JESUS MODEL OF LEADERSHIP

PREAMBLE:
To say that I am happy to be invited to share my thoughts on the subject of “Jesus’ Model of Leadership” with you on this auspicious occasion is to say the least: I feel greatly honoured. Thank you for this opportunity.
At Church of Christ, Nsukka, Enugu State where I serve the Body of Christ, we have for the past three months plus focused our study lens on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Like Apostle Paul, our desire is to “Know Jesus and the power of His resurrection,” to share in the fellowship of His suffering so that we can be conformed to His own image (Philippians 3:10). Consequently, it becomes very interesting that Jesus is considered the focus of study on leadership. Jesus is a perfect study on leadership. He presents to us and cuts for us a perfect image of a purposeful leader. He is our perfect model.
With no wish to sound wordy, we can say without fear of contradiction that Jesus came to do much more than become our Vicarious Sacrifice: He came to become our model – to show us how to live, lead and become effective followers. When leaders lead well, followers will follow well (cf. Judges 5:2).
The role of leadership in any organization cannot be overemphasized. If this is so, then the place of effective leadership becomes unarguably an essential one. There is a widespread abuse of leadership in most organizations and societies. This is the case where there are corrupt and incompetent leaderships. The scourge of incompetent and ineffective leadership has eaten deep into the fabrics of our communities. I am afraid that the trend has gradually found their way into the Body of Christ.
I am not here as an authority but as a concerned Nigerian and Christian to proffer solutions towards effective leadership in the Body of Christ and in the wider Nigerian society; leaderships that are people-oriented, purposeful, dynamic and visionary.
Leadership is the principal virtue of governance. Great nations are what they are because they have great and effective leaderships. The reason Nigeria and the rest of Africa are where they are today is principally because of lack of effective and purposeful leaderships. Purposeful leadership is goal-oriented, altruistic and possesses character. The moment Nigeria and indeed Africa are able to address their leadership needs they will take quantum leap into their destinies. As far as the leadership burden remains unaddressed, we will keep going round and round; taking one step forward and three steps backward.
Youths are our hope and future. They are bridge between past and future. Because youths are the future of any nation, it has become most appropriate that this youth’s program is being organized around the theme of leadership with quest to examine the leadership model of the world’s greatest leader – Jesus Christ.
CONCEPTUALIZING LEADERSHIP
It was Cicero, a Roman sage who posited that any subject should be properly conceptualized so that everyone would come to understand the subject of enquiry. In view of this, it would be most appropriate that we venture into the universe of definitions of the chief concept: leadership.
Bernard Montgomery, a British Field Marshal conceives leadership as the, “Capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character that inspires them.”
Eagle 8 (2008:10) states that a “Leader is anyone who occupies a position of authority and is responsible for managing people in order to achieve the goals of the unit, department or organization. Today, leadership is desperately in great demand. Families, businesses, churches, countries and global associations are in need of effective leaders. An effective leader manages, but not every manager is a leader. The more managers an organization can convert to leaders, the more successful it will be.”
Manfred de Vries, an INSEAD Professor of Leadership opined: “Your business can have all the advantages in the world – strong financial resources, enviable market position and state-of-the-art technology but if leadership fails, all of these advantages melt away.”
From the foregoing, it can be easily seen that leadership is the principal thing. It is the glue that holds everything together. The moment it fails, the center cannot hold again. Leadership is a catalyst. An anonymous writer had opined that leadership is enabling a group to engage together in the process of developing, sharing and moving into vision, and then living it out.
Collins English Dictionary (1998) defines leadership as the ability to lead. Peter Drucker of the Drucker Foundations affirmed that the only definition of a leader is someone who has followers and that to gain followers require influence. John Maxwell in His 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership states that “Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less.”
Warren Bennies is of the opinion that leadership is a function of knowing oneself, having a vision that is well communicated to one’s followers, building trust amongst colleagues, and taking effective action to realize one’s own leadership potentials. An anonymous writer stated that leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour of other people toward group goals in a way that fully respects their freedom.
