Christian Leadership vs Secular Leadership

Part of Jesus’ ministry was a reconstituting of the relationships of life, particularly as it applies to the people of God. Much of his teaching is a putting to rights of many of the ways in which think about human relationships between men and women, parent and child, God and Man, Church and State, Jew and Gentile, friend and enemy, pastor and parishioner, and employer and employee. Much of these teachings, radical as they were at the time, have become commonplace in Western thinking; other teachings still seem profoundly contrary to how we think the world generally works (e.g., he first shall be last, the last shall be first; prohibitions against lawsuits; going the extra mile; pacifism; etc.).

Here is what Jesus taught regarding leadership:

“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be servant of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45)

We often read these verses and appreciate it in theory … but then fail to put it into practice, either out of ignorance or defiance to the truth. As always, we need our thinking transformed by the renewing of our minds through the submission of our thought processes to what God is doing (Romans 12:2).

A good way of distinguishing between the two forms of leadership presented in the Scriptures is as follows:

Secular leadership proceeds from the idea that “You all work for me”.

Christian leadership proceeds from the idea that “I work for all of you”.

Again, this Christian conception of leadership is a radical reversal of how the world thinks and works.

As Paul worked it out in his writings, pastoring/ministering becomes a process of equipping other believers to do the work of the Kingdom of God (Ephesians 4:12-16). It is in no way a position of honor and prestige but of servile grunt work, empowering others to reach their God-given potential. It is not “what can you do for me?” but “what can I do for you?”

Again, this is not how we normally think of leadership. We are far too colored by our inherited worldview with which we unconsciously and unquestionably read the Scriptures and then put unbiblical concepts into practice. We are conformed to the patterns of this world because we do not even think there is another way, and that pattern colors the way we interpret Scripture. Worldviews are like glasses that we wear to see the world around us. The difficulty is that we have to take the glasses off to look at them … but then we can no longer see what we’re looking at.

Unsurprisingly, the Christian view of leadership is a far more effective means of achieving Kingdom goals … because that’s how it was designed to work. All other methods are counterproductive, hindering legitimate Kingdom work. If we are to achieve the radical reformulation of relationships that was inaugurated by Jesus’ ministry we must apply those radical methods. In order to achieve the future, we must live the future in the present. This is part of the meaning of Jesus and his ministry being the first fruits of New Creation (1 Cor 15:20-23).