Tim Keller says that the vision of leadership that most Christians have is one that most Christians do not feel that they live up to. The picture of the dynamic and charismatic leader is the most common with in the Church and the world today, Keller argues. But the Bible portrays a different type of leader. The Bible speaks of a “Steward Leader.”
This type of leader is both a ruler and a slave at the same time. The first stewards in the Biblical narrative were Adam and Eve. They had authority over the resources of the world but they were not the owners. Thus, steward leadership and ultimately godly leadership is the “accountable (rather than autonomous) cultivation (rather than the exploitation) of resources.
Many of will strongly resist the image of slave in our relationship to leader. We want to believe that we are still free; yet the image of slave is one that is clearly presented in the NT. A steward is a slave who is wholly and unconditionally accountable to his master. Only the humble and obedient servant can be trusted to rule. As a steward, we are given real authority to rule and grow what we have been entrusted with. We are called to use the power and resources that we have been given. Jesus’ parable with the buried talents speaks to this truth.
What areas do you need grace: Obeying and submitting humbly to Christ as a slave or relying and expecting on God in the areas that you are called to rule (lead)?
This article on Steward Leadership is simple but complex. The contrast of being free in Christ but a slave unto Christ ultimately challenges us as Christian Leaders to meditate on Rom. 12:1-3, focusing on the renewing of the mind. Looking at the authority of the Holy Scripture as it relates to what a slave is as opposed to the westernized thinking today is antagonistic at best. As leaders we should be a slave to our Master who is Jesus the Christ recognizing the freedom in Him to do the will of God but the submission to him that our lives are not our own. As stewards, we are not owners of anything but managers over all that God has entrusted to us. As leaders, do we effectively use the gift God has given us to lead or do we abuse the gift God has entrusted to us for our own selfish reasons? I truly had to ponder the tension in this article because it reminds us to turn on that internal gauge and recognize how we could fall into the idea that we own those we lead and begin to exploit them as opposed to managing those God has placed under our leadership to help them grow.
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