Three Characteristics of Christ-Centered Leaders

Read any book on leadership, and you will get a list of characteristics that are attributed to good leaders. Most of those characteristics are the same, but occasionally you will come across a new one or a certain nuance of a common one.

For the most part, the characteristics of a Christ-centered leader are the same, with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions is centered in whose business you are focused upon. As a Christ-centered leader, you are focused on God’s business of loving people. 

You work for the good of all people whether you know them, agree with them, or even like them.  Being about God’s business is to love and care for people as God in Jesus has loved and cared for you.

Focused on God’s Business

There are several stories in the bible that help us understand God’s business. Most of them give us clues to the who and what of God’s business. But there is one story that helps illustrate the “how” of God’s business. It comes from the Book of Exodus, and it is a story of a father-in-law giving instructions to his son-in-law.

You can read the story below and then read how Jethro’s advice to Moses helps him become more of a leader centered upon God’s business and how his leadership is shared with others. 

Read Exodus 18:13-27

¹³ The next day Moses sat as judge for the people, while the people stood around him from morning until evening. ¹⁴ When Moses’s father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?” ¹⁵ Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. ¹⁶ When they have a dispute, they come to me, and I decide between one person and another, and I make known to them the statutes and instructions of God.” ¹⁷ Moses’s father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. ¹⁹ Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God and bring their cases to God. ²⁰ Teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do. ²¹ You should also look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain; set them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. ²² Let them sit as judges for the people at all times; let them bring every important case to you but decide every minor case themselves. So, it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. ²³ If you do this and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their homes in peace.”

²⁴ So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵ Moses chose able men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people, as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. ²⁶ And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses, but any minor case they decided themselves. ²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went off to his own country.

Reflect on Exodus 18

The writer of Exodus tells us the story of Jethro’s instruction to Moses regarding his style of leadership. His instruction regarding spiritual, strategic, and shared leadership is good for each of us as Christ-centered leaders.

As a Christ-centered leader, you are first a spiritual leader. You are about God’s business, and it is important that you are not only spiritual healthy but that you can teach and equip others to be spiritual healthy as well. In our story, Moses is a spiritual guide. When people come to him with their issues, he not only resolves their disputes, but he teaches them God’s laws and principles. He guides the people in understanding and applying God’s will to their living.

As a Christ-centered leader, you are a spiritual guide, helping those entrusted to your care to first focus upon God’s love in Jesus, and second to share God’s love with the people they encounter in everyday ordinary situations and circumstances.

Self-Awareness in Leadership

One characteristic of a healthy leader is self-awareness. When you look at Moses, he was not aware he had taken on too much in caring for the people.  Caring for the people was good, but his workload was not.  

To be a healthy spiritual leader you are aware of your capacity to keep yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy, to keep yourself focused upon God’s love in every situation and circumstance, and to know your capacity to respond. Moses was not aware of his capacity to meet the needs of the people day after day after day.

It sounds good when you are talking to colleagues about how busy you are, but just as Jethro said to Moses, “What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.”

Trust in Leadership

Another characteristic of a healthy leader is trust. When you look at Moses, he did not trust others to share the workload. He was a micromanager. He wanted to deal with too many details regarding the decisions. In other words, he wanted his hand in all the decisions. Too many leaders fall into the trap of thinking that they are responsible for all decisions, projects, activities, etc.

To be a healthy spiritual leader, you will allow others to use their gifts, make decisions, and lead as God had called and commissioned them to lead. A healthy leader does look over the shoulder of others, telling them how you would do. You trust people for who they are and celebrate how God is working in and through them.

Strategic Leadership

As a Christ-centered leader, you are also a strategic leader. In the story, Jethro watches Moses and observes his method of leading as unsustainable. He warns Moses that the way he is leading is not good for him or the people. 

In other words, Moses is working harder but not smarter. He advises Moses to focus on his responsibilities as the spiritual leader and delegate work to others. Jethro was not taking leadership away from Moses but was helping Moses lead strategically. 

Focus on the Mission

As a Christ-centered leader, you have priorities upon which you focus. Your highest priority is to be focused on the mission and to lead people toward the mission. Moses’ priority was to teach the people God’s laws and direction. He directed them in God’s business.

Too many pastors have not been able to keep their focus on God and God’s love. They lose themselves in, what I will call, trivia. They either lose focus in administrative duties that are done more effectively by others or in paying too much attention to issues and pet projects which drain them of their spiritual health, their perspective in preaching, and their care for people.

Identifying Other Leaders

Jethro offers the following strategy. Select people who are capable, God-fearing, and trustworthy to take on the role of leadership. These new leaders should be organized in a structure where they oversee leaders who are overseeing groups of people which makes their leadership more efficient. In other words, Jethro is suggesting that Moses surround himself with capable leaders who can take responsibility for some of the work, which frees him up to keep his focus on spiritual direction and spiritual health.

Jethro assures Moses that by following this strategy, his leadership responsibility will be lightened and will help him lead more effectively and efficiently.

Sharing the Responsibility of Leadership

As a Christ-centered leader, you also engage in shared leadership. Moses takes Jethro’s advice and instruction, embracing the idea of shared leadership by implementing the proposed changes. 

Moses selects capable people, assigning them different levels of oversight. These newly appointed leaders take on the task of caring for the needs of the people while bringing the most challenging needs to Moses. This shared leadership model made the leadership structure more effective and sustainable.

Being Christ-Centered

Jethro helped Moses by offering him the following instructions. Select people who are committed to God. Let me make an obvious statement. Being Christ-centered is the strength of Christ-centered leadership. It is important to have organizational skills and intellectual capacity, but the most important characteristic of a Christ-centered leader is to be centered upon God’s business of loving people and working for the good of all people.

Recruit and equip people who are followers of Jesus. Whatever natural leadership gifts and skills anyone has must be deepened and enlarged by the presence of Jesus in their lives.

Developing Trust & Trustworthiness 

Recruit and equip people to be trustworthy. Help them develop trust in their relationships so that they can lead with authenticity and vulnerability. Help them model trust so that their decisions are made with open minds and compassionate hearts, focused more on God’s love and less on opinions and issues. Help them aside prejudices and pre-judgments so that they can act in truth as experienced in and through Jesus.

Lead with Love

Recruit and equip people to love others as they have been loved. In other words, people who work for the good of others and who don’t take advantage of them. Too often, those in positions of authority are easily swayed by the favors, opinions, and preferences of others. I have often said, “Friendship ties are stronger than missional ties.” Recruit and equip people who are willing to lay aside their personal opinions and issues and work together with others for the good of the whole body.

Although there are other characteristics of Christ-centered leaders, Jethro’s instruction to Moses included these three characteristics: spiritual leadership, strategic leadership, and shared leadership. As Moses listened and followed the advice of his father-in-law, he became more the leader God has created him to be.

Respond to Exodus 18

Today, be aware of how you model spiritual leadership. As you encounter people today, respond to them with the love you have experienced in and through Jesus. Be aware of what strategies you use to recruit and equip others for ministry. How might you share leadership with others? Be aware of where you tried to micromanage others. And if it is possible, be aware of where you are not self-aware.

Return

At the end of the day, return to this scripture and give God thanks for the people you encountered today. In whom did you see Jesus? In what ways did you model spiritual leadership? What strategies did you put in place to better serve the people entrusted to your care? With whom did you share leadership? Who did you recruit and equip for ministry/service? What did you learn about yourself? What will you do differently tomorrow? Give God thanks for the experiences that have helped you become who God created you to be. 

Keep in mind, who you are is how you lead.