There are many characteristics of a Christian leader. Leading as a Christian requires humility, service, candor, ambition, balance, intentionality, and many other characteristics. However, to explain Christian leadership through characteristics in a short essay is a tremendous task. Therefore, Christian leadership explained succinctly can best be seen in the life, death, and ministry of the Savior, Jesus.

The biggest characteristic of a Christian leader is dependence on Christ. They focus on Jesus for three things: salvation, sanctification, and example in leadership.

Because all “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23),¹ Christ had to redeem His people as “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). This truth is no different for Christian leaders than anyone else. 

Not only is a Christian leader dependent upon Christ for their salvation, they are also dependent upon Him to sustain their faith. In John 6, Jesus shares that he is “the bread of life” (John 6:48). The initial eating of the bread, called faith, pertains to salvation, but Jesus also says “whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:58). In other words, Jesus specifies that he brings life not just momentarily but eternally. Christians do not eat the bread that is Jesus only to be made alive but to be made alive forever. The Epistle to the Hebrews clarifies, Christians are “sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:10,14). Undoubtedly, Jesus brings Christians salvation and sanctification at the moment of the cross, but the process of sanctification is gradual and they depend on the sacrifice of Christ for it moment to moment. 

Christ is also the perfect model for leadership. As the ultimate leader himself, He sustains both Christian’s faith and leadership. Christians leaders, therefore, recognize that Christ is their leader and they are mere undershepherds or stewards of His authority. Christian leaders are first and foremost followers of Christ, who 1 Timothy and Revelation call “the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:16). These two terms show that Christ is the leader of all, even over governments of the world, “for there is no authority except from God” (Rom. 13:1). If he is leader of all and has authority over all, then he is the leader of Christian leaders in authority. Furthermore, Christian leaders recognize their own leader humbly. They, like Paul in Colossians, “always thank God, the father of [their] Lord Jesus Christ,” (Col. 1:3)² because they know that He leads them and accomplishes His mission through them. The author, Paul David Tripp, elaborates that this “Gospel encouragement is also a defense against the ever-present danger of the pride in accomplishment, because it puts credit where credit is due, that is, at the feet of the Savior.”³ The sections below will examine several qualities of Jesus: His commitment to prayer, suffering, service, and the fear of the Lord.  

At many times in His life, Christ committed himself to solitude in order to pray to His Father. One of these events happened right before the beginning of His public ministry. The Gospel of Luke writes, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the Devil” (Luke 4:1-2). After he had fasted and was hungry, the Devil tempted him to turn a stone into bread and Jesus resisted the temptation in order to demonstrate that His followers are to be committed to prayer. Through committing to prayer, Christian leaders not only prepare for times of temptation like Jesus did, but they allow their life to be full of the Spirit like Him. Oswald Sanders writes in his book, “The Spirit’s help in prayer is mentioned in the Bible more frequently than any other help He gives [Christians]. All true prayer comes from the Spirit’s activity in [Christian’s] souls.”⁴ Therefore, Christian leaders pray often like Jesus. 

The Spirit also equips leaders for other work. Jesus, full of the Spirit, was able to perform many miracles. While the miracles did confirm Jesus’ divinity, the apostles were promised by Christ that they would be able to the same. In Mark, Jesus says, “these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17-18). These miracles were to be accomplished through the power of the “Helper, [who will] be with [them] forever, even the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17). While the necessity of miracles to authenticate the spread of the Gospel are not needed today due to the availability of Scripture, believers still accomplish tremendous things through the power of the Holy Spirit. Christian Leaders are marked by the Spirit and do not accomplish things by their own power, but by God's power. 

In Mark 10, the thunderous brothers, James and John make a request for Jesus, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Jesus replied, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” Furthermore, Jesus emphasized, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44). These verses show us that a Christian leader must be willing to both serve and suffer the same way that Christ suffered in order to serve His people. The cup that Christ drank was one of wrath and suffering. For Christian leaders, the same cup is expected to be consumed. Christ also stated that “Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). As the ultimate example, Christ expects leaders to lay down their life in service the same way He laid down his own. When Christ laid down his life for his people, the people were ultimately blessed. Similarly and according to God’s design, Christian leaders bless those under their care when they serve the way Christ taught and demonstrated. 

