Jesus didn't call us to go & make leaders… But to go & make disciples

Leadership is about the leader, Discipleship is about others

Our Excuse…
Leadership lets you reach many, while Discipleship is limited small & slow
But leadership is limited to knowledge transfer, while Discipleship builds lasting character change

We're not called to make leaders but disciples

I've been confused lately over the church's obsession with leadership. All the books for pastors are about leadership. The conferences are about leadership. Even at Christian universities, many opt for a Ministry Leadership major over Divinity, Theology, or Biblical Studies. It's like the church is idolizing leadership.

Plus, I had to take several leadership classes for my MDiv. At times, I felt I was being taught to be more like an American business person than a pastor.

Over the years, I've noticed how many pastors have switched their titles from senior pastor to lead pastor as this leadership trend took off. Senior pastors used to have studies, but now they have offices. More signs of the church becoming like a business. I pushed back at this trend by using the title teaching pastor. This shows my responsibility area and how I care for others through my gift of teaching.

But has the church fallen prey to what Jesus warned about in Matthew 20:25?

Jesus cautions against using authority over others. If we look at one current definition of leadership, it says leadership is "commanding authority." But, according to Jesus in the verses that follow, we're not called to leadership but servanthood, as Jesus mentions being both a servant and a slave in Matthew 20:26-27.

Back in seminary, I did an in-depth word study on some Greek words commonly translated to leader or leadership in our modern translations. But leadership didn't quite seem like the right word, at least as our culture understands it today. Instead, the Greek was pointing to having responsibility & care for others.

Even Paul chose to refer to himself as a servant and slave, keeping with what Jesus said in Matthew 20, but never a leader. You may think he did call himself an apostle, but that was not about leadership, but being one sent out as God's ambassador. He specified his area of responsibility.

I hope we will shift away from our obsession with leadership towards discipleship and servanthood. I long for us to go after responsibility and care for others instead of "commanding authority." This is what it means to be a follower of Christ.

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