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Biblical Leadership

  1. Lesson One
    A Biblical Overview of Leadership
    11 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. Lesson Two
    Biblical Models of Leadership Development
    7 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  3. Lesson Three
    Becoming a Redemptive Leader
    9 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  4. Lesson Four
    Being an Effective Ministry Leader in a Changing World
    9 Activities
  5. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    3 Activities

Participants 1

Biblical Leadership A Biblical Overview of Leadership Exemplifying Servant-Hearted Leadership
Lesson 1, Activity 8

Exemplifying Servant-Hearted Leadership

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While Jesus exemplified biblical leadership through His teachings and life, He also offered warnings to ministry leaders in particular. Since ministry leaders are responsible for building up the body of Christ (which has eternal ramifications) and are to set an example of Christlike behavior for ministry members, Jesus gives ministry leaders a few warnings as seen in Matthew 23:1–7: 

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.” (NIV)

Warnings to ministry leaders

Jesus gives ministry leaders some warnings so that their hearts remain in a state in which God can best use them. Some of the issues that Jesus warns ministry leaders about, when speaking about the religious leaders in His time, are as follows:

  • Avoid putting rules and constraints on ministry members to keep them in place, shame them, or burden them so that leaders feel better than them—leaders should help followers to find freedom in Christ.
  • Avoid adopting an attitude of superiority. Leaders should not make others feel “less than” them (e.g., avoid boasting about titles, credentials, or accomplishments, which Jesus reiterates in a parable in Luke 14:7–9). 
  • Avoid seeking glory and recognition from people. Leaders should turn the attention they receive to God.

Avoid the perks of leadership and the status that can come with it.

Being a servant leader

If one continues to look at examples of leaders throughout the New Testament (some of whom we will examine in more detail later in this class), it is clear that biblical leadership is characterized by servant leaders caring for those in their ministry to unleash them to be the fullness of what God has called them to be. Servant leaders also look beyond themselves to develop other servant leaders who can continue to meet the needs of the community in which they find themselves. In other words, servant leaders take heed of Jesus’ warnings and follow Jesus’ example, which is summarized powerfully in Mark 10:45:

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (NIV).