A great example of this service can be seen in the life of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who served as a minister in London during the 20th century and World War II. In his biography on the great Doctor, Jason Meyer shares that the Doctor ministered during a very stressful time in London. On one occasion, “During the bombing raids of 1941, the chapel was hit three times, but each time firefighters were able to save the building…  [on another occasion] a V-1 flying bomb landed on the Guards Chapel and shook Westminster… ‘Lloyd-Jones continued his prayer as though as nothing had happened’”⁵ No matter what, Lloyd-Jones continued serving Westminster even under very hard circumstances. Overall, he was with them for about 30 years and he faithfully served them like Christ.⁶

While fear does mean to tremble before something, its meaning in terms of fearing the Lord is much deeper. To fear the Lord is not only to tremble before him, it is to be reverent and awestruck towards Him. It is to hold God in high esteem knowing that He is sovereign over all things. For example, Jesus while on the Mount of Olives prays reverently, “not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus feared and honored the will of the Lord more than his own human will. Of course, His human will was in perfect agreement with the Divine will, but Jesus as a human being had every right to feel anxious about what was to come. This is the same fear that marks Christian leaders. While leaders are by no means Jesus, they reflect this fear of the Lord by holding the opinion of God higher than their own. Edward Welch describes the fear of the Lord as “reverent submission that leads to obedience and it is interchangeable with ‘worship,’ ‘rely on,’ ‘trust,’ and ‘hope in.”⁷ Leaders should be driven to obedience just like Jesus submitted and obeyed His father, even unto death. 

While there are many characteristics of Christian leadership, Christ is ultimately the definition of a good leader. Christians should do their best to become more like Him, “who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). Leaders strive for and hope in this reality in order to properly worship and serve the Lord. They emulate Christ as an example for all of those under their care and recognize that they must pray, be led by the Holy Spirit, suffer, serve, and fear the Lord like Jesus. Their leadership, although given by God, is cultivated by these realities and practices. 

I used to think Christian leadership only really pertained to pastors and church staff. However, the course this paper was written for has really broadened my view on Christian leadership, and I now see it pertaining to all sorts of roles and vocations in the world. No matter the job, or where and when a Christian’s ministry or vocation is planted, Christian leadership is valuable. Personally, I know I am called to serve the Lord pastorally or to teach, so I always assumed that I would need to acquire and cultivate leadership skills. However, I can now also see myself taking on a secular job (I say this to convey it is a job outside of the church, not that God has nothing to do with it) in addition to pastoral ministry. I realize I need leadership skills for even a job such as that. Regardless, leadership skills are essential for me to acquire. They will help to make me a good steward of what God has given me, they will allow me to minister well regardless of my location, and they will encourage me to be molded into the image of my own leader, Jesus. I plan to pursue Christian leadership for the rest of my life by focusing on the things the first half of this essay was about: prayer, being led by the Holy Spirit, suffering for the Gospel, serving others, and cultivating a fear of the Lord.

In order to fulfill my calling as a Christian leader, I plan to pray regularly and fervently. For this section, I would like to focus on the practicalities of prayer. First, I plan to have a system of organized prayer. In the past, I had a prayer journal that I would pray through regularly. In the journal, I prayed for different things and people each day of the week and I would pray through different prayers of the Psalms and Paul every time I went through the journal. It was a really edifying time in my life and I plan to participate in a system like this in the future, whether it be through an already published series of prayers or my own. However, I know it is also an important practice to be led by the Spirit in prayer. This has been my practice as of late. My prayers are freer, and I am not bound to pray what is in a journal or book. In the future, I will have both an organized system of prayer and a freer time to be led by the Holy Spirit. I believe both are marks and practices of a Christian Leader.

A Christian leader that is greatly admired, John Calvin, while explaining the Lord’s prayer, states, “We are not here that each of us should individually call God ‘his Father’, but rather that all of us in common should call Him ‘our father’. This serves to show how much brotherly love we ought to have for one another, for we are all together children of the one Father.”⁸ Because God is our Father collectively, I plan to make a regular practice of praying with others. When I have a wife and a family, it will be a regular practice to pray together. I also plan to play regularly not only with the church but with specific members of the church. Regular prayer meetings are ideal. 

