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What Makes Christian Leaders Different

Unfortunately, in many organizations, we assume people’s innate desire is to slough off, to do as little as possible.

Modern leadership techniques operate using policies and procedures developed on a presumption of distrust. As a result, organizations don’t provide leadership; they punish and reward.

If you don’t meet your goals, you’re put on probation. If you exceed your target, you are rewarded. When people are treated like this, they behave accordingly. Instead of enjoying their work and learning to improve, they fiddle with their numbers. We drive selfish behavior at the cost of overall organizational success.

Christian leaders shouldn’t create management systems that foster selfish behaviors and concern for personal glory.

Christian leaders should create an environment that enables people to work together in a manner that fosters collaboration for the organization’s purpose, improving the ability of employees to please God by enabling each part to help the other.

We are created as one body.

As the apostle Paul wrote: “There should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Cor. 12:25, 26 NIV).

What Paul says about the church is equally true of an organization. When one part of an organization is doing well, that overflows to the rest of the body. When one part is suffering, the whole body is hurt.

So why do leaders pit different parts of the body against one another?

Sometimes, this shows up in the form of contests. A leader may reward the team who brings in the most new customers. Or different departments are given quotas to meet. As a result, one sales team “competes” against another. Not wanting to give an advantage to a “competitor,” one division may be reluctant to share information or resources with another—though that “competitor” is part of our body.

Christian leaders should recognize they are responsible for a system, a single body, that must operate in harmony. Christian leaders shouldn’t foster competition within an organization, but instead seek to help people to be in relationship with one another. They build up the body for the benefit of all.

I am constantly aware that how I lead can shepherd people toward godly actions or it can cause dysfunction and sinful behaviors.

If Christian leadership is simply a veneer of faith on top of traditional management techniques, then we risk creating environments that encourage destructive behavior on the part of those we lead. Christian leadership recognizes people’s gifts and creates a place that allows individuals to thrive.