The consensus of leadership literature suggests that leaders have vision, are individuals who attract followers, are people who share their visions with their followers, and enable the group together to achieve their common goals.
Key terms in definitions of leadership include but not limited to exertion of influence, motivating and inspiring people; helping others to realize and maximize their potentials; leading by example, selflessness and making a difference.
UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP
Without sound leadership, chaos results (Judges 21:25). Leadership keeps guard over the led (Hebrews 13:17). There are religious leaders (John 3:1; Ephesians 4:11-15; Galatians 2: 9; I Timothy 3) as well as political leaders (Judges 11:6, 9; Romans 13:1-3).
Leadership could arise out of personal desire or as a result of invitation. One can offer himself for a leadership position (I Timothy 3:1ff) and can also be invited by others to lead them (cf. John 6:15). In each of these, one has to weight his motives in the balances.
It should be stated that absence of good people offering themselves for service is the bane of our societies. Also, good leaders being rejected on the basis of their inabilities to flex awesome financial muscles or on the basis of tribal affiliations and educational attainments are another. Good leaders can come from any where and may not brandish higher educational qualifications. Great leaders across recorded history were not necessarily men and women from wealthy backgrounds; they were not necessarily people who were overly educated; not overly endowed with oratory: they were not people who spoke with the finesse of grammarians and erudition of scholars. However, they were people of integrity, visions and altruism.
We must appreciate the fact that evil thrives when good men and women do nothing. Because nature abhors vacuum, when good leaders do not offer themselves for service, bad ones would. Roy Roper observes that when those who are supposed to be where they are supposed to be are not there, then those who are not supposed to be there will be there.
BRIEF BIBLICAL HISTORY OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership is as old as man himself. When God created the first pair, He made one to be head and the other to be subservient (cf. Genesis 3:16; I Corinthians 11: 3). Man as a social and political animal likes a well-organized systems of things and so he began to organize (Genesis 11:1-5).
In the evolution of leadership, the nature of man made the strong to rule over the weak (Mark 10:42-45). Halley’s Bible Handbook (1965:82) noted that, “Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord (Genesis 10:8-9) was historically reputed as the first community leader. His leadership started as a hunter to protect his people from the menace of wild animals. He was also said to have headed the ill-fated “Tower of Babel’s” enterprise. Nimrod also built Babylon as the capital of his leadership. Babylon was for a long time regarded as the “Land of Nimrod.” This city was the first civilized people and nation. This was but a powerful testimony to Nimrod’s visionary and dynamic leadership.
CHURCH LEADERSHIP
Church leadership, although, a form of corporate leadership is not entirely like every other corporate leadership. In secular corporate world where staff and management have stakes with the result that the success or failure of such corporate bodies have direct bearing on their take-homes and investments, everyone injects enough efforts to make things work out.
Because corporate management is profit-oriented, staff have timetables, deadlines and the philosophy of an “Honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay” prevail. In view of the fact that management has every right to “hire and to fire,” every member of staff is expected to perform. Failure to do so earns the recalcitrant staff or member of management a sack. Every member of staff is expected to be fraternally cohesive. Their cohesion or lack of it would tell on the corporate image and goal of the particular establishment. Wrangling and rancour among players in any corporate institution or organization are detested and frowned at.
In secular corporate organizations and management, things are prescribed and everyone is expected to perform to the letter. To sustain this, the management is expected to be tough, merciless and hard drivers. Corporate chiefs are scions of Machiavelli. However, in the Church it is not so (Mark 10:42-43).
Church leadership/management can only thrive in an atmosphere of commitments on the part of the leadership as well as the followership. The principle by which Church leadership thrives is persuasion and not coercion. Because most members do not have much at stake materially but spiritually and eternally, their levels of commitments cannot be counted at all times. This, however, is where the problems of Church leaderships lie.
