In my graduate studies, a few classmates and I were assigned to dig into the Gospel of Mark and identify seven leadership principles from Jesus. What surprised me was just how many leadership principles come from the Gospel of Mark (there are a lot more than seven). As leaders inside and outside the Church, I believe we can benefit greatly from learning how leadership is defined by Jesus, the ultimate servant leader.
Thanks to pastors and authors such as Paul David Tripp, John Maxwell, Rick Warren, and Thom Rainer, we have many helpful books about what it looks like to lead like Jesus. This article explores the same theme, but through the Gospel of Mark, which presents Jesus as the Christ, servant of God and humanity, who is ultimately heading to a cross. Throughout this Gospel, we see Jesus embody servant leadership and call his followers to model that servant leadership. Let’s dive into the Gospel of Mark and learn to lead like Jesus:
Leadership Principle #1: Servant leaders tell people the truth about reality.
It’s tempting as leaders to tell people what they want to hear in order to get them to like us. But, as leaders, we should be taking the example of John the Baptist and prepare people to be honest about themselves and to acknowledge their need for Jesus (Mark 1:1-8). After John the Baptist, we see Jesus himself setting this example by calling people to repentance and belief in the gospel (Mark 1:14-15). Later on in Mark 4, Jesus teaches the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-20), which is based on the variety of responses to Jesus. As Christian preachers and teachers and leaders, we sow the seeds of the gospel. Then, we let God do the rest. Although there will be a variety of responses to the gospel, a good leader will tell people truth in order to prepare them to encounter Jesus.
Leadership Principle #2: Servant leaders embrace solitude, prayer, rest, and reliance on God.
Jesus continually sets the example of embracing solitude, prayer, rest, and reliance on God. Jesus and the disciples often go to desolate places to pray and to rest (Mark 1:35-39; 6:30-32, 35, 46; 14:32-36). As a leader, do you often retreat by yourself and/or with others to pray? Do you find the time to rest in the midst of a busy schedule and ministry? Jesus also teaches us that we need to rely on God. As leaders, there will continually be storms on the horizons that we must face, but Jesus teaches us to have faith, pray, and rely on God in those moments to find peace (Mark 4:35-41; 9:28-29; 11:22-26). When there are storms on the horizon, do you choose to rely on God first or something else?
“When there are storms on the horizon, do you choose to rely on God first or something else?”
Leadership Principle #3: Servant leaders are willing to interact with and embrace all kinds of people.
Jesus continually interacts with all kinds of people with kindness and compassion. He interacts with fishermen, the sick, the oppressed, the paralytics, tax collectors and sinners, rulers of the synagogues, Gentiles, the outcasts, the blind, those with unclean spirits, a man with a withered hand, men with demons, and a woman with a discharge of blood (Mark 1:16-20, 21-28, 32-34, 40-45; 2:1-12, 14-17; 3:1-5; 5:1-8, 22-23, 25-26; 6:13, 55-56; 8:22-26; 10:46-52; 14:3-9). Why does Jesus continually interact with all these people? Jesus gives us the answer in Mark 2:17 (ESV): “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” It might seem smart as leaders to mainly spend time with people of our status and convictions, since they make us feel secure as leaders. If we are going to be good leaders, do we really need to interact with all kinds of people? Do we need to embrace those who are marginalized, the broken, the hurting, the lost, and the worst of sinners—especially when that takes more time and intentionality? Jesus did and I think that’s the signal that we should too.
Leadership Principle #4: Servant leaders foresee and are prepared for rejection, conflict, and betrayal.
Jesus and the disciples faced rejection, conflict, and betrayal. Jesus meets rejection and is begged to leave from different places, even Nazareth, his hometown (Mark 5:17; 6:2-6, 11). Jesus faces conflict and testing from the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, scribes, elders, and Herodians (Mark 8:11-12; 10:2-9; 11:27-33; 12:13-34). Jesus faces hostility and death from the elders, chief priests, scribes, and even those closest to him (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:32-34; 11:18; 14:1, 10-11, 18, 43-50, 66-72). As leaders, we should also be prepared for rejection, conflict, betrayal, and even death. Good leaders do not do everything they can to avoid these realities, but rather they accept their very real possibility and keep leading well, as Jesus did.
