Theology of Leadership

Jacob J. Oller

CBL510

2/23/24

Abstract

This paper will give a biblical understanding of leadership. First, there will be a theology of leadership taken from the elder requirements of First Timothy 3. This list of requirements is specifically for elders, which are the spiritual leaders of the Christian community, and their requirements are helpful for understanding what a Christian leader looks like. Next, there will be two case studies from the Bible on leadership. The first is a character study on Moses, a humble leader who did not seem to accomplish much, but ultimately had a successful leadership. Next is a character study on Nehemiah, who organized individuals for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. The final section covers the philosophy of leadership of the author, and explores the workplace’s mission statement in light of the leadership principles presented.

Introduction

Leadership is one of the most sought-after positions in culture today. Everyone wants to be a leader. However, leadership is not a position which individuals should be seeking after in the way they do. Often, individuals seek after leadership for the sake of the title. However, the leader is not the one who is in a position of leadership, but rather a person of character who brings giftings out of other people and organizes them for the glory of God. Leaders build up those around them and organize them into a mission for God’s glory. When leadership is desired for the sake of building oneself up, it is not true leadership. True leadership is others-centered, servant-minded, and Christ-exalting. The leader should be a natural servant who desires to lead because they see God has gifted them the ability and opportunity to help glorify Him in their situation. Leaders must be willing to serve tables (Acts 6:2). The only difference between a “leader” and a “follower” is the circumstances, not the individual. The leader has the skills to organize the giftings of God’s people for the specific mission. Individuals may be a leader in one situation and a follower in many other situations at the same time, depending on their giftings and opportunities. The servant should try to lead because of the responsibility to help God’s people, not out of a desire to build oneself up. 

Leadership in the church is very similar to other types of Christian leadership. Christian leadership is primarily a matter of character, not of skills. The main skill a leader should have is to be able to build up other people, bring out their giftings, and organize them for a certain goal. The leader must be teachable and able to love other people well. This is the responsibility of every Christian as it is. The one who is called to leadership for a certain situation must be able to exemplify these traits well. The traits of an elder in 1 Timothy demonstrate well what the characteristics of a Christian leader should be. 

Requirements of Leadership in the Bible

First Timothy 3:1 mentions a desire to be an elder as a requirement for one going into the position. A leader must desire the call of leadership. As explained by the rest of this paper, the call of leadership is as a servant of servants, one who desires to build others up through serving them for the glory of God. There must be a desire to serve other people. Christians who do not want to serve other people will not be suitable for leadership. 

Next, the elder must be above reproach. The leader should not have destructive sin, especially relating to the area they are leading. If the leader is organizing a fundraiser, they should not be actively participating in and struggling with greed and theft. This is a destructive sin directly relating to their area of leadership which would damage their ability to lead. Most sins are relevant to places of leadership, as most sins bleed into other places. Sin is hard to contain to one area. For example, while a leader may not view a pornography addiction as relevant to a certain place of leadership, the keeping of a secret sin is certainly relevant to a leader who wants his team to be transparent with failures. The leader should do what they expect their team to do when they make mistakes, which is to acknowledge their failure, seek accountability, and desire deliverance. 

Next, they must be a one-wife-man. The leader must have an attitude of faithfulness. The leader must not be someone who is unfaithful. One of the easiest ways to tell if a man will be faithful to a team when times are tough is how they are with their wife. Marriages inevitably go through difficult times. The leader who stays with his wife and does not flirt with other women, let alone commit adultery, would likely stick with a team when times are hard. If a man can not even be loyal to his wife, it is unlikely he will be loyal to his team who he is obligated to less than his wife. 

They must be sober-minded, not a drunkard, and self-controlled. The leader must have self control and be careful stewards of their mind and bodies. The leader who is not in control of his mind or body can not expect their team to exercise self control, and be trusted with their work-related tasks. Alcohol is one way the leader is able to attempt to escape their current situation. They can use alcohol as an escape which causes them to lose self control, though their self control can be measured even by how much alcohol they drink. The leader who is a regular drunkard likely does not have self control. This very public act can show how a leader chooses to deal with stress. The leader, rather, must be able to deal with stress in healthy ways and be sure to exercise self control in those situations. The leader who can not exercise self control can not expect their people to with work-related issues. 

The elder should be respectable and hospitable. The leader should be someone people look to as an example of Christian love. Others should want to look up to them. The leader should certainly be skilled in their area of expertise and willing to learn more. They should be someone who others look to for faithful stewarding of their abilities. The leader should be one who stewards their own abilities well, and causes others to want to do the same. 

The elder should be able to teach. While this would seem to be the only ability-based qualification, this too seems to be a character-based qualification. Teaching is something everyone is expected to learn to do in the church, because all people are called to make disciples even when they are not especially gifted in all areas. They should be able to make disciples even if they are not especially gifted in teaching. However, all leaders should be able to teach what they are leading. They should be able to instruct in what they are organizing. If the leader is not able to explain what they want from the team or how the team is to do the task (teach), how will they lead? 

