Well this is what I said at a leadership training seminar on the weekend. I also said that I don’t believe in Christian medicine.
While I believe that the character of a doctor or a physio may be influenced or guided by their Christian faith. The skills they apply are not unique to Christians.
I don’t believe in Christian leadership, is a position that I have been coming to over time and has become more firm for me in the last couple of months. I was most convinced of this while sitting in a session on Christian Leadership and the principles of Christian Leadership. The principles were excellent, no doubt about it, but I began to think that these principles would be excellent principles for a Christian who is a plumber or a Christian who is a lawyer as well as a Christian who is a leader.
You see leadership is a 20th century concept and as Ross Farley quotes in his book “following Jesus and leading people”; “Leadership, as we know it, is a twentieth century concept, and to trace our understanding of it to previous eras of Western Civilization (much less other civilizations) is as wrong to suggest that people of earlier civilizations knew what, for instance what computerisation meant.”
Ross goes on to say that; “this does not mean leadership did not happen in ancient times. Gravity happened before Isaac Newton discovered it, but people had no concept of gravity.” Leadership is a recent social science, with more and more learning about this social science being released all the time. Much of the learning is about the application of principles of human behaviour, similar to medicine being based upon our understanding of human biology.
I believe leadership is a skill that needs to be practiced. Similar to other skills people practice like plumbing or physiotherapy. So I think that leadership is no more privileged or special than any other skill. It is a unique skill because of how it is influenced by the character of the person who practices it. But, it is not a skill to be put up on a pedestal that requires special recognition or blessing.
Very quickly we decide Christian Leaders are the called or gifted ones. It becomes a status symbol pursued by those with egos that need to be satisfied and avoided by those who are smart enough to recognise they are not any more special than anyone else. When this happens we have Christians that could make good leaders avoiding the role and we are left with Christians who are using the role to fulfill unmet personal needs.
Along with this comes the idea that Christian leadership has to be specifically taught. This is sad because I have gained a lot from books on leadership that are not Christian but have examined leadership from a variety of angles. It is exciting to engage this material because again and again the relationship of leadership to ones character is closely linked. Maturity of character is emerging as a factor that will effect the practice of leadership. So if we want good Christian leaders we shouldn’t be encouraging them to learn about Christian leadership, we should be looking to encourage Christian’s with mature character to learn and practice general leadership skills.
Filed under: leadership
Peter Barney
backyardmissionary
Ross Lambert
Mark Brown
mattcoutts
Charlotte Freeth
amberflynn
I agree with a lot of what you say here – certainly the things that make ‘good’ leaders are the qualities that make us ‘good’ anythings.
I would like to challenge you over who ‘become’ leaders. Most, if not all the leaders I know (ministers, pastors, holiday or mission leaders, housegroup leaders etc) are there because after a long wrestle with God about their inadequacy, they finally said ‘God if this is what you really want me to do, then I will’. I agree that some in leadership are there for the kudos, status or ‘power’ – though not for the money in UK churches – and yet, God in his grace uses them too… What does everyone else think? Sarah B
Thanks, Sarah
Your right I have the privilege of working with and partnering with lots of wonderful leaders that have a very humble understanding of themselves, the way God works with that is fantastic.
I am also encountering a number of young people who for example are members of a ministry team but are reluctant to take on leadership as they see it as above them. So we have had programs with good teams not run because no one was prepared to be the leader.
Not sure if others experience this?
Interesting,
The Concept of Leadership in Followship is better explained as Leadership through fellowship. As the Sheep know the shepherd’s voice, so should believers recognize the Lord’s voice speaking through a person. However, be warned; not all who lead are leading in understanding. You only have to be one degree off course to lose your way. Great is the responsibility of a Leader; thus Great is the accountibility.
Consider