Godly Leadership
So absolutely grateful for the season I’m currently in. With all the various men I’ve worked for, I often reflect on the attributes of leadership I’ve experienced along the way. Some stand out in my mind as humble men of God, whom to this day, I want to model my leadership after. Others, the contrary.
My experiences with the latter have made me extremely passionate about identifying leadership abuses, particularly in the local church. I’m finding a certain style of leadership is all too common in leaders with public failures, and over the last few years, I’ve interacted with many of the faceless sufferers that have left, been harmfully removed, and are still under this kind of oppressive culture. The “führerprinzip”. Which is leadership where what happens is solely dictated by the leader (who claims and behaves as if the directive is from God Himself) rather than the direction of the Holy Spirit whose will is absolutely made clear in scripture for the body.
Wanted to throw some things out there today. Feel free to share your thoughts!
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If a person in a position of power crafts a culture of fear in order bully, beat down, or force the people under them to make their ideas happen instead of doing the work to win, inspire, and motive them, they are not a leader with vision, they are a title with an agenda.
Would God truly condone stepping on the heads of the people He gave to complete the vision He gave? MANY Christian leaders today would say “yes”, but I’ve seen the damage that arrogance brings. There will always be people who must be brought in line, scolded, or even fired - that is absolutely unavoidable, and good leaders do this as well. But as for overall leadership and culture, as fruit of the Holy Spirit suggests, I would argue that extremely high responsibility rests on love before scorn, joy before anxiety, peace before tension, patience before pressure, kindness before aggression, goodness before arrogance, faithfulness before disconnection, gentleness before hostility, and self-control before snap-decisions.
A strong leader is not necessarily the one who gets everything done no matter the cost, but gets it done with an army of loyal people supporting him, as his character will be a hallmark of action rather than his ability to intimidate. When a leader removes accountability, creates a culture where he is elevated, and sees the God-given people under him as means to an end, I’ll show you a man who will one day fall hard.
