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New Testament Biblical Leadership Theme
Report
Biblical Foundation of Christian Leadership (Liberty University)
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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
New Testament Biblical Leadership Theme Report
Submitted to Dr. Rod Earls,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the completion of the course
LEAD 510
Biblical Foundations of Leadership
by
Anissa Chambers
February 24, 2019
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Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................2
Leadership Theme: Servant..........................................................................................................3
Leadership Theme: Relational.....................................................................................................4
Leadership Theme: Empowerment..............................................................................................5
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................7
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
The New Testament is full of men who were and who grew into amazing leaders even
though the actual word “leader” is not found.1 Jesus being our ultimate pattern of leadership
found throughout the New Testament with most of his life being in the four gospels. A Christian
leader is one who is a follower of Christ and has submitted himself to the Lordship of Christ.2
According to Forrest and Roden it is not as simple as looking for the word “leader” in the Bible.3
God has called all of us to some form of leadership, even as far back as creation when God gave
us charge over his creation.4 In the New Testament we see that Jesus and his disciples were
examples of what leadership is supposed to look like because, “leadership is a matter of guiding
rather than governing.”5 John Maxwell says, “leadership…is an invitation to grow as a leader.”6
Jesus called all of his disciples and gave them an invitation to follow him in Matthew 4:19 when
he said, “….Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”7 The leadership roles in the New
Testament were from two sources: calling and experience.8
Reading through the New Testament, we see Jesus who served and led his disciples
through humility, love and relationship. Jesus also showed leadership through the ultimate gift
of love in His self-sacrifice for us all. He then empowered his disciples and followers to do what
he did. We see these same attributes in the examples like Peter, James, Paul and other first
1 Benjamin K. Forrest and Chet Roden, Biblical Leadership: Theology for the Everyday Leader (Grand
Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2017), 289.
2 Aubrey Malphurs, Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Book House Co., 2003), 15.
3 Forrest and Roden, 25.
4 Ibid., 33.
5 Ibid., 303.
6 John Maxwell, 5 Levels of Leadership, (New York, NY: Center Street Hachette Book Group, 2013), 43.
7 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the New American Standard Bible
(Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2008).
8 Forrest and Roden, 305.
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century leaders of the church. Frances Hesselbein says, “leadership is much less about what you
do, and much more about who you are.”9 This paper will point out three themes in the New
Testament that can influence our ability to serve as Christian leaders through being a servant,
living out self-sacrifice and empowering others for service. It will conclude with why these are
important to everyone who is a leader and how they can influence our community, churches and
society today.
Leadership Theme: Servant
Jesus was the ultimate leader and showed us the principles in which to walk as Christian
leaders. One of the greatest stories in the New Testament is when Jesus took the role of a
servant and washed his disciples’ feet. John 13:5 which says, “Then He poured water into the
basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was
girded.” We know that being a servant leader was a principle taught in the Old Testament
through people like Nehemiah. We now see this same principle being exemplified through Jesus
to his own disciples whom he was training to be the beginning leaders of the church. Jesus also
said in Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give His life a ransom for many.” We know and understand that leadership particularly in the
gospels was “chiefly about discipleship.”10 Mark pointed to the fact that Jesus was training his
disciples for ministry.11 Mark 3:14 says, “And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with
Him and that He could send them out to preach.” Jesus was training his disciples and was
showing them how to lead as a servant.
9 Maxwell, 2013. 45.
10 Forrest and Roden, 2017, 332.
11 David Black and Thomas Lea, The New Testament: It’s Background and Message. (Nashville,
TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1996), 143.
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A Godly leader is one that will disciple people and teach them how to do the same. C.W.
Perry says, “Leadership is accepting people where they are, then taking them somewhere.”12
This is what Jesus did with the disciples. We see that the disciples later did the same with othes.
Jesus when he was getting ready to leave gave the disciples some of the most important
information when he said in Acts 1:8, “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and even to the remotest part of the earth.” He sent them out with the great commission and
part
of this commission was to teach others to do what Jesus did. It was His example through being
a servant leader that allowed them to become the great fathers of the faith and spread the gospel
to all parts of the world.
