Kinds of Leadership

Webster's dictionary describes leadership as, “the capacity to lead or guide”. While this probably is the most basic definition possible, the aspects of leadership are wide and varied. Leadership can be found everywhere you look and in every capacity that you think might be possible. There are leaders in elementary school classrooms and there are leaders inside the White House. Leadership, and the ability to lead comes mainly through experience and practice. It is a rare occurrence to find someone in a leadership position who hasn't yet gained the experience and talent needed to lead one or many people. Leadership is a concept that is more experienced than described. However, almost everyone is some capacity has experienced leadership. Some of the greatest leaders in history are actually found in the Bible in both the New and Old Testaments. Great leaders in the Bible that immediately come to mind are people such as Moses, David, and Paul. But there are Biblical leaders scattered throughout the entire Scriptures. What is interesting concerning these leaders are the different “types” of leadership that they display. There are examples of these different styles or types of leadership scattered throughout both the New and Old Testaments.

In doing some research, I have identified about four different types of leadership that is both present in the church today and the Bible in the past in the Scriptures. Those four types of leadership are visionary, teaching, administrative, and mentoring. When it comes to the visionary leadership type found in the Bible, Paul seems to be the best example of someone who leads using a vision. In Romans 15:20-21, Paul writes “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written: "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.". Paul's ambition and guidance is something that is both necessarily for future direction and current guidance. He has a plan for the future, and a vision that has it succeeding in the end. A leader with vision and ambition is someone that you want in the front. The teaching leader is someone who communicates ideas to people. These ideas could be spiritual or logistical. A biblical example of a teaching leader would be King Solomon. In Ecclesiastes 1:12-14, “I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Solomon studied and explored wisdom so that he could teach the members of his kingdom these pieces of information. In the same way, pastors and leadership today should study and explore the many resources and sources of knowledge that is provided to them. Then, what those people do with that knowledge is what separates the leaders from the followers. Leaders will take that knowledge and teach it to many people in order to communicate ideas and concepts. It's important to the teaching leader to see that the people who follow them be taught the things that they are learning. A third type of leader is the administrative leader. The administrative leader is someone who thrives on the organization of data and logistical issues. This type of leadership is also found in the Bible. While not such a “good” example in the Bible, Martha of Bethany is a great example of a logistical leader. In Luke 10:38-42, “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." While Jesus tells Martha what she is doing is not right for the time (how often does God come into your home?), she is a great example of an organized person taking care of small logistical issues. She came home and prepared everything so that Jesus would have a comfortable stay. As mind-numbing this type of work can be, it is a necessary part of leadership in an organization. Someone who can do administration well makes life easier on every single person in the organization. An administrative leader is someone who actually finds pleasure in organizing and arranging items. Finally, there is the mentoring leader that leads by coaching and delegation. The Biblical example of mentoring is found in Acts 11:22-26 with Barnabas: “News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.” Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” Barnabas spent a whole year with the Christians at Antioch. He taught them and counseled them seeing that they grow spiritually. The key with the mentoring type of leadership is time and dedication. With dedication and time, someone who leads through mentoring is able to drastically affect the life of a follower. A mentoring leader is one who spends the majority of their time with people as compared to one who spends it with numbers or logistics. Mentoring involves leadership of the masses, but most commonly, a one-on-one relationship. So again, this concretes the belief that leadership can be for both masses and individuals.