Not only do I plan to be moved by the Spirit in prayer, but I plan for the Spirit to lead me in all areas of my life. No matter where the Spirit leads me, I am resolved to follow and listen to Him, for I know God’s plan is greater than my own. There may be times when the Holy Spirit is leading me to participate in multiple things simultaneously. Furthermore, if it is the will of the Lord for me to be bi-vocational or to be active in multiple spheres of ministry, I know the Spirit will provide for me. I desire to lead “multi-directionally—to show faithful versatility in applying the truth of God’s word in today’s cultural context."⁹ I believe that for me to be ready to serve God by being led by the Spirit, I must be prepared for anything, and when I am not prepared, the Holy Spirit will still be there to accomplish the will of the Lord.

Christ claims that His followers will suffer for His sake, and, through suffering, the Gospel message will go out to the nations. There is nothing I desire more than to be a part of the message going out. I know that the task will involve a great deal of work, but I will accomplish everything the Lord has planned for me and my ministry through dependence upon the one who suffered for me. Jesus states that believers are to “deny [themself] and take up [their] cross daily and follow Him” (Luke 9:24). Picking up my cross means that one day, I may even die for the sake of the Gospel. Of course, that is not my will, but my will is so unimportant compared to the Lords. I do not fear death because I know God can accomplish great things through it. Moreover, I know that when I die, I will be with my Savior in heaven. Another great Christian Leader that I admire, Charles Spurgeon, states that “the best way to live above all fear of death is to die every morning before you leave your bedroom. The apostle Paul said, ‘I die daily.’”¹⁰ I not only desire to die to myself daily, but to also rejoice in my suffering like Paul. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that “[God’s] grace is sufficient for him, for [God’s] power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, [Paul] will boast all the more gladly of [his] weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon [him]” (2 Cor. 12:9). I wish to have Paul’s mentality when the time comes that I suffer for Christ, no matter what the suffering may involve. 

Christ states that the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind… the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37,39). I am therefore resolved to keep the commandment of loving my neighbor by serving them as Christ served and serves us. However, not only do I wish to serve my neighbor, I also wish to “love [my] enemies and pray for those who persecute [me]” (Matt. 5:44). Those who do not know the Gospel are against it. I desire to love and serve those who do not know Jesus and reveal the message of Christ to them while doing so. I believe a good Christian leader takes these two realities seriously: to love your neighbor, and to love and pray for your enemies. I am resolved to minister both in my church to those who know Christ and to minister outside my church to those who do not. No matter who I am serving or ministering to, the work of the Lord is still being done. The gospel builds up those who already believe in it and saves those who are yet to believe in it. I plan to take this reality seriously for the rest of my life. 

I have often been one to fear the opinions of others instead of being myself. I realize now that both the opinions of others and my personal convictions are insignificant compared to the will and opinions of God. That is why, for the rest of my life, I will do my best to fear the Lord above anything else. I wish to be rid of anything in my life that is idolatrous, whether it be idols I make of others or of myself. The only thing I want to hold highly is God’s truth found in His word. I desire to have a reverent fear for God and worship every person of the Trinity alone: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

John Calvin once again writes something that I believe to be an incredible truth pertaining to the fear of the Lord. He declares that “we are not our own: let not reason and will therefore determine our plans or the things we need to do… let us not therefore choose as our goal whatever might suit the flesh… let us therefore forget ourselves as much as we can.” Moreover, he writes, “we are the Lord’s: let us then live and die for him… let His will and wisdom govern all we do… let every part of our lives be directed to Him as their sole end.”¹¹ To fear the Lord is to hold God highly in adoration and I hope and plan to always consider that I belong to God alone. When I realize this profound truth and my life and ministry become saturated with it, I will be able to serve God without any hesitation and He will be able to accomplish anything He desires through me. 

Lastly, in the past, I have been pretty bad about reading my Bible. I have often only read it when I had to for a class or project or whatever it be.  That is why I plan to cultivate Christian leadership for the rest of my life by reading the word of God daily. In John 17, Jesus prays that God would “sanctify them in truth; [God’s] word is truth” (John 17:17). Through the reading of the Scripture, God sanctifies the believer. I am therefore committed to read God’s word in order for sanctification to occur in my life, to be conformed to the image of Christ, and to make me a better leader and minister for the sake of Christ and His Gospel. Moreover, I will fervently recommend everyone around me to also read God’s word. Like prayer, I plan to have both times to read Scripture by myself and with others.

Overall, I plan to grow in Christian leadership for the rest of my life by being close to Jesus and visiting and learning about Him every day. The greatest thing a Christian leader can do is to truly know and be close to God, and I wish to grow closer to Him for the rest of my life and in eternity.