A Brief Introduction to Upside-Down Leadership
According to Jesus, Christian leadership was, and still is, fundamentally countercultural and entirely in contrast to the prevailing leadership models of the day.
Remember when He told the disciples, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.”1Matthew 20:25 (NLT) When He made this statement, Jesus was calling attention to the fact that leadership “holds the greatest potential for abuse because it can be forced upon the followers.”2Fred Herron, “Abusive Authority Or True Leadership?”, Spirituality Adventures, accessed July 18, 2021, https://www.realfredherron.com/blog/abusive-authority-or-true-leadership/.
Unfortunately, as Jerry Sumney suggests, those prevailing leadership models that Jesus railed against are little different from how many people, perhaps most, envision leadership today.3Jerry L. Sumney, “New Testament Perspectives on Ministry,” in Lexington Theological Quarterly 37, no. 1–2 (2002): 27-28. Many, it seems, still view leadership as a hierarchy “in which those in the higher reaches demanded that their status be recognised, not least by exercising dominance within the group.”4Jerry L. Sumney, “New Testament Perspectives on Ministry,” in Lexington Theological Quarterly 37, no. 1–2 (2002): 27-28.
Jesus, on the other hand, preached and lived the upside-down Kingdom of God, a kingdom with a “different values system”5John C. Hutchison, “Servanthood: Jesus’ Countercultural Call to Christian Leaders,” in Bibliotheca Sacra 166 (January-March 2009): 57. to the world into which he came and, indeed, a different values system to the world we live in today.
So, it’s no surprise that He followed up his blunt appraisal of the “rulers in this world” with an injunction: “But among you (my disciples, my followers) it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.”6Matthew 20:26-28 (NLT)
In other words, spiritual authority and leadership look more like servanthood, selflessness, and sacrifice for others.7John C. Hutchison, “Servanthood: Jesus’ Countercultural Call to Christian Leaders,” in Bibliotheca Sacra 166 (January-March 2009): 62.