Nicholas Murray Butler, a former president of Columbia University, said, “There are three kinds of people in the world – those who don’t know what’s happening, those who watch what’s happening, and those who make things happen.” Though leadership maybe hard to define, the one characteristic common to all leaders is the ability to make things happen. We set the tone for the community in which we live. What we are to those around us, how we interact with each other - friend or stranger – may be positive or negative and bring more light or more darkness. God has created us to live to his glory.

Without leadership nothing gets done properly. How we organize our lives and relate to other people determines our style of leadership. Familiar problems are often problems of leadership. Friction which arises between people as they work together sometimes happens because of poor leadership. Lack of inspiration and encouragement reveals a deficiency in leadership – the leader has not learned to inspire confidence. Lack of coordination and failure to delegate and organize tasks stems from a lack of direction. Procrastination and lack of planning for the future is the result of poor leadership decisions whether it is in managing our finances, our time or our work.

God raises up leaders to meet the needs of the moment. “Men and women of faith have always been people of action. It is impossible for leaders to act in passive role. This implies that such people are decisive in nature. Leadership action demands faith. The setting and striving of and striving for goals is an act of faith.” (Ted Engstrom, The Making of a Christian Leader, p.20f.) The Bible gives examples of various models of leaders with differing personalities and gifts. The situation dictates the best style. Studies of churches show that growing congregations are led by positive, confident, cheerful and goal-oriented leaders who try to involve as many people as possible. St. Paul gives us this insight into his style of leadership with the churches he founded. We may call it the maternal style. It has four components.

Christian leadership is gentle. ‘Gentle’ describes a teacher who is patient in the nurturing process, or of a nursing mother with babies. It is also a botanical term which describes the care and feeding of a young plant so that it grows properly to maturity. You have to handle plants and babies delicately for they are fragile creatures which do not respond to harsh and rough treatment. They can be damaged so easily. The kingdom of God is a gentle environment of which the church is a manifestation. We need to be gentle with one another because we do not know what is going on in the lives of those around us. They may be vulnerable and fragile. We cannot assume that they are sturdy and strong. They may require delicate handling, a discernment of the Spirit, and tender care. The incidence of mental illness in our communities, the prevalence of autistic disorders and other manifestations of brain disease, necessitates us acquiring this fruit of the Spirit – gentleness. Scott Stossel writes in My Age of Anxiety: Fear, hope, dread and the search for peace of mind, “almost everyone alive has at some point experienced the torments of anxiety – or of fear or of stress or of worry, which are distinct but related phenomena…. The signature characteristic of the phobic personality is to present a relatively placid, untroubled appearance to others, while suffering extreme distress on the inside…. They seem to be comfortable, but there’s a disconnection between the public self and the private self.” (pp.9,23)

Christian leadership is loving. “We loved you so much….” The love of God is communicated to us through loving our neighbor. If we say that God loves us then we will show it by loving one another. Love is translated into deeds. We care for one another. We pray for one another. We bear one another’s burdens. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins… Each should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.” (1 Peter 4:8,10) We love by serving one another because love is setting aside our prerogatives in order to meet the needs of others. Love is unselfish – there is no place for ego. Christian leadership is servant leadership, as Jesus demonstrated in washing the feet of the disciples. “Love is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs…. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Cor.13). This leadership dynamic creates an organization and community different from the competitive business world.

Christian leadership delights in sharing the gospel. The family of God is conceived and born through the sharing of the gospel of God. The church is not just a social organization of high-minded people dedicated to good works, it has a mission to reach people with the gospel. We have a passion for communicating the good news of the coming of Christ, for witnessing to Jesus as the key to meaning and purpose in life, for making known the empowering gift of the Spirit, the Comforter, the promise of the Resurrection and the reality of eternal life. A mother wants only the best for her children. The best gift we can give anyone is the unsearchable riches of Christ. It is sharing the treasure hidden in a field, and the pearl of great price. The Christian leader is unashamed of the gospel for it is the power of salvation to all who believe. It is good news in a world filled with bad news. It is healing medicine of the soul. We are fearless in our communication of the gospel. The Christian may be gentle in manner but also resolute in action when it is a matter of life or death.

Christian leadership is personal. “We were delighted to share with you…our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” Christianity is not just an intellectual exercise in learning information, or the sharing of ideas. It has to do with relationships: a relationship with Jesus, the Son of God, and with one another as members of the family of God. We are not hypocrites, living behind masks, acting a part. We seek for authenticity in our relationships with each other. We admit our failings and our needs. We each are on a journey through life, a pilgrimage that has many pitfalls and challenges. None of us is perfect. None of us has arrived. But we share what we have learned and how we have grown in grace and the knowledge and love of God.

This maternal model of leadership is rooted in God’s relationship with us. “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!..As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” (Isaiah 49:15; 66:13) What a wonderful reassurance of the nature of the love of God as seen in the Gospel of Jesus.

(Ted’s blog is found at www.ameliachapel.com/blog. His books are found on www.amazon.com. SOUL FOOD: DAILY DEVOTIONS FOR THE HUNGRY, Vol.2, April, May, June is now available.)