The Week
February 29-March 6, 2016

Friday, March 4, 2016
Taking every thought captive for obedience to Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 10.3-5)

Disciplines
Leadership
“Leadership” has become a kind of magic bullet in many people’s minds. Got a problem? Find a leader to solve it. Heal the nation’s woes and wounds? Elect a new leader. Business going south? Find a new leader. Church membership dwindling?

And so forth.

Joshua Rothman wonders about “Why the leadership industry rules” (“Shut Up and Sit Down,” The New Yorker, February 29, 2016). That is, why are we so fascinated with and urgent about leadership, especially when no one seems to be able to explain what it is?

Mr. Rothman combs through the literature on the subject and finds ideas of leadership based on traits, processes, and inspired story-telling as among the most common ways of thinking about what makes a good leader. Leaders are charismatic, charming, forceful, or they understand and know how to operate the mechanics and players of the system. Or they conjure visions and weave narratives designed to promote achievement and progress.

Whatever leaders are, and whatever they do, we value them. “Our faith in the value of leadership is durable,” Mr. Rothman explains, “[I]t survives, again and again, our disappointment with actual leaders.” He adds, “because our desire for a coherent vision of the world is bottomless, our hunger for leaders is insatiable, too.” “Leaders,” he explains, “make the world more sensible, but never sensible enough.”

Maybe this explains why we put so much stock in getting the “right” leaders. Leaders are supposed to make sense of the world, and to help us make sense of it as well. The world is a mess. Life is a mess. Let’s get some leaders in here to figure this out and point us in the right direction.

Good luck with that.

The Bible, as we might suspect, has a lot to say about leadership, and aspiring and serving leaders today could learn much from the lives of people like Moses, Joshua, David, Paul, and of course, Jesus.

The great leaders in the Bible were first of all servants. They were called of God into positions of responsibility on behalf of His economy and people, given a vision of what God intended to accomplish, and charged with the duty of carrying His project through the next stage. To fulfill their mandate, leaders had to be a certain type of people – men of faith and godly character (though they did not always measure up to this). They had to know and love the story of what God was doing, and to master at least to some extent the skills and processes that went into getting things done with people.

Vision, calling, humility, integrity, sacrifice, service, wisdom, perseverance, and faith: These are the elements of leadership God expects of those entrusted with the stewardship of His projects. And leaders, within the divine economy and elsewhere, are made, not born.

Perhaps when churches begin preparing leaders like this, the public’s clamoring for “leaders” will turn toward the mountain of the Lord’s house, and nations and peoples will stream up to it, seeking to learn – not only leadership, but life – from the Lord (Mic. 4.1-8).

For reflection

1. How does your church train leaders?
    
2. The “last days” vision of prophets like Isaiah and Micah was of the Church leading people to the Lord, so that He could lead them to full and abundant life. Meditate on Isaiah 2.1-5 and Micah 4.1-8. Does this describe your church in its community? Why or why not?
    
3. Leighton Ford has aptly described Jesus as the “transforming leader” (Jesus, the Transforming Leader). Why is that a good way of thinking about the leadership of Jesus?

Do you think every Christian is called to leadership in some capacity or arena? What would that require of us? Talk with a Christian friend about these questions.

Have you mapped out your Personal Mission Field? Download the free worksheet and begin working to become a more consistent and effective witness for the Lord.

The Week features insights from a wide range of topics and issues, with a view to equipping the followers of Christ to take every thought captive for Jesus. For more help in developing a clearer vision of Christ and His Kingdom, order the books Be Thou My Vision, 28 days of devotional readings and meditations, by clicking here, and The Kingship of Jesus by clicking here.