Leadership Theme: Relational
Relational leadership is another important leadership theme in the New Testament. We
see Jesus, Peter, Paul, James, Timothy and others use this to impart vision and to mobilize others
through being an example of leadership to take the gospel to the world. Elmer L. Towns says,
“Followers will never go farther than their leaders”13 We know that the apostles or disciples of
Jesus took the gospel of Jesus to the entire know world at that time. Jesus walked with his
disciples and lived life with them, he was in a real relationship with them. We go on to see that
Paul would go and live in an area for a period of time and foster authentic relationships. Paul’s
style of leadership seemed to be relational leadership. Forest and Roden shared that “Paul taught
the bible in relationship with those who were on the receiving end of his instruction. He
apparently viewed as inseparable the cognitive and the relational aspects of Christian
leadership.”14
12 Maxwell, 2013, 16.
13 Elmer L. Towns, Biblical Models for Leadership (Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2011), 45.
14 Forrest and Roden, 2017, 435.
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Christen leaders today should be examples of relationship. Each one has a stake in the
mission, everyone has a commission in the body of Christ. If every leader understood the
mission of the Great Commission, then there would be authentic community forged by real
relationships. These relationships would show that we were different and could walk in harmony
together for the sake of the mission. Forrest and Roden explain, “We need to realize that an
authentic community can only be founded on changed relationships between people; and these
changed relationships can only follow the inner changes and preparation of the people who lead,
work and sacrifice for the community.”15 . Maxwell says it this way, “The bottom line is that an
invitation to lead people is an invitation to make a difference. God leadership changes individual
lives. It forms teams. It builds organizations. It impacts communities. It has the potential to
impact the world. But never forget that position is only the starting point.”16
Leadership Theme: Empowerment
A good Christian leader will know how to empower his people. Many pastors today do
not teach and empower their people to do the work of the ministry. Mike Abrashoff states, “In
a nutshell, hard experience has taught me that real leadership is about understand yourself first,
then using that to create a superb organization. Leaders must free their subordinates to fulfill
their talents to the utmost. However, most obstacles that limit people’s potential are set in
motion by the leader and are rooted in his or her own fears, ego needs, and unproductive habits.
When leaders explore deep within their thoughts and feelings in order to understand themselves,
a transformation can take shape.”17 God did not call us to be a one man show, but instead to
release others to do the Great Commission.
15 Ibid., 435-36.
16 Maxwell, 2013, 49.
17 Maxwell, 2013, 45.
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Jesus was a great example of empowering his disciples to do what He did. Matthew
28:16-20 says, “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to
Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He empowered his
disciples to go and do what He did on the earth.
Paul another example of someone who enabled people to do ministry said in Ephesians
4:11-13, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and
some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the
building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to
the fullness of Christ.” It was evident that Christian leaders are to equip the body of Christ to do
what Jesus did and to spread the good news of Jesus. Maxwell says that “The best leaders
promote people into leadership based on leadership potential, not on politics, seniority,
credentials, or convivence.”18 He goes on to say, “Leaders become great, not because of their
power, but because of their ability to empower others.”19 Christian leaders are leaders that
empower others to do what Jesus has commissioned us to do.
Conclusion
Many Christian leaders have allowed the church to be lazy and not challenging them with
the same challenge that Jesus did His disciples. They are not equipping them to do the works of
the ministry, but the fact is this is what Christian leadership is all about. Some are afraid that it
18 Ibid., 42.
19 Ibid., 9.
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will get messy, and it will. Some are afraid they might be embarrassed, and Jesus might not do
what He said He would do. Some are afraid to take that step of faith in their churches and are ok
with them just as they are. The lost are messy, complicated, hurt, stink and just really rough
around the edges. They do not speak like we do and sometimes ad words that we do not like and
to have a church full of people like that can be scary. If we as leaders have trained our people
than we are ready to do what Jesus did and bring the lost into our churches and see their lives
changed.
Christian leadership requires leaders to walk in faith or take a risk and to trust God for
things bigger than they are. We must be servants and foster real and authentic relationships with
the people in our churches and the surrounding community. We can not be afraid of the lost and
hurting but must reach out to them and let God change their lives. Builders of the kingdom must
empower and help others become builders of the kingdom and together we can change the world.
2 Corinthians 10 14-16 says, “For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not
reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ; not boasting
beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we
will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you, so as to preach the gospel even to the
regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another.”
Let us work together and see the kingdom of God enlarged just like the fathers of our faith did
when the church was first birthed. Let us do what Jesus did and empower others to do the same.
Bibliography
Black, David and Thomas Lea. The New Testament: It’s Background and Message. Nashville,
TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1996.
Forest, Benjamin K., and Chet Roden. Biblical Leadership: Theology for the Everyday Leader.
Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2017.
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Malphurs, Aubrey. Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership. Grand Rapids,
Baker Books, 2003. Kindle Edition.
Maxwell, John. 5 Levels of Leadership. New York, NY: Center Street Hachette Book Group,
2013.
Towns, Elmer L. Biblical Models for Leadership. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2011.
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