The Way of the Shepherd
By Grant Gaines
According to the Wall Street Journal, there are six major approaches to leadership today—Visionary, Coaching, Affiliative, Democratic, Pacesetting, and Commanding[1]. Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses and is recommended to be applied in different situations.
The Visionary approach is to be used when your organization is in need of a new direction. The Coaching style is often implemented when developing younger employees in a one-on-one setting. The Affiliative philosophy focuses on bringing your organization together by focusing on teamwork. The Democratic approach should be used when you have a group who has a lot of experience working together. The Pacesetting style revolves around a manager who sets ridiculously high goals in the attempt to spur on his followers’ work ethic. And the Commanding philosophy is suggested when you have a deadline that you cannot afford to miss.
With all of these leadership styles, is there one theory of leadership that stands above the rest? Yes there is, as a matter of fact. But you won’t find this approach in the Wall Street Journal, on the news, or in your college leadership class. Instead you have to look at the Bible, “…the living and enduring Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23, NIV), which will remain intact while men and their glory (such as their leadership philosophies) will fade away like the grass of the field according to 1 Peter 1:24-25.
Unlike the Wall Street Journal’s six theories of leadership, the Bible, which was written over a span of 2,500 years by 40 different authors on three separate continents using three different languages, has a grand total of one style of leadership that it supports.
The same style Abraham led with is the same style Paul led with. The same style Moses led with is the same style Peter led with. The same style God in the Old Testament led with is the same style Jesus led with in the New Testament. But the style these godly men led with is not found among the six approaches published by the Wall Street Journal, rather, these men all led by being servants.
The reason you won’t find this Biblical servant leadership approach in the Wall Street Journal, on The Apprentice, or in many of your Fortune 500 companies is because leaders in today’s world are expected to be strong authoritarians rather than humble servants. The same could be said about how the people expected their leaders to lead in Jesus’ times. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons why so many first century Jews didn’t believe that Jesus was their long awaited Messiah—they were looking for a power-hungry, military-minded king rather than a companionate suffering servant.
But Peter didn’t mistake the Suffering Servant as just another man, he knew that Jesus was, “… the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16, NIV). And after following this Humble Servant for nearly three and a half years, Peter began to catch onto this philosophy of leadership. In fact, Jesus’ last personal command to Peter in the book of John revolved around how He wanted Peter to lead younger believers, “Feed My sheep…Take care of My sheep…[and] Feed My sheep…” (John 21:15-17, NIV). In other words, Jesus was telling Peter, as well as all of His followers, “If you really love Me, you will love others as a shepherd loves His sheep.”
The imagery of a shepherd tending his flock was a common one for the Israelites during Jesus’ times. It was actually one of the most commonly used pictures in the Old Testament to convey the way God viewed His relationship between Himself and His people.
So why would God chose this illustration to depict His relationship with humanity? To put it bluntly, a shepherd had to do everything for his sheep. Sheep have no way to defend themselves, they’re easily frightened, they have bad eyesight, they don’t know how to find green pastures or water on their own, they can hardly swim, they can’t clean their wool, and they have no sense of direction. Thus a shepherd is needed to provide for the needs of his flock just as a Savior is needed to provide for the needs, namely salvation, of His people—us—who can’t do anything worthwhile on our own (John 15:5).
This is where the leaders of Christ’s Church come in—the shepherds. Just as a shepherd would feed and tend his flock, Jesus had commanded Peter to feed and tend the Lord’s flock who had been entrusted to him (John 21:15-17). Understanding this truth, Peter relayed the following command to Christian leaders, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:2-3, NIV).
According to the Bible, leaders are shepherds…you know, the ones who had to do everything for their sheep like we discussed earlier. But to further drive this point of servant leadership home, Peter doesn’t just command the leaders he was addressing to be shepherds because there were, and still are, many who might have viewed the role of a shepherd as an opportunity to “flex their muscles” and boss the flock around. So in order to avoid this, Peter gives the counterintuitive instruction to the shepherds that the way they should lead is not by, “…lording over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3, NIV).
Rather than driving the sheep to a green pasture from behind the flock like you might do with cattle, shepherds are to lead the flock. Essentially, what Peter is suggesting in 1 Peter 5 is the same thing Paul writes to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV) when he says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” You should be leading by example because you are following the ultimate example, Jesus Christ. You should have no problem being an example for the flock because at the end of the day, we are all simply sheep in Jesus—the Good (John 10:11) and Chief Shepherd’s (1 Peter 5:4)—flock.
Whether you are the leader of a company, a family, or a team, from Genesis to Revelation the Bible commands its readers to lead by being a servant. How are you doing with this command? 1 Corinthians 4:2 (NIV) says that, “…it is required that those who have been given a trust [or, “…is put in charge as a manager…” (NLT)] must prove to be faithful.” Are you proving yourself a faithful manager of those the Lord has entrusted into your flock?
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