JESUS MODEL OF LEADERSHIP
Jesus was a Visionary Leader, Master Strategist, Excellent Team Leader, Servant Leader, Shepherd, Trainer and Encourager. Jesus chose a team of twelve men with varying degrees of strengths and weaknesses and bonded them together into a fraternally cohesive team. He influenced many diverse people during His earthy ministry but forced no one to follow Him. His charisma, simplicity, vision, integrity, teachings and compassion were His leadership secrets.
Jesus’ model of leadership can be summarized in the following terms: Servant Leadership, Transference of Vision (Mentoring), Humility, Compassion, Accountability, and Creation of Emotional Bank.
SERVANT LEADERSHIP (MATTHEW 20:20-28)
Jesus’ model of leadership came to the fore when His disciples were bickering over who would be the greatest when His reign would commence. Matthew 20:20-28 tells us about this. They had thought that a leader was one who would be served but Jesus showed them that a true leader is actually one who serves, using Himself as a case study.
J. L. May in his excellent treatise on Jesus’ Leadership Style had these to say:
Jesus was good at turning things right-side-up. The disciples’ perceptions of a great leader came from the business and government models that were popular in their culture. Even in modern cultures, these are still the most prevalent models of greatness and success, but that perception is upside-down to the way God has ordained leadership…Great leaders… are not measured by how many serve them, but by how many they serve.
Servant leadership is at the heart of leadership. No wonder when late Nigerian President, His Excellency Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was sworn in as President in 2007 he had pledged to be a Servant Leader, and of course this endeared him to so many people within and outside the shores of Nigeria.
Servant Leadership is different from servant hood. All Christians, not just leaders, are called to be servants, serving each other (Galatians 5: 13).
Servant Leadership means serving to lead and leading to serve. It is an altruistic and community-oriented kind of leadership. This will require setting aside personal gains, making sacrifices by considering the needs of others above the direction we may prefer for ourselves (Philippians 2:3-5).
Servant Leadership is principally not a particular style of leadership, rather, it relates to the motivation behind a leader’s thoughts, words and actions. He means what he says and says what he means.
Some people may suggest that servant leaders are weak. Far from it: servant leaders are not weak, rather, their strengths are demonstrated in their willingness to consider the needs of others first. Their strengths are channeled into service. They are fair, firm and friendly. They are humble. Humility is defined as strength under control. In the real sense of the word, ‘dictators” are weaklings who camouflage their weaknesses, fears and insecurities by their aggressions, bossy attitudes and greed.
A servant leader says “Yes” to God and to the yearnings of the people and “No” to himself when personal desires conflicts with communal needs and interests. He places community’s interests above personal interests.
LEADERSHIP AND TRANSFERENCE OF VISION (I CORINTHIANS
11:1; II TIMOTHY 2:1-2)
Transference of vision is otherwise referred to as ‘Mentoring’ in the corporate world. He transferred His vision by mentoring His disciples (also known as His Apostles). Jesus’ model of leadership was to groom three (Matthew 17:1; Galatians 2:9), then twelve, seventy, one hundred and twenty and then the multitude
Leadership is all about transference of vision and the capacity to translate vision into reality. Real leaders are ordinary people with extra ordinary determinations about visions and goals they want to reach.
Jesus vision was to reach the world with the Gospel message (Matthew 28: 18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 1:8). He called men to Himself and transferred that vision to them and today they have done much more than He had done (John 14: 12).
An anonymous writer had written that Jesus did not try to reach all the masses with the Gospel. Even if He had wanted to, the task would be too big. Rather, He concentrated on a few selected ordinary men who were with Him and to who He gave both verbal instructions and constant examples, preparing them through their time with Him to do the same.
Through mentoring (Transference of vision), Jesus sought to replicate Himself in His disciples (Matthew 10:24-25). In time, His own disciples spoke the way He did and those who knew them could see Jesus in them and through them (Matthew 7:29; Acts 4:13).
HUMILITY (JOHN 13:1-17)
As a model leader, Jesus was humility personified. He re-defined leadership through His humble dispositions. His humility is both challenging and humbling, not to talk of inspiring. He never asserted Himself. He was not bossy and did not engage in psychological demeaning of the personalities of His own followers.
