Lessons on Leadership from Jesus

The principles of leadership mainly from the Old Testament that we have examined are reflected in the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus gave clear guidance about the concept of leadership, as seen in the previous verses from Matthew. Let’s examine some of Jesus’ points on leadership more closely.

Jesus’ guidance about leadership

Matthew 20:25–28 reiterates some of the Old Testament principles about leadership that we have already learned about:

• First, the verses show that leadership is not a position to be sought but a calling to service—taking on the attitude of being a slave for God (i.e., being available for God to use us, not to serve our own agendas).
• Jesus contrasts His version of leadership to that of the Gentiles who “lord it over” others, that is, they exercise their positional power (regardless of their character and behavior) to pull rank and get their agenda done to benefit themselves. He then uses the words “not so with you” to emphasize how different Christian leaders should be from this type of leadership example. He notes that leaders should be using their position of leadership to serve and meet the needs of others. Said another way, leadership is in fact all about other people and not ourselves.   

This interactive diagram contrasts secular leadership with Jesus’ idea of leadership. Select the arrows to navigate between two images that show how different Jesus’ ideas about leadership are from secular leadership. 

Jesus’ road to leadership

Jesus’ sentiments about leadership in God’s kingdom is communicated as a privilege for leaders to become the fullness of what God has called them to be, by serving others in humility. Jesus, via His teaching and lived example, redefines the key characteristic of success from the secular idea of moving upwards, to downwards mobility serving others. What greater example of downwardly mobile leadership could there be than His incarnation and birth into human form in a borrowed animal feed box from His state and position in the Trinity, Creator of the universe and sovereign Lord of life?

Jesus then, as a young human boy, goes through a transformative process of growing up and learning to develop His gifts and abilities in the temple. Only in His thirties does He become a teacher, serving others and ultimately becoming a “slave” via the sacrifice of His life for humankind. At the end of Matthew 20:25–28, Jesus references His own life example as a role model of the concept of biblical leadership.

Jesus further illustrates and models the concept of servant leadership at the Last Supper when He washes His disciples’ feet and says this:

Jesus very clearly acknowledges His identity and purpose as Teacher and Lord, but then affirms that regardless of roles and responsibilities, leadership is about serving others’ needs (even if they are not in the job description!). Christian leaders should therefore not be tied to roles, but should be available to meet the needs of others.