Sharpening Our Leadership Metaphors

Written by Derek Halvorson

I spent the last fourteen years (2009–2023) in a line of work in which one would assume the relationship between faith and work would be obvious and direct. From 2009 to 2012 I served as the president of Providence Christian College in Pasadena, California, and then from 2012 to 2023 as the president of Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, just outside of Chattanooga. Both are distinctively Christ-centered academic institutions, so relating my faith to my work should have been, on the face of it, simple and straightforward.

However, while relating faith to work might seem at first blush to be easy in a faith-based organization, in reality it can be just as challenging as in secular settings. Whether the mission of one’s employer is faith-based or not, how one goes about one’s work—how one’s faith informs the day-to-day activities of one’s job—is a matter to which followers of Jesus Christ must give careful attention whatever their context.

Whether the mission of one’s employer is faith-based or not, how one goes about one’s work—how one’s faith informs the day-to-day activities of one’s job—is a matter to which followers of Jesus Christ must give careful attention whatever their context.

The challenge of properly relating my faith to my work was certainly real for me in my role as an organizational leader. There is no shortage of paradigms in our world for how one ought to lead an organization. Christians have proposed their fair share of models for leadership, although in some cases those have been minimalist or even simplistic—e.g., be ethical; don’t lie, steal, or cheat. Some believers would suggest—rightly—that we look to the example of Jesus for leadership guidance. He did, after all, launch arguably the most successful movement in the history of the world.

However, while there is value in asking the question, “How would Jesus Christ lead?”, Jesus did not lead a 21st-century business enterprise, or manage a multi-functional remote team, or have to navigate byzantine corporate HR policies or legal compliance requirements. Hence, it can sometimes be difficult to draw a straight line between the example given to us in Christ and the decisions we have to make in the workplace on a day-to-day basis.

Servant Leadership

One of the more popular leadership paradigms drawn from the Bible—and particularly from the life of Christ—is that of the servant leader. There is a lot to be said for this approach to leadership, both because it is clearly rooted in Scripture and because it provides a simple and helpful image of what it looks like to lead well. Most Christians are familiar with the Gospel account of Jesus Christ’s washing of the disciples’ feet before the Last Supper, when he explicitly stated that he was giving them an example of how they should serve others (see verse 15 in John 13:1–20). Likewise, many Christians will remember Jesus’ words to his disciples in Matthew 20:26–28, “… But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The servant leadership paradigm is biblically grounded and has served as a much-needed corrective to worldly models of top-down, domineering leadership. However, it is marked by one weakness—one that has more to do with our own cultural context than with the metaphor as understood in its original setting. What it meant to be a servant—or even a slave—in the ancient world differs from the popular conceptions of those roles in our present day.

Few would question that our view of slavery has been shaped by the horrors of race-based chattel slavery, particularly in the American South. While much of ancient slavery was equally horrific—one did not want to be a Roman prisoner-of-war forced to work, and die, in silver mines in ancient Spain—there was also a form of slavery, or bond-servitude, in the ancient world that was less nasty and brutish, and from which one could even buy one’s own freedom.

While they did not have the legal rights of citizens, servants of this sort could own property and were often called upon to administer the economic affairs of those to whom they belonged. When we think of servants, we are often influenced by popular media portrayals. We easily conjure up images of the house servants in Downton Abbey or the house elves in the Harry Potter series. These images incline us toward a view of service in which it is the job of the servant simply to do whatever the person he or she is serving commands.

Obviously, this mental model could prove problematic for those in leadership. Surely, it cannot be the leader’s job simply to do whatever the people he or she is leading/serving want. So, what to do with servant leadership? It is right that we would adopt a humble, Christ-like posture toward those farther down in the org chart in our places of work, but we can’t simply do what they ask us to do, can we?

When one looks carefully at biblical accounts of servants, and when one looks also at other ancient sources, one quickly sees there is another term that is sometimes applied to these persons that provides a slightly different angle on the responsibility of the leader: that of steward.

Stewardship

Often in the Bible the servants referred to are, in fact, stewards. That is, they are servants who are entrusted with the care of some aspect—often a significant aspect—of the master’s property. They have authority, which has been granted to them by the master. They have responsibility for the care of those persons and things entrusted to them by the master. They are bound to the faithful execution of their duties, of their mission. They are accountable to the master, to whom they answer for their management of persons and property. In sum, they have been given the responsibility of stewardship.

We see a similar set of responsibilities and expectations given to managers and executives in modern corporations and organizations. I have a friend who is a manager for a large insurance provider. I know he seeks to adopt a Christ-like servant attitude in his dealings with his subordinates. At the same time, he has responsibilities to his superiors within the organization. He is, on their behalf, a steward of the resources that have been entrusted to him.

The same would be true of a CEO. That person is responsible for the care of his or her employees. Likewise, he or she has a duty to a board of directors and a role of service toward customers. This was true for me as a college president. In that role, I served multiple constituencies. (My predecessor, Niel Nielson, wisely told me that serving the interests of all of those different constituencies would be one of the hardest parts of the job). I also had authority granted to me by a board of trustees, which had to be wielded for the benefit of all those various constituencies. I sought to serve those I led and also steward carefully the responsibilities entrusted to me by the board.

Every analogy breaks down at some point, but I have come to believe that the stewardship metaphor for leadership is more durable than that of servanthood. To be sure, the posture or attitude of Christians who are called into leadership should be one of service. Stewards are servants. But they are servants with responsibility and authority. They should be concerned to care for the needs who are entrusted to their stewardship. And they also must exercise authority in fulfilling their responsibilities to those who have entrusted stewardship to them. Sometimes these responsibilities will necessitate that they make decisions or take actions that some people they serve may not like. This is the burden of stewardship, and of leadership.

To be sure, the posture or attitude of Christians who are called into leadership should be one of service. Stewards are servants. But they are servants with responsibility and authority. They should be concerned to care for the needs who are entrusted to their stewardship. And they also must exercise authority in fulfilling their responsibilities to those who have entrusted stewardship to them.

By all means, Christians should seek to be servant leaders. But we shouldn’t forget that one important aspect of the biblical model of servanthood is stewardship. As Christian stewards, we have obligations to those we lead, to those who have entrusted us with leadership, and—ultimately—to the God who has given us our gifts, called us to our place of service, and called us to follow Christ faithfully in all that we do.

This story is part of a larger blog collection titled The Series of Faithfulness. For a full backstory on the blog series, view our first post here. To read the previous story in the series, see here.