Leadership

Within minutes they were bickering over who of them would end up the greatest. But Jesus intervened: "Kings like to throw their weight around and people in authority like to give themselves fancy titles. It's not going to be that way with you. Let the senior among you become like the junior; let the leader act the part of the servant. Luke 22:24-26

I have been meditating over the whole concept of leadership lately. Our Department is about to have a new Leadership Training Institute, and having graduated from this fine program, I have been asked by some of my younger colleagues to write letters of recommendation for them. Let me say that I believe in the concept of developing leadership, but my definition of it has changed over the years, especially in relation to my spiritual life.

A quick look in my concordance revealed the word ‘leader’ once from the mouth of Christ, although I am sure there are other translations that show more. However, I found the above exchange quite revealing regarding how I should act as a believer in the whole area of leadership.

Let’s examine what is going on in segments of the church world presently. Whole movements are built around the concept of making people "leaders" for God. Sadly, many of these endeavors are merely the workings of the human flesh and accomplishes just what Jesus stated above. A friend of mine told me once to stay away from any church where the Pastor and his wife are plastered on a roadside billboard. And usually the man is not just a minister, he is an "Apostle-Prophet" and his wife shares a title of "Prophetess". Not too hard to see what Christ was talking about here ("give themselves fancy titles").

Why, there is even an online college called the Christian Leadership College (no surprise here) and the president states in his letter to the internet masses: "Our goal is that you be a leader by the time you graduate. We will do everything in our power to train you for leadership. Demonstrating leadership abilities will be a requirement for graduation to occur."

At $300 a class, a group of Department Heads who I have never heard of (but "all international leaders in their own fields") will turn me into someone who can send in a testimonial and let the ‘leader’ know that "God used you to radically change my life". Forgive my sarcasm and callousness here. I just found as many praises heaped on the leaders of this organization as I did Christ when I read through the testimonials.

It just seems so counter to what Christ preached and the example that he left us. Here are some words and incidents that run totally opposite to what some of these leadership-proponents preach:

The humble would inherit the earth.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men.

When you give, do it in secret. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

When you pray do it in secret, not as the hypocrites who love to stand on the street corners.

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

However you want people to treat you, so treat them.

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothes.

See that you tell no one. (Jesus to a leper he had healed.)

The Son of Man has no place to lay His head. (Shoots that prosperity thing in the foot)

See here, let no one know about this! (To a blind man he had healed)

He who has lost his life for my sake will find it.

Unless you become like children, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

It is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled.

Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

But the greatest among you shall be your servant.

Hardly the stuff of a leadership curriculum. Or is it? Could it be that the leadership methods offered by the secular world may have their place, but they are NOT the leadership standards offered by Christ in relation to His Kingdom? All too often the Christian world is just a sad attempt to mimic the secular world in an effort to be squishy in its appeal. The few examples above show Someone who fiercely rejected the status quo of the day, yet I wonder if I am responding in the way He desires for me now, when it comes to my spiritual life.

I will say that the need for recognition, awards, and self congratulatory pats on the back seem to be fading. Many times, like Jesus, I just want to be left alone. (That is another thing he did, got off by himself) It give me great pleasure now to say, "let no one know about this!" It is like a sneaky secret between me, another soul, and our Father.

Yes, my view of leadership has changed, but in this sense. The principles I learned in my Leadership Training at work are not bad, and they are well applied in a work setting. But when the church starts taking the same principles and applying them spiritually, it can end up smelling like bug spray. The spiritual principles of leadership that Christ speaks of are almost odd, in a sense. Things that would be the opposite direction that the Donald Trumps of the world would take to develop a leader. Yet, Jesus was the greatest leader of all time in my estimation. Look how many of us are following Him over two thousand years later.

Mark

Prov 17:22

(pictures provided by freefotos.com-cool site! Oh, and thanks for all the prayers during my recent "gall-gizzard" surgery, I am going back to work tomorrow!)