What is leadership in the kingdom of God? This is a question I think about quite often. There are so many ways we can describe leadership, and numerous different sources we can use to define leadership. We can read books, go to seminars, receive mentorship from other leaders, and so on. There’s a lot of good stuff we can do, which are most of the time both necessary and profitable.
One of the main sources we have as believers when it comes to understanding leadership, is to look at the life of Jesus Christ: How did he lead his disciples, and how did he meet people surrounding him? When we study the Gospels, we will discover how Jesus laid down his life to minister to people – and this was his leadership! He is definitely our greatest leadership model, one we should look to for inspiration, and also correction. He shows us how to be a servant leader, one who loves people and at the same time challenges and rebukes religious leaders who mainly try to protect their positions and level of influence. Have you ever thought about that? Jesus served people and he turned tables, and he was never afraid to do both. What a great example.
We can also read the epistles in the New Testament, and there we see how the first Christian communities were organized and structured. There definitely were appointed leaders in the first church, and they had different names attached to them and responsibilities to carry. Paul also talks about the qualities of a leader, how a leader should conduct him or herself. These are good sources to look at for understanding Christian leadership.
Also, we can learn about leadership by looking at the Old Testament. However, when we try to understand leaders in the Old Testament, we should read through the lenses of the new covenant, as many of the events described are there to teach how not to do it, more than being great examples of biblical leadership to follow.
Sometimes I think it’s about looking at old concepts with a new outlook, and to be willing to describe what we already know with different words than we have been used to. I am constantly looking for frameworks for understanding leadership, and concepts that cannot be linked merely to what we know about authority, structure or areas of responsibility.
One morning not so long ago I woke up with this thought in my head: “Leadership is access!”
What on earth could that mean? I thought about it for quite a while, and after some time it made some kind of sense to me. Leadership is about access! I will try to explain, now, what I came up with as I have pondered this short statement, and I believe it’s about having and giving access in at least three different directions. First let me read from John 10:9, where it says:
“I am the gate. He who enters through me will be saved and free to go in and out and find pasture.”
First of all, we have access to the kingdom of God. Period. As believers and leaders we need to know and understand this. We have access to His presence, all of His resources, His gifts of grace, peace, joy and righteousness, His salvation and healing, all because of what Jesus has done!
Secondly, as followers of Christ and leaders in the kingdom, we give God access to our hearts, so that He can transform us,more and more into His image. We do this by being humble, authentic, honest and willing to submit to Him. We pray: your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We confess our sins and try not to hide them.
Thirdly, we give other people access into our lives. We don’t keep people on a distance so that they don’t see what’s really going on. We live transparent lives and project our faith in a way that makes people around us curious on who God is. Through this they may be able to discover how they can access the kingdom of God for themselves. It’s about pointing to the door.
In Revelation 3:20, we read God’s word to the church in Laodicea:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in to him and hold-meal, I with him and he with me.”
This access requires us to be available and open, with ourselves, to God and to other people. It’s another way of saying that we know what we have and what we can give. It’s not about us. It’s all about the access we have, as sons and daughters of God the almighty. We lead from a position of belonging and trust, and we understand that giving access does not lead to a weak testimony about God’s kingdom, it rather points to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. It can help people to open up their hearts so that they can receive faith to walk through the door and get to know God.
We are leaders who manage the access God has given us. It requires that we manage and take good care of our hearts, so that God will have access to us, to speak to us, to guide us, to use us for His glory. Through this access we manage a good way of pointing others to the door which is Christ.
Leadership is a lot of stuff. But if leadership is also access, it means that we are all leaders. And so are you.