Philippians 2:5-11 x-rays for us His humble dispositions. He never dressed better than His follower and no one could distinguish between leaders and followers (Matthew 26:47-9).
John 13 is a classic exhibition of Jesus’ model of leadership. Humility is the ability of keeping one’s social and leadership positions under him and not allowing same to get over him by getting into his head, thereby making him look down on others, especially those he is leading.
CREATED EMOTIONAL BANK (JOHN 6: 66-60)
Creating an emotional bank and depositing huge resources therein was Jesus another excellent model of leadership. He gave His disciples strong senses of belonging, direction and fulfillment. His Emotional Bank Account (EBA) with each of the 12 Apostles was so much that in an event of challenge and crisis, they had no other option than to pitch tent with Him.
Leaders would do well to emulate Jesus’ model of leadership by creating emotional bank accounts with those they are leading. This they would do by constantly affirming, encouraging, supporting, and showing care and concern. I assure you that when these are done, enough goodwill will follow the leader.
COMPASSION (MATTHEW 9:36; 15:32)
Compassion is rendered, “Come share my passion.” Compassion is putting oneself in the shoes of others, especially those that he is providing leadership for. It is creating leadership with a human face. You can never be a good leader if you are not constantly putting yourself in the situation of others. Mix with them, visit with them, listen to them, watch them at work and at play. If you do these, you would become a compassionate leader.
ACCOUNTABILITY (JOHN 17:1-17)
Accountability was the watch-word of Jesus’ leadership model. He knew where He came from, His mission and the fact that after His work was accomplished that He would go back to where He came from. He was passionate about providing leadership and accomplishing the purpose for which He was sent, so much so that towards the end of His sojourn gave one-on-one account of His stewardship to God.
Good leaders are accountable to God and to the people they are called upon to lead and not to themselves, their families and cronies.
Christian leaders must as a matter of fact make accountability their watchword (II Corinthians 8: 20 - 21), especially in relation to finance. Money matter matters. Faithfulness in handling money matters is a must virtue (II Kings 22:7; cf. II Kings 12:10-15). If you get that right every other issue will fall in place!
JESUS’ MODEL OF LEADERSHIP: MAKING APPLICATIONS
Since we have noted a couple of Jesus’ model of leadership, it would be appropriate for us to use them as springboards to measure our own leadership skills and principles, vis-à-vis how the Body of Christ should be led and how we can make a difference in the wider human society when called upon to lead. We begin with the Church: her leaders.
MINISTERS, ELDERS/DEACONS, CHURCH AND EFFECTIVE
LEADERSHIP
Ministry is the work that the Lord has entrusted into the care of the
Church because the Church is His Divine Orientation Agency (Ephesians 3:10). The impression that has been created in the minds of many for a long time now is that the work of Ministry is that of the exclusive preserve of the preacher and the eldership. This is totally wrong. The Scripture reveals that the work of the preacher is that of “Technical Adviser” (Ephesians 4:11) while the actual work of the Ministry is left into the hands of the “Saints” (Ephesians 4:12).
Ministry thrives when God’s people are adequately oriented, encouraged and equipped for the work of service coupled with the willingness of every member of the Body of Christ to volunteer himself/herself (Psalms 110:3;Psalms 68:11). What the Minister and the Eldership should do to ensure effective leadership in their given localities is to employ Samsonic principle of setting his instruments on fire to set the community afire (Judges 15:5). Effective leadership in the Ministry revolves around five keys: Association, Initiation, Consultation, Delegation and Coordination.
By Associating themselves with members of the Church, leaders who have flair for effective leadership is/are ennobled to discover both real and felt needs of the Church and Ministry and then Initiates programs of action to meet those needs either for spiritual or numerical growth and edification or Kingdom enlargement. He/they then Consults with the Body (There is need for the leader(s) to carry everyone along in decision-making processes) after which people are Delegated to points of needs while the leadership Coordinates the various activities of the Church. In the Church, everyone is a “minister.” That is to say that everyone must fill a need of and in the ministry. Effective Leadership for effective Ministry, therefore, is located in one’s ability as a leader to know how to use human instruments to meet given needs at given times.
