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Jesus On Leadership By Gene C. Wilkes

Decent Essays
Gene C. Wilkes, in his book Jesus on Leadership, does an excellent job in redefining leadership within the context of the Kingdom of God and he does so by pointing to Jesus who “taught and embodied leadership as service.” Wilkes’ point is that Jesus taught the world everything to know about leadership in the way that he served. Rather than leadership being top down, it should be bottom up as in the case of Jesus—the Savior of the World—washing his disciples feet. This means that leaders do not have people serve them, rather they chose to serve those they are leading. The clearest point and evidence that Wilkes utilizes is when Jesus says, “But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.” This upside down kingdom idea is the most profound view of Wilkes on leadership and carries the most weight in applying to ministry leadership. Furthermore, two aspects deserve more attention here; which are: the importance of mission and the essentiality of equipping others. In addition, there was one element missing from the book—the people Wilkes has helped succeed through his own servant leadership. First of all, Wilkes makes a strong case that only understanding the mission God has called a leader to will enable them to successfully serve as Jesus served. He states, “Submission to God and to the divine mission for your life is the first step to servant leadership. You will never become a servant leader until you first become servant
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