What does it mean to be a Christian leader?
One of my favorite books on Christian leadership is Being Leaders by Aubrey Malphurs. The reason I like it is because of Malphurs’ single-sentence definition of Christian leadership that articulates seven specific characteristics, each of which he unpacks in the book:
“A Christian leader is a servant with the credibility and the capabilities to influence people in a particular context to pursue their God-given direction.”
A misconception about Christian leadership is that it only applies to people in positions of authority, or with an impressive title, or those who have achieved institutional rank or tenure, or even individuals with a specific social standing or gender. You will notice in Malphurs’ definition Christian leadership has nothing to do with any of these. Sadly, in the real world (and in the church) there are individuals in positions of authority who aren’t good leaders. In contrast, there are people who don’t have important positions or titles, yet are awesome leaders!
Being a Christian leader is first and foremost about being a servant of others. When two of his disciples aspired to positions of greatness in the Kingdom, Jesus had to teach all of his disciples what it meant to be great: Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, 
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:26-28). Christian service is the outward expression of who a Christian leader is and what a Christian leader does.
Christian service permeates every aspect of the life of every Christian — in the home, in the church, in the workplace, in organizations and in the community. Christian service is focused on other people in order to help them, inspire them and walk alongside them in their own leadership and service to others.
Are you interested in developing your Christian leadership strengths? Are you eager to learn from others the characteristics of Christian service? In January 2017, there is an opportunity you won’t want to miss. It’s the 2017 Christian Leadership Experience. It is a gathering of Christ-focused service organizations to exchange ideas on a variety of leadership topics. The event will provide tangible, real world leadership tools that attendees can implement immediately in their churches, organizations and communities.
The Christian Leadership Experience is a joint effort of Grace in Action, Kingdom Workers, The Lutheran Home Association, Time of Grace Ministry, and Truth in Love Ministry, together with the Antioch Foundation. Each of these ministry organizations are themselves models of Christian leadership because of their Christian service to others.
For more information about attending the conference, go to www.christlead.com.
Bruce Becker
June 15, 2016