“Good leaders do not do everything they can to avoid these realities, but rather they accept their very real possibility and keep leading well, as Jesus did.”
Leadership Principle #5: Servant leaders do the will of God.
Jesus knows his death is coming; he foretells it plainly three times: Mark 8:31-32a; Mark 9:30-31; Mark 10:32-34. Yet he accepts it and chooses to follow the will of God anyway. In Mark 14:35-36 (ESV), Jesus prays, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Unfortunately, the disciples don’t understand these things and focus on other priorities:
- In Mark 8:32-33, Peter rebukes Jesus (which didn’t go well).
- In Mark 9:32, the disciples don’t understand what Jesus is saying and are afraid to ask him about it.
- In Mark 10:35-37, James and John request to sit on Jesus’ right and left in his glory—completely missing the point.
As leaders, we should not focus on priorities of status and comfort, but on the things of God. The best leaders are disciples of Jesus first and foremost, and they continually choose to pick up their crosses and follow Jesus (Mark 8:34). Have you chosen to pick up your cross to follow today?
Leadership Principle #6: Servant leaders teach people in relationship.
Throughout the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus continually helping his followers perceive and understand who he really is. But he’s not doing it from on stage, as much as from within relationships. Jesus calls fishermen and a tax collector to follow him (Mark 1:17-20; Mark 2:13-17). As they do life together, Jesus teaches his disciples about what is true and how to live (Mark 4:10-12; 7:14-23; 8:14-21). Jesus models how his disciples too can make disciples of Jesus. We see that good leaders never do ministry alone (in Mark 6:7, Jesus sends out the disciples two-by-two). Servant leaders, like Jesus, should be willing to teach and disciple others within relationships so that they may also understand who Jesus is and choose to follow him.
“As they do life together, Jesus teaches his disciples about what is true and how to live.”
Leadership Principle #7: Servant leaders put others first.
There is no better way of ending this article than being reminded of the ultimate characteristic of a good leader. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, we see that a good leader is characterized as a servant.
If there is anybody who exemplified humble, servant leadership perfectly, it was our Lord Jesus. Jesus sets the example and if we are going to be good leaders, we will humbly follow and become servants like him. Continually, we are to choose to serve others and not ourselves.
At first, Jesus’ disciples don’t get it. They argue about who the greatest is and Jesus plainly tells them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:33-37, ESV). James and John request to be seated at the right and left of Jesus in his glory, but they don’t understand what it’s all really about. Jesus tries to help them understand in the paradigmatic moment of the Gospel of Mark:
“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45, ESV)
“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.”
Jesus came to serve, not to be served. When Jesus said these words, I imagine silence and shock on the disciples’ faces. I can imagine the disciples thinking, “To be great is to be a servant? That can’t possibly be the way!” However, I think Peter eventually gets the point because he writes to exhort leaders in 1 Peter 5:2-3 (ESV),
“Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”
One of my favorite hobbies is reading. I’m always looking for a good book and wanting to learn more about something I’m interested in. This year, I’ve been particularly interested in leadership and what that looks like. About a month ago, I was walking around in a Books-A-Million just looking at leadership books to see if there was anything I could read in my spare time. As I flipped through the summaries and chapters of various leadership books, I was shocked to see how many lacked anything that concerned servant leadership. Many leadership books will tell you what good leadership looks like, whether it’s extreme discipline, effectiveness, teamwork, charisma, humility, courage, etc. Don’t get me wrong, the authors of these books understand leadership in one way or another and know that these are good characteristics of a leader. But, I will say, not a lot of leadership books will teach you that servant leadership is the ultimate characteristic of a good leader or that to be great is to be a servant. Not a lot of leadership books will teach you that the best leader to walk the earth was a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth who showed us the way. To be a true leader is to exemplify servant leadership, to continually have our towel and basin at the ready to serve others just as our Lord Jesus did.
“Not a lot of leadership books will teach you that the best leader to walk the earth was a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth who showed us the way.”
As you finish reading this article, I ask that you prayerfully reflect on the words of Paul in Philippians 2 and think of Christ’s ultimate example of humility and service to humanity:
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:3-10, ESV)
