The modern vision of leadership development is inseparable from what we call the “skills approach” to leadership. In the skills approach, we look beyond both the leader’s personality traits and organizational context and focus primarily on the competencies leaders need to be effective in their role. If we can improve skills, we can improve leadership.
Even though skills do matter, Christian leaders know there is more to leadership than expertise. It’s not that we can lead faithfully without well-honed skills; it’s that the skills alone are not sufficient. As Colossians 3:14 reminds us, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Leaders who follow the crucified Christ are called to know how to love and what to love, which is not an abstract proposition. In our congregations, with all the messiness involved in doing God’s will together, we might be tempted to love God and tolerate people. We can fall in love with preaching and struggle to empathize with those who listen to our sermons. The call to love is more than the expectation that we will always have warm feelings about ministry and the people we serve. The call to love is an invitation to vulnerability and joy, sacrifice and blessings.
Loving others as God calls us to do is not possible without being secure in the truth that we are loved by God. God’s love for us is so expansive and immeasurable that the New Testament says we can barely comprehend “the breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18). When we are not rooted in God’s love for us, we seek human approval in ways that cannot satisfy or sustain our weary souls. Knowing this, as we strive to become faithful, fruitful leaders, we cannot forget the question Jesus asked Peter: “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15)
