ic will as leadership, then Christ failed utterly. If a great leader is a conquering hero who rectifies all disagreements, unifies all nations, vanquishes all wrongdoers, then Christ represents that modelÆs antithesis. According to the biblical record, by the end of his life, he had lost all but a handful of his followers, and had been put to death as a criminal. Paradoxically, ChristÆs influence transcends borders, languages, and institutions. He represents a great leader, but an entirely different vision of what a leader should be.
Christians who would place themselves in positions of authority within their family, church, or community, must understand that force, cunning, reason, or the will to power, are leadership strategies in conflict with scriptural injunction. At the Last Supper, as Jesus prepares to meet crucifixion the next day, he speaks to his assembled disciples and gives a concise definition of what his vision of leadership is: ôHe that is greatest among you let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that does serveö (Luke 22:26). The philosophy of Christian leadership, then, is a philosophy of servanthood.
The ôservant-leaderö model flies in the face of pride, ego, self-gratification, and desire for authority. Jesus does not call his followers to exalt themselves, or coerce others, but to submit to others, to act in humility, and to seek the welfare of others first. Leadership in this instance, means reaching out to the most powerless of society. Throughout the gospels, Jesus reaches out to the disenfranchised, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the discarded members of society. In doing so, he exerts moral leadership. His actions appeal to humanityÆs desire to love, to act charitably, to act courageously by sharing with the least fortunate. To risk the derision of those who seek power in high places is a courageous act.
A power-mad leader sees humans as means to a personal end. Jesus see...