QUALITIES OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP (MATTHEW 24:45)
Qualities of effective leaders are scattered on the pages of the Holy Writ. Each leader, however, must have been a time-tested Follower (I Timothy 3:10; Acts 16:1-2). It stimulates the followership as it seeks to give the led senses of belonging, direction and fulfillment.
Effective leadership provides among other things:
1.“VISION”: Vision is clear direction.
A visionary leadership knows the past and the present so well that
it can lead the Church well into the future (cf. Matthew13: 52). Lack
of vision is dangerous for a people (Proverbs 29:18).
Visionary leadership must be pregnant with the vision to accomplish
the mission of the great commission. Insight and foresight should
be the hallmark of a visionary leadership (Ecclesiastes 2:14d). Lack
of vision is the bane of ineffective leadership (Isaiah 9:16;
Matthew 15:14). Effective leadership knows the way, shows the way and
leads the way.
2. PROVIDE SPIRITUAL STABILITY:
This is done by providing balanced proper spiritual diets (Hebrews 13:
9; Matthew 24: 45). The power to feed is the power to lead (Ezekiel
34:1-4). This can also be done by providing conductive spiritual, learning
and worship environments. When this is done, the result would be
breathtaking! The congregation so spoken of and where there is
an effective leadership would have “ACTS 9:31 EXPERIENCE”:
1. “Enjoy peace”
2. “Strengthened within” (cf. Ephesians 3:16)”
3. “Progressing in the fear of the Lord”
4. “In encouragement of the Holy Spirit”
3. PEOPLE OF MORAL AND DOCTRINAL INTEGRITY (I Timothy
4:16).
Jesus Christ our Lord left us a legacy in these areas (Acts 1:1). The morality of leaders should never be questioned (I Timothy 3:7). Doctrinally, leaders must be men who have the rimer of the Word; sound in the faith, holding the mystery of the Faith with pure conscience (I Timothy 3:9).
4. SHOULD BE MATURED PERSONS (I Timothy 3:4a; Proverbs 16:32).
Leaders must be emotionally matured (Titus 1:7c). They must also be spiritually matured (I Timothy 3:6; Hebrews 5:14). Man management is not business management. On the other hand, “No man is man enough until he is man enough to man his own mind.” Cool headedness is the word.
5. ABILITY TO MANAGE INTERNAL CONFLICTS (II Corinthians 7:5).
Interpersonal and church/preacher squabbles have their hindering effects. Although, conflicts, sometimes are necessary (I Corinthians 11:19) but when it degenerates into open brawls, accusations and counter-accusations; cold-warism and et cetera, it becomes counter-productive and does more harm than good. When members of the church fight among themselves and often precipitated by “Crusades of calumny” before none-members, the result would be poor image promotion and no sane person would want to identify himself or herself with “Saber–Rattlers!”
WAYS OUT OF SABBER – RATTLING:
1. Learn the art of conflict management (Genesis 13:7-11; Proverbs 17:14).
2. Foster interpersonal sharpening (Hebrews 10: 24; Proverbs 27:17; Isaiah 41:6f).
3. Be your Brother’s keeper (Genesis 4:9b).
4. Strike a spiritual chord in each other (Romans 14:19).
5. Cultivate the culture of “Worship” (Wording and shipping to each other) and not “Warship” (Warring and shipping to each other).
6. MUST BE VERSATILE IN KNOWLEDGE AND DYNAMIC IN THEIR
WORK, TEACHINGS AND PROGRAMS (Matthews 13: 52).
“Versatility”- Those who do not know their history are condemned
to repeat it (I Corinthians 10:6-12). “Dynamism”- Variety is said to be the spice of life. This is very true of leadership. If leadership must stand the test of time and make the necessary positive impacts it must make, it must be dynamic.
