Leadership: It’s Not What You Think

Reclaiming Leadership

If we’re going to take Jesus seriously—and not just the sanitized, system-approved version of Him—we have to deal with the simple but inconvenient fact that He didn’t come to establish an empire, an institution, or a hierarchy.

He came to blow up our religious scaffolding, burn the boundaries people erected, and laugh in the face of every attempt to make the kingdom of God a top-down operation.

And yet, here we are, centuries later, still dealing with earnest people trying to turn the Church into a leadership pyramid—clinging to a model that looks more like Rome than the ragtag band of nobodies Jesus started with.

A Divine Misdirection

The New Testament’s take on “leadership” is, at best, a divine misdirection. The word itself is mostly missing from the biblical narrative, and when it does show up, it’s hardly what we expect.

If leadership was meant to be the backbone of the Church, you’d think Jesus would have spent more time sketching out organizational charts and less time washing feet. Instead, He says in Luke 22:26: “The greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.”

Translation: Leadership isn’t about leading sheep as if you somehow rose above being one. It’s about serving fellow sheep to the point of absurdity.

So how did we end up with celebrity pastors, hierarchical power structures, and church leadership conferences with $500 tickets? Somewhere along the way, we swapped Jesus’ vision for a boardroom model, mistaking efficiency and effectiveness for faithfulness to the absurdity of grace.

But the Scriptures stubbornly refuse to endorse our business-model approach to the Church.

Elders, Deacons, and the Illusion of Authority

Let’s talk about the big, scary church words: elders, deacons, pastors, overseers. Surely, these prove that leadership in the Church is a thing, and that it must be in place from day one, right?

Well, not exactly.

When Paul leaves Philippi, the entire Jesus movement there consists of a rich lady who sold ink, a Roman jailer fresh off suicide watch, and a teenage girl who just got free from demon possession. That’s it.

And yet, years later, this ragtag crew led to a letter—Philippians—that begins with: “To all the saints (believers) in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with overseers and deacons.”

How can that be? Because these various roles are not what they have been turned into over the Centuries.

Long before “church” became a thing, “elders” were already a thing. Like ekklesia—a secular word for a public gathering, not a church—”elders” was a cultural term for people with natural influence in a community. Not assigned authority. Just real presence.

In a few early expressions of the Church—that were 2 to 3 years old—Paul told Timothy and Titus to “appoint elders” (Titus 1:5). But here’s the key: they weren’t trained for the role. The work was already happening. Their trust in Jesus was already shaping others, and Paul simply said, name it.

Unlike CEO’s, their leadership had nothing to do with budgets or attendance. It was about helping others trust who Jesus already is—for them.

What about where it speaks of pastors in Ephesians 4?

The modern idea of a singular “pastor” running a church is nowhere in the Bible. Ephesians 4:11 mentions “pastors” (plural), but the word is a reference to elders who were shepherding people in the everyday, not standing on a stage.

The early Church didn’t have a guy with a lapel mic delivering a polished message once a week. It had a movement of everyday people teaching, encouraging, and serving one another in a messy, beautiful, organic way.

What about deacons in Acts 6?

Well, they were food distributors, not spiritual overlords. The Church, a word that describes a global movement of frail people—not a place, needed to make sure the widows weren’t getting shafted in the meal line, so they appointed some waiters to handle it. That’s it.

There’s no indication that this role was meant to be a forever staple in every expression of the Church, or a stepping stone to something bigger. The truth is: Biblical leadership isn’t about control. It’s about being the kind of person whose life naturally invites others to trust Jesus.

But What About The Warning?

What do we do with James 3:1—the bit about teachers getting “judged” more strictly? Sounds ominous, like a warning label slapped on anyone foolish enough to talk about God.

But before we all go monastic and take vows of silence, let’s take a breath.

James isn’t issuing some divine gag order. He’s just stating the obvious: teaching—real teaching—is messy business. Step into the spotlight, and you step under the microscope. Stand at the plate in front of a crowd, and yeah—expect a few fastballs aimed at your head.

But here’s the kicker: we’re all called to “teach” others the Good News (Matt. 28:18-20). Discipleship is teaching, not as experts, but as fellow fools who’ve stumbled onto grace.

Sure, those who lead in teaching the good news are accountable, as Hebrews 13:7 says. But their accountability is to the message of God’s scandalous grace—not to managing people they can’t control (and were never told to). And your “imitation” of them? It’s about their “faith” in who Jesus is for us, not their inevitable flaws as fellow humans.

And judgment? The only one that matters already fell—on Christ. “There’s no condemnation for us,” says Paul (Rom. 8:1). So don’t be afraid. The world doesn’t need fewer people talking about Jesus, just fewer undoing the news of grace for all. So teach. Teach freely, knowing that the Good News is good precisely because it doesn’t hinge on your eloquence or expertise.

The Death of the Guru Complex

One of the biggest obstacles to reimagining leadership in the Church is our addiction to gurus. We want anointed men and women to tell us what to do, how to think, and where to go. We crave certainty, and we’d rather outsource our spiritual journey to an expert than stumble our way through faith ourselves.

But Jesus isn’t interested in propping up spiritual celebrities. His entire ministry was a relentless assault on that idea or a structured order from a few.

Jesus didn’t choose the well-spoken, the educated, or the influential. He chose fishermen, tax collectors, and misfits. And He didn’t tell them to build a leadership pipeline—He told them to love people, serve the least, and die to the need to be important.

That’s why the New Testament constantly circles back to the idea that every single believer is a priest (1 Peter 2:5). There’s no special class of Christians with a hotline to God. If you’re looking for a leader, you already have one: Jesus. The rest of us are just figuring this out together.

Letting Leadership Be Simple

If we’re serious about reclaiming Jesus’ vision for the Church, we have to be willing to burn down the pre-packaged ideas of leadership borrowed from the business world. We have to let go of the idea that church needs sermons, stages, and superstar pastors.

The early Church didn’t thrive because of strong top-down leadership. It thrived because of the faith empowered in freindship, and the unshakable reality that Jesus is enough for everything we think is needed.

So if we want to see faith set free in a world of religious noise, maybe we don’t need better leadership structures—we just need more people willing to live as honest friends, pointing one another to the ridiculous grace of God.

Cheers!