the New Testament, in Asia Minor, was to protect the flock against false teachers. As the elders in Jerusalem, had to have some knowledge of the word so that they could protect the flock against false teachers. Shepherding elders were expected to be spiritually awake and highly sensitive to Satan’s subtle attacks as they needed to be watchful, prayerful and aware of social issues within the church and be able to discern them
Jesus is the perfect example of a servant leader as we see in Matthew 11:29 Jesus himself says he is gentle and humble. Christian leadership must serve and sacrifice, Christian leaders should be humble and not elevate themselves or be a lover of status.
The other example of a servant leader in the New Testament was the Apostle Paul. Though he was a strong, gifted leader he was also a humble servant. Paul viewed his gifts and authority as a means of building and protecting others and not as a means of controlling or gaining an advantage over others, nor gaining prominence or material advantage for himself.
In conclusion, Christian leadership should be modeled around the image of a shepherd and the perfect example, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. They should be servants who sacrificially serve the Lord Jesus and the people who have been placed under their care. Church leaders are entrusted by God with a role as leaders and they are called to take care, lead, love, guide, feed, and nourish God’s sheep that he has entrusted to them.
Bibliography
Ayers, M. (2006). Toward A Theology Of Leadership . Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership, 3-27.
Strauch, A. (1995). Biblical Eldership an Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership. Littleton,CO: Lewis and Roth Publishers.