The elder should not be violent or quarrelsome, but gentle. The leader should not lead from a position of power as the world does. Worldly leaders lead from position, not character. The worldly leader leads out of anger, violence, and threatening. They force others to carry out their demands. The Christ-like leader encourages from below. They are servants to the team, investing in them as individuals. They do not force others to obey, but are so admirable those on their team want to follow them. The Christ-like leader does not have to lead from power, but can lead from gentleness. 

They should not be greedy or a recent convert. The leader should have experience and should not be someone new to the field. For elders, this means the individual should not be new to the field of spiritual matters. For the leader, this can be any field. The individual should not be new to the field, lest they become overconfident in their abilities by not knowing how much they have to learn. Additionally, the leader should lead from pure motives. They should be others-centered and desire to build others on the team up, rather than take things for themself. The leader should love the team, not take the victory of the team for themself.

The elder should be a good manager of his household and thought of well by outsiders. The requirement to be a good manager of his household should be taken as, in this contextual application, the ability to lead in the other areas of their life. Does the leader lead their household with power and anger, or with gentleness and care? Does this leader lead their classroom with frustration, or with gentle encouragement? The way the leader leads in other areas of their life can be a window in to how they will lead in another area. The leader should be able to examine all areas of their life to understand where they need to lead more effectively. 

Through all of these points, there has been one clear take-away. The leader must be a person of character, not a position. The position does not make the person, the person makes the position. Having the title of leader does not make someone a leader. The person who is a leader will turn any part of their life into a leadership opportunity. This kind of leadership is not the kind which makes other people to be below them, but the kind of leadership that builds up the giftings of others and encourages them to grow in the Lord. This kind of leadership is pointing others to Christ to organize their giftings in a way that will most glorify Him. This kind of leadership, the Christ-like leadership, can be present in all areas of one’s life, even among other Christ-like leaders and in positions which are not titled “leader.” 

Examples of Leadership in the Bible

Moses

Moses is one of the most recognizable leaders of the Old Testament. His life was one of leadership, though a careful examination of his life may lead someone to believe he was not a successful leader. The first forty years of Moses’ life were lived in Egypt, in close association to royalty. The second forty years of Moses’ life were lived in the desert, as a shepherd. Only the last third of Moses’ life, the last forty years, were lived in the wilderness, leading a people around a desert only to die there. Moses did not lead the people into the Promised land, and he wandered with the Israelites for forty years. However, there are many attributes of Moses’ life which demonstrate his leadership. 

First, Moses was a very humble man. Humility is one of the most important aspects of leadership. Humility means that the individual knows their strengths and weaknesses, and does not over exaggerate either of those. Often, those who want to be leaders will ignore their weaknesses. When one ignores their weaknesses, they are not able to grow. Additionally, when one has not studied themselves well, they will not know what their strengths are. Leaders must know where their strengths lie, in order to lead from their unique circumstances well. Moses did both of these things. Moses was able to use his strengths, which the Lord had grown in him through the times of waiting. Moses also knew his weaknesses, and knew he needed to grow. 

Next, Moses was grown by God during his waiting period. As mentioned before, Moses had a period of forty years where he shepherded in the desert before leading the Israelites through the desert. Forty years is a very long time to be doing one thing seemingly contrary to the call of leadership on his life. However, in the time of waiting, Moses learned to shepherd a flock, and learned the necessary qualities of a loving shepherd. Leaders must both learn to be loving shepherds, and learn to use the down time the Lord has given to learn important lessons, which the Lord will use for leadership in the future. As defined previously, leadership is a specific calling for a specific purpose, which uses the person and experiences of the specific individual. All waiting periods can be training periods if the individual will learn from them. 

Moses depended on an ability to delegate. Delegation is involving other people in the process of leadership even when they will not be as productive as the leader. When Moses was the only judge of Israel, he was easily overwhelmed by the sheer amount of circumstances brought to him (Exodus 18). There simply was not enough time to give attention to every legal case in Israel. After some advice, Moses changed the way he administered decisions (showing his humility and ability to grow through the advice of other people). He delegated the role of judge to many individuals in Israel. Even though they may have not had the personal relationship Moses had with God, and may have less wisdom than him, the practicality of ministry and leadership is that one has to delegate responsibilities. 

Next, Moses centered his ministry on God. The very heart of Moses leading the Israelites through the wilderness is that he was following the call of God. Moses chose to follow after the Lord and was faithful to where He called, even when that meant wandering through a wilderness for forty years without entering the promised land. Even though Moses died in the wilderness, his ministry was a success because he followed where God wanted him to go. 

Further, Moses did not center leadership in himself, but built up other people. Specifically, Moses built up Joshua, another man faithful to the Lord. Moses did not do what many leaders do, which is consolidate power to himself and keep all other members of the team weak. Rather, he invested time and resources into Joshua, giving him credit and responsibility for the work of leadership. Moses knew Joshua would eventually overtake him, and rather than viewing that as a threat to Moses’ leadership, he wanted to pour into Joshua. 

