Recently I was talking with a group of our colleagues about ministry issues. I am of course aware that leadership is not a ‘done deal’ within the Church of England, partly because many people assume that leadership is at best benign dictatorship and at worst, dictatorship plain and simple.

    An oft quoted cliché is that the ‘Church is about people’ and, of course, that is self-evidently true. That points us towards something that is a reality. Anyone who ‘leads’ has to take responsibility for overseeing relational networks.

T    his could be your immediate team, your PCC, your ecumenical council, etc. I have come to see that inter-personal skills really help people in a number of ways. Firstly, leadership based on character will invest in the development of those around them. Secondly, people who feel cared for and valued will want to achieve things. Thirdly, they will want to be involved with what you are about.

    All this is very counter-cultural in a world where the ‘City boy’, ‘take no prisoners’, trample on anyone leadership, which has sadly evolved over the last 20 years. Here a culture of greed, aggression and ‘look out for number one’, has proliferated.

    Of course, it would be fanciful to construct a theology of such leadership on to Jesus. Though, the truth is based on relatively limited evidence in the New Testament, it certainly looks as though Jesus worked very hard at building the relational network comprising his twelve disciples. However, Jesus’ leadership of the Twelve was marked by some notable things.

    First, for Him leadership was principally about serving others, ‘The Son of Man came not to be served, but to give His life as a ransom for many’.

    Second, it was about sacrifice. ‘Greater love has no person other than this; that He lays down his life for His friends’.

    Third, it was about defining reality as he saw it. ‘Woe to you ………’

        If you are to be a leader influenced by Jesus, you have to measure yourself not against ‘success’ whatever that means, but against the values of service, sacrifice and leading from reality rather than playing into the culture of self-constructed fantasy (so common in organisations that feel themselves up against it).

    As someone once said ‘Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt!’ It’s a temptation that we can all fall into!

    The world needs a different way. Dare we believe that we might lead the way?