Jesus On Leadership By Gene C. Wilkes

Atkinson (2014) believes effective leadership displays, “No person is less divine than another, and therefore no person is less than another” (p. 145). Throughout the bible, there are many people in scripture that God placed in leadership roles. Jesus, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart.

Lynch and Friedman (2013) express that “Servant leadership is a valuable approach in politics and industry. Adding the spiritual component−striving to build a spiritual workplace and working to improve society− completes the paradigm and makes it more valuable as a leadership theory” (p.

Servant leadership from a Christian perspective is a replica of what Jesus Christ symbolizes. Jesus was a servant because he showed truth, vision, humility, commitment, teacher to his followers, and brought about change; he was a suffering servant, yet was merciful, he was a teacher, yet willing to be taught by the Holy Spirit. “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.”

From the group Biblical Integration Paper, it was understood that servant-leadership is not only a gift of purpose that God places in the hearts of His people, but it is also a calling in one’s life to truly touch the lives of others in need. Living a successful life, as a servant-leader is not one that focuses on self-fulfillment, rather it is in seeking a fulfillment that comes from Christ when one pours him/herself out for the sake of others. It is through servant-leadership that one is able to bring hope into hopeless situations (Group Integration Paper,

When Keith talks about the servant leadership, I understand, what he means when he says leadership starts with a desire to serve (1). Serving others shows that we want to make a difference in someone else’s life. It also shows that it is universal and very important in everyone’s culture and religion.

Leadership is the ability of a person to influence people toward the attainment of a particular goal. Leadership is a people activity, not like administrative paper shuffling or problem solving. It is a dynamic force and involves the use of power. Out of the forces of leadership come four powerful characteristics: supportive, directive, participative, and achievement-oriented leadership. Although these types of characteristics are not considered ingrained personality traits, they reflect types of behavior every leader is able to adopt depending on the situation.

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four

Leadership scholars have presented many theories in understanding leadership. However, making sense of hundreds of books and thousands of studies is a complicated task, which is why many mistakenly think that leadership is an indefinable phenomenon. Some of us presume complete authority in our own favored ways. Novel leaders often discard the entire system used by the exiting leaders. In a catastrophic situation, persistence on individual style can be helpful; yet in a democratic culture, leaders don’t own the organization and must consider the right of the followers. Personal style and preference must be

Milepost 65 teaches that a leader’s ministry is a stewardship from God. Wood (2011) argues, “Every leadership role is an under-role. Christ is not only the Chief Shepherd or Pastor of the church, He is also the Overseer, the Teacher, and the Prophet” (p. 161). The basis for Wood’s argument is that every leader is under a leader, and ultimately every leader is under the Leader, which is Jesus Christ. Therefore, every leader should manage his ministry as a good and faithful steward. The understanding that every leadership role is an under-role will help prevent leaders from becoming arrogant or misusing their

“There is much that can be learned about leadership from Scripture” (Smith, 1992, p. 39). The Bible provides us with what God not only desires His man of God to be, but requires His under shepherd to meet His character traits.

There are many different types of leaders and leadership styles throughout the many cultures of our world. Most are tied to one certain entity or cause. Although Dr. Billy Graham is tied to God, he is an example of leadership that spans across many different sectors. He has impacted the ministry of America by crossing lines of division among the churches as well as cultural traditions. He is motivated by love of God and that love is

It is not an easy task to carry out public leadership, you have to know almost everything, counseling marriage on the verge breaking down, baptizing dying babies, administering Holy Communion for dying individuals, leading marriage ceremony with unusual and complicated scenario. It is also not easy to accept ministry as God calling rather than as job placement or vocational opportunity. It is tough to accept the people, their culture, tradition and the whole identity. God called us to ministry so that we will be able exercise his full authority (Matt 28:16-18) with full humility (Philippians 2:6, 2Cor 8:9, Rom 5:6-8). We have to deny ourselves and follow the footsteps of Jesus our Lord (Luke 9:23).

There are many people in scripture that God has placed in leadership roles. Jesus himself, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart. Leaders establish a model of the way others should be treated and how goals should be pursued, with standards and examples of what others should follow by exemplifying God’s example. Christian leaders inspire a shared vision to make a difference

Leaders are appointed to serve here on earth on behalf of Christ since Christ is the good and chief shepherd. Leaders should lead the believers based on how Christ related with the church when he was on earth[5]. Shepherds had to feed the people of God and to protect them from predators[6]. Churches today ought to do things how the New Testament churches did[7].

In brief order, the role of a pastor or leader is to be a servant leader. The Bible provides pastors and leaders in a Christian church with the best model of a servant leader in Jesus Christ. According to Thorsten Grahn (2011), “Jesus submitted his own life to sacrificial service under the will of (Luke 22:42), and he sacrificed his life freely out of service for others (John 10:30). He came to serve (Matthew 20:28) although he was God’s son and was thus more powerful than any other leader in the world. He healed the sick (Mark 7:31-37), drove out demons (Mark 5:1-20), was recognized as Teacher and Lord (John 13:13), and had power over the wind and the sea and even over death (Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 9:18-26. In John 13:1-17 Jesus gives … responsibility of the house-servant” (Grahn, 2011, p. 2).