LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Assignment Title: Effective Christian Leadership for Today
Course: CHMN 699 - Internship
Student: Kristine Sage
Date: January 29, 2022
Professor: Dr. Joel Breidenbaugh
What is Christian leadership?
A. D. Clarke writes in his article on leadership in the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology that all
leadership is “framed within the overarching context of divine sovereignty.” Christian leadership—
whether within the church, business, government, or the home—gets its foundation from the authority
God himself has. Whether Christian or secular, all leaders are stewards of the authority given to them by
God.
Peter Drucker aptly says about leadership, “The only definition of a leader is someone who has
followers.” But Christian leadership has a higher purpose in mind. Christian leaders aren’t simply moving
people toward morally and spiritually ambiguous goals. Christian leaders seek to serve others and
marshal them toward a goal ordained by God.
Pastors, authors, and academics have been defining Christian leadership for decades. Understanding its
importance in the life of the church and toward the completion of the mission of God in the world,
church leaders have tried to describe it in helpful ways. Robert Clinton, longtime professor of leadership
at Fuller Theological Seminary, offers a noteworthy definition of leadership: “Leadership is a dynamic
process in which a man or woman with God-given capacity influences a specific group of God’s people
toward his purposes for the group.”
Ed Stetzer offers one of the best recent definitions of Christian leadership : “Christian leadership is a
process of influencing a community to use their God-given gifts toward a goal and purpose as led by the
Holy Spirit.”
At the heart of any differentiation of Christian leadership and secular leadership is the idea of
purpose. Christian leaders move people toward a Christ-honoring goal.
That’s why Ken Blanchard, the best-selling author of Lead Like Jesus, explains that Christian leadership
aims at the heart of the leader first: “Every tactical problem, whether at home or in the workplace, can
be traced to heart issues within the leader: weak character, fear, pride, not being able to distinguish
right from wrong, or misplaced priorities.” He adds, “The heart of a leader must be transformed before
any other lasting personal and organizational change can take place.”2
The heart of Christian leadership is the heart of the Christian leader.
What Christian leadership isn’t
The concept of Christian leadership alludes to something deeper than simply a leader who happens
to be a Christian. It encompasses the timeless Christian ideals of service, stewardship, shepherding, and
humility.
The 12 apostles—people who were called to lead God’s people after Jesus’ resurrection—exemplified
both healthy and unhealthy leadership. Mark 9:33–37 recounts a time when these same apostles were
arguing over who was the greatest. Jesus reminded these growing leaders that “if anyone would be first,
he must be last of all and servant of all” (v. 35). Jesus modeled this for his disciples throughout his
earthly ministry by feeding people, washing feet, and teaching all who would listen to see their lives in
the light of God’s kingdom.
Leadership, then, isn’t about hierarchy, power, or status. It’s ultimately about serving God and his
people by using God-given gifts of leadership to bring the kind of focus and mission-mindedness needed
to work together toward a Christ-honoring goal.
4 aspects of Christian leadership
Character
Because Christian leadership is intrinsically connected to the heart of the leader, the leader’s heart
is the single most important part of Christian leadership. Christian leaders mobilize others not out of
what they know but who they are in Christ.There’s good news and bad news when it comes to
developing a leader’s character. We can grow character. In fact, the Bible describes character
development as a key ingredient to Christian discipleship.But the bad news is that affliction is a core
ingredient to God’s training room for character. You can’t learn character from a textbook. You have to
learn it from hardship. Paul writes, “And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we
know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character
produces hope” (Romans 5:3–4 CSB). In fact, writing in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, G.
E. Montgomery describes character as the “successful endurance of testing.”What does Christian
character look like? Paul gives us possibly the best description in Galatians 5:22–23 with these
characteristics, typically referred to as the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” When these characteristics permeate a Christian
leader’s life, as they are tested, the leader has the moral force necessary to mobilize others to engage in
God’s mission.
Conviction
A leader’s convictions are the truths they believe about God, themselves, and the surrounding
world that lay a foundation for leadership. In his book The Conviction to Lead, Albert Mohler writes:
“The leadership that really matters is all about conviction. The leader is rightly concerned with
everything from strategy and vision to team-building, motivation, and delegation, but at the center of
the true leader’s heart and mind, you will find convictions that drive and determine everything
else.”Those convictions begin with the classic Christian creeds of the church and their descriptions about
God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, sin, salvation, etc. What a leader believes about these biblical
truths becomes foundational for how they act—and how they mobilize others to act. These convictions
are vital because a leader will pass them on to others through discipleship. A leader who hasn’t properly
done the work on their own convictions can’t faithfully teach them to others.A leader must have
convictions about the major doctrines of the Bible, but they must also develop deep, actionable beliefs
about ministry philosophies, ministry direction, and social action. A church’s actions ought to be
directed by a leader who is humble and confident about the direction God is moving them toward. This
isn’t only a theological necessity but a pragmatic requirement. Without deeply held convictions, leaders
will always struggle to build teams and alignment. People respond to authentic leaders who lead out of
deeply held beliefs.None of this means that a leader’s convictions won’t change. In fact, healthy leaders
routinely revisit convictions to ensure they correspond to the teachings of the Bible and the leadership
of the Holy Spirit. The ability to continue learning and growing is a hallmark of healthy, God-honoring
leadership throughout Scripture and Church history.
Calling
Of all the characteristics of godly leadership, calling is often the most difficult to clearly articulate.
The concept has its root in both the Old and New Testaments. In Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, A. C. Myers
describes calling as: “A term designating God’s summons to a specific task or role and his special
relationship to his people.” Although every believer has a general call to salvation, God calls each
Christian to specific tasks in his kingdom work.God’s call is a holy summons to participate in his mission
in the world. Just as every part of the human body is necessary, the Church needs every Christian to
know and live out their calling (1 Cor 12:12–31). For some, that might be a call to pastoral ministry, but
for others, it might be to serve as a Christian witness in the marketplace or in the classroom as a
teacher. All are equally important to the mission of God.Understanding God’s call—and when God is
calling them in a new direction—is an important part of any leader’s journey. Wrestling with the mystery
of that call helps to prepare a leader for a lifetime of service. It’s the first step of faith in a lifetime of
equally difficult and often equally unclear steps.
Competency
Leaders also have certain skills to develop. Every leadership role—whether it’s in formal ministry or
the marketplace—has various competencies attached to it. For example, pastors in most ministry
contexts preach, counsel, shepherd, teach, lead teams, etc. Pastors will become more effective in
discipling and leading others as they grow in each of these competencies.All Christian leaders have a
different set of competencies that are important in their context. While counseling may be a significant
part of some pastoral roles, it may be less important in other contexts. Leaders in a church’s children’s
ministry may need to become effective in classroom management or volunteer development. A church’s
senior adult ministry leader may need to be strong in grief counseling.There is no set list of
competencies for ministry. Most theological schools and training organizations have lists of
competencies they hope to develop in leaders they serve. For example, Beeson Divinity School divides
ministry competencies into five broad categories:
Leadership
Pastoral care
Personal and spiritual issues
Proclamation
Relational skills
Acts 29 has 11 such categories for its church planters:
Spiritual vitality
Theological clarity
Convictions and commendations
Marriage
Relationships
Leadership
Maturity
Missional lifestyle
Disciple-making
Ability to teach
Entrepreneurial aptitude
While it’s important that leaders develop a variety of skills, the Bible ultimately declares that the
Holy Spirit provides competency for Christian ministry. Competency can become a crutch that can
separate a leader from the necessity of God’s power.Paul writes, “Are we beginning to commend
ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You
yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And
you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the
living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:1–3).