7. MUST POSSESS THE ATTITUDE OF “GIVE AND TAKE”;
SPIRIT OF SPORTSMANSHIP; ALTRUISM. (John 3:30;Philippians 4:2;
2:3-4).
The attitude of, “If I do not rule I will ruin”; “If I am not at the helm of affairs, I will be at the heels”; “If my opinion is not accepted, none else will hold any water” is a destructive. Must avoid Diotrophesic mentality and self-will (III John Vs.9-11; Titus 1:7b). Must avoid the temptation to politicize the affairs of the Church - taking members to oneself and pitching tents against others (cf. Acts 20:28-30).
WHAT THE LED ARE EXPECTED TO DO TO ENSURE EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
It should be noted that leadership is partnership: It is the marriage of the minds of both leaders and followers. There can be no good leaders if there are bad followers and vice-versa. Therefore, if you want to see changes in the leadership of your congregation, be involved, lend a hand, make inputs and encourage the involved.
The led should realize first and foremost that leaders are humans and not
angels. They can be vulnerable and are in their persons not fallible. They have flaws; they can make mistakes. Do not expect a perfect human beings and leaders (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
Do not accuse a leader in a way unbecoming (I Timothy 5:19). Be investigative. Do not accept allegations against a leader line, hook and sinker Acts 17:11; cf. Acts 18:24-26). Give them support and encouragement (Galatians 6:4-7). Give them recognition as well (I Timothy 5:19; I Thessalonians 5:12-13). Sow the seeds of encouragement in your leaders and you will get it back in torrents of good leadership (Prov.11: 25).
CHRISTIAN YOUTHS AND FUTURE LEADERSHIP
This generation of Christian youths is the future leaders of the Church. Without the active participation of the youths in most Congregational activities and decisions the Church of tomorrow will definitely lack leaders.
Leaders are both born and made (cf. Matt.19:12). Naturally, a leader-to-be must express his desire to be involved in leadership (cf. I Timothy 3:1). He then begins to see himself as such and then works towards acceptance (I Timothy 3:10). The Lord is seriously looking for committed persons to fill the
vacuum (cf. Ezekiel 22:30).
The Lord, however, cannot commit Himself, His business and His people into the hands of just any person (John 2:24) but persons who are considered faithful (II Timothy 2:2).
A future leader must be a person of sound morality (II Timothy 2:22a). Our Lord is looking for young persons of sound moral and spiritual integrity (II Timothy 2:19-21). Would you become that future leader?
The things expected from future leaders are:
(i). Being committed to the things of God (Luke 2:49; John 2:13-17).
(ii). Not allowing rooms for a let down (I Timothy 4:12).
(iii). Joseph, as a youthful leader demonstrated sound moral
integrity (Genesis 39:9), Daniel, Meshach, Shedrach and
Abednego demonstrated both moral and doctrinal integrity (Daniel
1:8) while Timothy demonstrated willingness (Acts 16:1-2).
SUMMATION
There are so many issues involved leadership. So far, we have considered the leadership models of Jesus and saw that He everything a leader should be. We equally made applications. It is my earnest hope that the time we have spent in the course of this discourse is well invested and that we would do well to employ them to better our lots and that of the leadership of our various congregations, families, communities and nation will be greatly improved.
Thank you and remain eternally blessed in Jesus’ name!
Script by:
Evangelist Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah
(Minister) Township/Campus Church of Christ
14 Agbugwu Lane, off, University/Market Road.
P.O.Box 351, Nsukka. Enugu State, Nigeria.
E-MAILS: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com
hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com
PHONE: 234-08039596919


REFERENCES
Collins’ English Dictionary. USA: Collins’ Publishers.

Eagle 8 (2008). “Essence of Leadership.” Lagos: The Guardian
Newspapers Ltd., March 3, Page 10.

Halley, H. H. (1965). Halley’s’ Bible Handbook. Michigan, USA:
Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Vries, Manfred (2008). ). “Essence of Leadership.” Lagos: The Guardian
Newspapers Ltd., March 3, Page 10