Cultivating Leadership Part 1

This material is based on a segment of session one of the Crosslands Lifelong Learning course, Cultivating Leadership. 

Christians want to lead biblically, don’t we?  Whether in a workplace where mentioning God may be frowned upon, or leading other believers in the Christian life, we want to honour and obey the Lord in the way we lead. But how exactly do we learn what it means to lead from God’s Word?  

The more I read the Scriptures, the richer and more profound I find the Bible to be in equipping us for leadership. Not just in the obvious ways, e.g.  the case studies of great leaders, or the instructions given to the leaders of God’s people,. These have merit, but I see even greater value in reflecting on the expansive vision of the whole of Scripture. 

From the very first chapter of Genesis onwards, the Bible teaches us about the nature of God and the patterns he’s created and called us to live by, which are always for our good. 

As we pay attention to these truths and to the deepest realities of our world, revealed through the full story of creation, providence, and redemption, we see an incredibly coherent – and godly – perspective from  which to shape our leadership goals, principles and behaviours. And of course at the centre of that story is the one who fulfils all hope and aspiration,  the perfect servant leader, Jesus himself.

One of the big themes of Scripture  is cultivation. It’s one that we’d do well to pay attention to as we grow as leaders. From creation to the new creation, God calls his people to participate in the cultivation of the places and communities he’s placed us in. Patterns and images of cultivation – or in its fallen condition,  exploitation in need of redemptive reordering to become re-cultivation – appear from Genesis to Revelation.  

For this reason, Christian leadership might be described as ‘cultivating leadership’. We are called to lead in ways that cultivate – not exploit – whoever and whatever we are given to steward: a garden, a city, a family or a church.  Alongside this, we are called also to lead in such a way that equips others to become wise and faithful stewards and cultivators of God’s world. In that sense, ‘cultivating’ becomes both a verb  (I am a leader who cultivates) and an adjective  (I am a leader-cultivating leader) when applied to Christian leadership.  

Let’s think a little more about what ‘cultivating leadership’ looks like:

1. Leadership is something in which we can all grow and develop, over time and across different seasons. Whilst some people may have natural leadership gifts, we are all called to be part of the so-called ‘creation mandate’, and that means exercising some form of leadership, whoever we are. All of us can learn to offer leadership to others and alongside others, wherever we find ourselves. No theory, model or training course can teach you everything you need to know about leadership, but a full ‘story of redemption’ framework provides a strong trellis that will shape your growth, posture and practice as a leader. 
2. Leadership can be exercised in a way that brings flourishing, or it can exploit people and resources for its own ends. Leading as Scripture intends, as Jesus embodies and fulfills, will reflect more closely the posture of the wise farmer stewarding the earth rather than the exploitative industrialist seeking power and enrichment.  
3. One of the vital tasks of leadership is to bring through, or cultivate, other leaders. If you are an experienced leader, a redemptively structured, biblically confident way of thinking about leadership will help you to be better equipped at training future leaders around you: a leader who cultivates leadership gifts and skills in others.  

Part 2 will dig deeper into how God’s work and words at the creation shape what leadership is, and is not.