Finally, one of the most important lessons which can be learned from the life of Moses is that achievement is not the measure of success. Faithfulness is the measure of success in leadership. A quick glance at the life of Moses will show that he murdered a man, wasted two thirds of his life accomplishing nothing, and the last third was spent wandering through a wilderness. Moses did not enter the promised land, but died in the wilderness. He did not accomplish much of anything according to worldly eyes. He could not even lead Israel well, as there were rebellions only shut down by the very hand of God. However, as seen in the life of Moses, success is not measured by achievement, but by who one is in the sight of God. Moses is remembered as a man of God who accomplished much through his devotion to the Lord. 

Nehemiah

Nehemiah, likewise, is one of the more well-known leaders of the Old Testament period. Nehemiah helped to guide many Jews back from exile into Jerusalem in order to build up its walls. Nehemiah is far less remembered than Moses, yet Nehemiah directly demonstrates many important principles of leadership for today’s leaders. 

First, Nehemiah had a zeal for the Lord. He desired to go from a foreign land back into Jerusalem, a town which was not built, which put him in grave danger at all times, in order to serve the Lord. If not to serve the Lord, there was no purpose in him leaving the comfort of a royal cup-bearer for a new life in hostile territory. However, his desire to serve the Lord is what motivated him to move to Jerusalem. This is one of the most important aspects of leadership. If the leader is not doing so only because they desire to serve the Lord, even when circumstances do not make sense, they will not lead well. 

Second, Nehemiah delegated responsibilities. Building up the city of Jerusalem, beginning with the walls, and protecting the rebuilding of the Temple by doing so, is not a simple task. There are a multitude of complex and simple tasks which all come together to make the project possible. Nehemiah knew he could not accomplish all of those tasks himself and elected many individuals to faithfully carry out those tasks. The leader must not pretend they can do all of the work of their ministry. To be clear, all areas of work for the Christian are ministries. Every place is somewhere to minister to people on behalf of the Lord. Leaders must give tasks to others who the Lord has also gifted. The job of the leader is not to do everything themself, but to build up and bring out the gifts God has given to other people. This is what it means to be a “multiplier” leader.

Third, Nehemiah brings a call to repentance. When Nehemiah heard about the nation’s intermarriage to foreign and idolatrous nations, he demanded that the men divorce the wives (Nehemiah 13). He called the people of God back to devotion to God. The most active role of the leader must be to call people to a more faithful relationship with God. The leader must bring out the gifts of the team members in order to glorify God. 

Current Leadership Philosophy

The mission statement of the Calvary Chapel Bible College kitchen where I work is: “Build up one another, serve the student body, glorify God.” This mission statement is fueled by many specific aspects of leadership philosophy brought together. First, all people participate in the mission statement. Everyone leads by example, through serving. Everyone in the kitchen is a leader from time to time in their areas of expertise. Some are leaders in cooking specific meals, others in administering tasks, others in juggling many different operations. Every person in the kitchen must lead in their area of expertise. All leaders must be servants first, and leaders when the circumstances call for it. 

Second, the team of servant-leaders in the kitchen exists to build one another up. Leadership must seek to build up other people. When someone leads in their area of expertise, they must do so with the intention and heart to build up other people, to teach them, not to gate-keep leadership. If one person has the ability to make one meal well, they should teach others to do it well also, not keep that ability to themself. Expertise must be shared with other people in the kitchen. Individuals are on the team as a leader in order to build other people and point them to the Lord. 

Third, individuals on the team exist to serve the body of Christ. The whole team of circumstantial leaders exist in order to primarily serve the student body as nothing more than those who wait on tables. The role of leaders is not to be served. Leaders are not those who should be served by others, but rather should be servants of servants. The responsibility of the leader is to build up and organize the gifts the Lord has given to many other people. Leadership must be others-centered. This means ultimately, a leader is really a servant of servants. They exist to serve the servants of the Lord, just as Jesus served His own disciples. The leaders in the kitchen exist to serve people primarily, while also leading in their area of expertise. 

Finally, all workers in the kitchen exist in order to glorify God. All that the leaders of the workplace do is attempt to serve the Lord well. This means leaders can not exist to be served. Serving the Lord can not exclusively include the serving of self. Many leaders believe their position of leadership makes them worthy of being served by those under them. However, the leader should actually be “under” those who are on their team, because their position is one of pushing team members from behind, encouraging them and growing the gifts of the team members.

Bibliography

Forrest, Benjamin K., Chet Roden. Biblical Leadership: Theology for the Everyday Leader. Grand Rapids, MI. Kregel Publications, 2017. 

Langer, Richard and Joanne J. Jung. The Call to Follow. Wheaton, Il. Crossway, 2022. 

Malphurs, Aubrey. Advanced Strategic Planning. Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Publishing, 2013. 

Traeger, James Sebastian and Gregory D. Gilbert. The Gospel at Work. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan, 2013.

Wiseman, Liz. Multipliers. New York City, NY. HarperBusiness, 2010.