Leading Like Jesus
When one looks to the life and work of Jesus for leadership principles it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate between his deity and his humanity. To those of us who follow after Jesus, this is an important distinction in that we cannot, in fairness, invite people to emulate deity to the extent that it existed in Jesus. We can, however, invite followers of Jesus to embrace and live out those things which were modeled to their fullest extent in his humanity and those things which were commanded of us as his followers.
Blackaby and Blackaby (2011) rightly concluded that, “Society’s greatest deficit is that it does not have enough leaders who understand and practice Christian (Christ Centered) principles of leadership”. Because of my resonance with Blackaby’s conclusion, and for the purposes of this short article, here are a two key leadership traits that I believe are transferable from the life of Jesus to those of us leading in the 21st century:
Authenticity – One of the cornerstones of Jesus life and leadership was his authenticity. He was, at all times, no more and no less than himself and in this he offered to his followers the freedom and safety to learn to be fully themselves. His authenticity was reflected in his teaching (Matt. 5,6,7,11; Luke 6,7), in his relationships (John 4:11-26; Luke 19:1-9), in his emotions (John 11:17-37; Luke 19:41; Matt. 21:12-17; Mark 14:32-42), in his vision for ministry (John 8:28), and in his personal transparency (John 13:21; Matt. 17:1-13). Just for clarity, when I refer to authenticity I am not referring to the modern social media version of authenticity which involves sharing with the world every thought, emotion or experience you have. Generally, this is a need for attention masquerading as authenticity. Authenticity is the capacity to, at all times, be no more or no less than who you really are. It is the capacity to embrace your journey, with all it’s joys and missteps, while also offering those around you the safety to be fully themselves as well. True authenticity is often a journey taken without an audience so that it might benefit those you influence.
Intimacy with God – It could be said with a fair amount of certainty that the authenticity of Jesus was a direct result of his relationship (Matt. 3:17; 17:5) with his father. This one relationship had such prominence (Matt. 14:23; Luke 6:12) and power in the life of Jesus that it provided vision and direction (Matt. 11:27; John 5:17,43; John 6:40), confidence (John 8:16-18), clarity (John 12:49), and sustenance in the challenges of leadership (Matt. 26:39,42). While we might be inclined to believe that the intimacy Jesus had with his Father is not transferable to modern leadership it is important to note that this is the very reason that Jesus gave his life…..so that we could once again enjoy direct communion with God (John 14,15,16). This very thing, in fact, is the great secret of spiritual leadership. It is only to the extent that we commit ourselves to live and lead out of true intimacy with God (John 14:26) that we experience the power and impact of deity, deployed through us, into the modern world.
I pray often that each of you would continue to pursue a deep journey with your Lord that generates a wave of impact in all those you meet.
On the Journey With You,
Blackaby, Henry T., and Richard Blackaby. 2011. Spiritual Leadership : moving people on to God's agenda. Rev. & expanded ed. Nashville, Tenn.: B & H Pub. Group.
Dan Scarrow
District Superintendent
North Central District of The C&MA