Several years ago I began to analyze the principles on which I wanted to base my leadership. In my search for a personal definition of leadership, I discovered that spiritual leadership is defined by Jesus in one word—servanthood. (Mt. 18:1-4; 19:30; 20: 8, 16, 20-28; Mk. 9:35.) Jesus’ model of leadership with His disciples demonstrated that the effective spiritual leader is not so much interested in climbing a corporate ladder as in providing himself as the step-support for others to grow in spiritual maturity. Spiritual leadership is helping people to become all that God wants them to be in Him so that He can accomplish all He wants to do through them.
Five guiding principles have influenced my leadership as I have tried to apply that definition. Although none of the five maxims is original, they have become such a part of my leadership philosophy that I can no longer remember some of their original sources.
1. Being precedes doing.
2. Ask God to bless you with His plan, rather than asking Him to bless your plan.
3. Do what is right because it is right.
4. Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.
5. Servanthood is not the way to the top; it is the top.
The effective leaders I have wanted to imitate, the people I would most willingly follow, all seem to share these common principles and characteristics, even if they might not express them in exactly the same way.
It all boils down to having the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he had positional rights in the eternal universal organization, he humbled himself and took a lower position as a servant in obedience to his Father’s plan, so that the ultimate purpose he desired to see fulfilled would be achieved by his followers, even after his death. (Phi. 2:5‑11) Jesus could do the things he did because he knew Who he was and Whose he was. He always demonstrated his desire to do his Father’s will, and not his own. His actions were not always popular or within the accepted practices and regulations of the authorities, but he acted based on what he knew was right in God’s eyes. He never lost sight of his purpose in coming to earth, to preach the good news of the kingdom. And he showed us the way to the top by such actions as wrapping a towel around his waist, washing his followers’ feet, and submitting to a criminal’s death on the cross.
Good supervision is dependent on good leadership. Applying all the best practices of leadership is no substitute for applying the best practice of servanthood as Jesus demonstrated.
© Larry Gay, September 2005
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