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.”[1] 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.”[2]

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.[3] 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.”[4]

Jesus, on the other hand, preached and lived the upside-down Kingdom of God, a kingdom with a “different values system”[5] 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.”[6]

In other words, spiritual authority and leadership look more like servanthood, selflessness, and sacrifice for others.[7]

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[1] Matthew 20:25 (NLT)

[2] Fred Herron, “Abusive Authority Or True Leadership?”, Spirituality Adventures, accessed July 18, 2021, https://www.realfredherron.com/blog/abusive-authority-or-true-leadership/.

[3] Jerry L. Sumney, “New Testament Perspectives on Ministry,” in Lexington Theological Quarterly 37, no. 1–2 (2002): 27-28.

[4] Jerry L. Sumney, “New Testament Perspectives on Ministry,” in Lexington Theological Quarterly 37, no. 1–2 (2002): 27-28.

[5] John C. Hutchison, “Servanthood: Jesus’ Countercultural Call to Christian Leaders,” in Bibliotheca Sacra 166 (January-March 2009): 57.

[6] Matthew 20:26-28 (NLT)

[7] John C. Hutchison, “Servanthood: Jesus’ Countercultural Call to Christian Leaders,” in Bibliotheca Sacra 166 (January-March 2009): 62.