The “Inverted Pyramid” of True Leadership

Sep 10, 2015 2463

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:1).

No one can be a true leader among Christ’s followers unless he is a servant (Mat. 20-27).

I knew a man who aspired to be a leader in a certain congregation, but who never served, and who complained bitterly whenever he was asked to help out with menial tasks. He just stood around talking, telling everyone how much better he was than the pastor.

One day he went to see the pastor and told him that if he wasn’t going to be promoted to a leadership position he would leave the church and join another, because he was getting older and didn’t have much time left to make his mark on the world. He tried several other churches but never advanced any higher than a greeter at the door.

Paul, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin, had the experience to be a leader, but chose instead to be a servant-leader like Jesus. He didn’t sit in an office in Jerusalem directing the church’s mission; instead, he went out and did the ‘hard yards’ himself. His letters of counsel and encouragement to the churches he raised up now constitute most of the New Testament, which still serves and leads the church two thousand years later.

If you desire to be a leader in your group, serve the people: visit, help and pray for the sick, the addicts, the prisoners and the grieving; welcome the strangers, feed the hungry, and provide shelter for the homeless. If you do that, people will regard you as a true leader; someone who reveals to them the love and compassion of Jesus.

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