Abstract
This article explores leadership qualities from a biblical perspective and their application in professional and personal development. Several definitions and concepts are identified to provide a solid foundation and outline the steps of leadership development. The Christian worldview influences how people cooperate and select skills to accomplish their tasks. Leaders should utilize the Bible to enhance their success in research, education, and training, and develop fundamental management skills.
Introduction
Developing leadership qualities has already become a significant task for many individuals today. Getting a degree and being aware of some theoretical aspects of leadership is not enough. It is more important to demonstrate understanding of such merits as listening, respect, communication, and decisiveness.
People can find credible information from multiple sources, but addressing the Bible remains a serious step that only a few individuals are ready to take. The biblical perspective on leadership reveals the core aspects of cooperation. This article aims to apply a biblical perspective to the discussion of leadership development and analyze the lessons from God to identify the primary qualities of leaders, their responsibilities, and the expectations placed upon them.
Definitions and Concepts
A literature review on leadership development from a biblical perspective aims to clarify what is already known about the topic and identify key issues that need to be addressed. According to Boyer (2019), evaluating the biblical perspective in leadership is multifaceted, and identifying the major characteristics is required. The current analysis of leadership development includes leadership development, spiritual leadership, and Christian principles.
Leadership development introduces a set of activities designed to enhance leaders’ performance, focusing on trust, intimacy, commitment, and power (Boyer, 2019). The success of leadership is determined by the ability to demonstrate personal and spiritual maturity, self-control, and strategic planning (Krispin, 2020). God must assign spiritual leadership to ensure open-mindedness, honesty, and trustworthiness (Mburu, 2020). Finally, Christian principles are based on what the Bible says about leaders and their responsibilities: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (New International Version, 2011, Mathew 20:26). These concepts and definitions further explain individual development and management skills.
Qualities of Leaders
Modern leadership development takes its roots in the relationships introduced in the Bible. When God sent his Son to ordinary people, he offered help: “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (New international version, 2011, Mathew 20:28). To be a servant for others is neither punishment nor weakness of leaders but a gift implied by Jesus. His servanthood is an excellent example of how leaders should cooperate with people and be willing to sacrifice their own needs to support and motivate others.
In addition, it is necessary to remember that “from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (New international version, 2011, Luke 12:48). A wise manager knows how to fairly care for others and choose proper recommendations and guidelines at the right time. Thus, compassion, understanding, listening, and honesty are vital for leadership development from a biblical standpoint.
Expectations and Outcomes
The major expectation people impose on their leaders is professional and fair guidelines. According to Blandino (2021), a leader must anticipate the risk of burnout and foster professional growth through effective recruitment, development, empowerment, and refinement. Jesus teaches people to pay attention to the details and use the information obtained to improve activities and organizational cultures. At the same time, Harper (2020) acknowledges that God’s rules are more than just words, and leaders need to read the Bible to discover something that is given.
Applying Christian principles in leadership development enables a comparison of initial expectations with actual outcomes. A critical misconception in leadership is that “having the best-designed ship, with all its sails raised, staffed by the most skilled and well-trained officers” ensures success (Currie, 2019, p. 105). People have to recognize and respect the environment in which they work. There is always the Holy Spirit that influences the development of events and guides the application of management skills in personal growth. Therefore, leadership development expectations and outcomes depend on a perfect combination of external and internal factors.
Steps in Leadership Development
Christian beliefs help to understand that leaders work hard to complete their mission and organize other employees under the same principles. A good leader should not concentrate on one aspect of the work but establish the relationship between biblical teachings, their cultural values, and the host culture’s values (Hibbert & Hibbert, 2019). This step is not always easy, but multifunctioning and critical thinking define great leaders.
Another task is to consider the worth of education and training even if the desired position is achieved. Understanding leadership through research improves self-awareness, decision-making, problem-solving, and cooperation in work groups (Krispin, 2020). Finally, leadership development will be incomplete if there is nothing to strive for in the future. Mburu (2020) uses the Bible as a rich source of information and proves competency and honorable intent as requirements for authentic leadership. Working with people means trusting them and doing everything possible to make others trust the leader.
Conclusion
The review of literature is a unique opportunity to understand how the Bible may help people become sufficient leaders. Research, education, and training have been commonly discussed in many sources. However, there is a gap between what Christian perspectives reveal and how people use this information. The discussion of leadership qualities defined in the Bible has been accomplished, and more work should be done to analyze how the offered definitions and concepts might affect modern leaders.
References
Blandino, S. (2021). How Jesus developed leaders. Influence.
Boyer, S. W. (2019). Biblical leadership development: Principles for developing organizational leaders at every level. Palgrave Macmillan.
Currie, D. A. (2019). The big idea of biblical worship: The development and leadership of expository services. Hendrickson Publishers.
Harper, T. (2020). A simple plan for biblical leadership development. Biblical Leadership.
Hibbert, R., & Hibbert, E. (2019). Defining culturally appropriate leadership. Missiology, 47(3), 240-251.
Krispin, K. R. (2020). Christian leader development: An outcomes framework. Christian Education Journal, 17(1), 18-37.
Mburu, L. N. (2020). Significance of authenticity in developing a successful leadership practice. African Research Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 7(1), 108-116.
New international version. (2011). BibleGateway.