[This is my second post in my “Vintage Wednesday” series that revisits some of my writing from years ago. I'll wrap up this series regarding Christ's “control-freakiness” or lack thereof next week.]

What was it about Jesus’ leadership that transformed unschooled, ordinary men (see Acts 4:13)—the disciples—into passionate followers and then leaders of the early church? And what about the DNA of His leadership methodology—the practical side of equipping these men who would ultimately do greater works than Him (John 14:12)?

It was his serving leadership. Jesus called a group of men together from various backgrounds to embrace the vision of His Father; they were to become “fishers of men” among all peoples of the world. After casting a powerful vision, Jesus didn’t lean back in his armchair expecting His people to get out there and do it. Rather, he modeled what He taught. He gave them authority and power to do what He did. Jesus served the disciples with vision and then served them with the power and tools to carry out that vision.

Jesus’ serving leadership approach was firmly explained—“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45).

Yet, one might be hard pressed to see how well that model has caught. Many traditional leadership paradigms continue to reflect top-down structures, power and control, some even to the point of manipulation. Either we fear losing control or our misunderstanding of responsibility results in micromanagement. 

I once had a friend tell me about his idea to empower groups within his church to launch out on their collective visions. The pastor’s response? “We have enough pastors to run each group!” In other words, “Here’s how we can maintain control.” 

Perhaps this response is due to our default thinking that generally imagines the worst case scenario possible—“Everyone will do what is right in their own eyes” or “People will get carried away with their own ideas.”

Sure that might happen. But then good leadership—in the context of Christ’s—would cast a powerful vision and equip each member/group with the tools to accomplish it. Jesus kept the traditional paradigm very much alive by casting vision from the top and then flipping the pyramid upside down in order to serve from the bottom. It’s called empowerment and deals a death blow to control and fear-based leadership.