Do Not Lead As The World Leads...

Wendy and I have been discussing leadership models a lot recently, as we read through the Gospels, and we came to the following conclusion:

If you locked a new believer in a room for a month, and told him/her to read the Gospels and learn all they could about Jesus' understanding of true spiritual leadership, there is no possible way that they would emerge a month later and suggest a CEO-style, management-based heirarchical model.

One of our favourite leadership passages is Matthew 20:25-28: "But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (NASB)

Of particular notice are a few choice words: exercise authority, great, servant, first, and slave.

Jesus warned His disciples (followers, apprentices) not to emulate the leadership style of the Gentiles (the world). The word translated as "authority" (or "exercise authority) in this verse, is the Greek word katexousiazo, which means "to wield power" and comes from the root word exousiazo, which means "to be brought under the power of". In his book "When The Vision Has Vanished", Bob Girard says of the phrase "exercise authority":

"The original Greek word is a nearly unpronouceable verb meaning to get in one's power, to bring under, to master or control, to overcome, to dominate... Jesus says that such leadership has no place in the church."

Jesus contrasts this by saying that if the disciples wanted to "become great" -- the Greek word is megas, which means "things esteemed highly for their importance: of great moment, of great weight, importance" -- they must instead adopt the attitude and actions of a servant.

The word "servant" comes from the Greek word diakonos, which means literally "a waiter, one who serves food and drink" -- it is the Greek root from which we get the word "deacon" in 1 Timothy 3:8-13, hardly a pattern that would lead to "exercising authority" as Jesus warned the disciples against.

Similarly, Jesus tells the disciples that to be "first" in the Kingdom meant being a "slave". The word translated "first" is the Greek word protos, which translates as "first in time or place in any succession of things or persons; first in rank, influence, honour". In order to be given this honour in the Kingdom, Jesus clearly says, disciples must adopt the attitude and actions of a slave.

In Greek, the word slave is doulos, which means "a slave, bondman, man of servile condition... devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests", which again could never encourage someone to adopt a CEO/management-based heirarchical approach to leadership in the Body of Christ.

There is no doubt that the Bible clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit has gifted some people with leadership (Romans 12:8) -- it has never been our contention that leadership should be done away with in order for the Body to function as Jesus intended -- but what "leadership" looks like, how it is defined, and especially how it is functionally practiced, needs to go far beyond paying lip service to passages like Matthew 20:25-28. We need to actually lead as Jesus both instructed and modelled for us.

The passage ends with the familiar words "just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve..." -- diakoneo is the word used both times in this short phrase, and it means "to be a servant, attendant... to serve, wait upon", and in giving His life as a ransom for many, Jesus clearly demonstrated just how other-centred, sacrificial, and servant-hearted leaders are called to be.