When you think of a leader what kind of images come to mind?

If you’re like me you picture someone sitting at the head of the table, standing at the front of the room in the spotlight, making the decisions, and bravely charting the course of the future for their group or organization. The leader is the person out front, bravely pioneering and risking to guide those that follow them. After all, that’s the definition of a leader, right?  

On a human level that’s the vision of leadership we default to, certainly. But is that the vision that God has for those leading in his Kingdom? From my reading of scripture I don’t think so. 

Throughout his time on earth Jesus consistently upends the surrounding culture’s view of leadership. From the status of the family he was born into to the location he grew up to those he chose to be his “leadership team” to the way he rebukes his disciples’ pursuit of position by telling them that the first in the Kingdom is the one who is the least, Jesus’ view of leadership inverts the pyramid that we have in mind and moves the leader from the platform and the position of lonely leader of the charge to somewhere else completely. He moves them to the middle. 

Jesus is the one in front, not you

Scripture is clear that Jesus is the one out in front. The most innovative missional pioneer or most charismatic preacher on the stage is, if they are in appropriate relation to Jesus, a follower and not a leader. In Matthew 23:8-10 Jesus declares, 

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.

This message is all throughout the new testament. Jesus goes first, always. The writer of Hebrews says Jesus “goes before us into the holy place,” and,  “the firstborn of many brethren.” He is the “firstborn of the dead” and “the head of the church.” The point is this: Jesus is the only true leader of his people.  

But amazingly, even though he is the son of God and the one who goes out ahead, his “leading the charge” seems to often be done in the midst of his people. 

God leads from the midst

In Genesis God walks regularly in the garden with Adam and Eve. He doesn’t make declarations from a distant high place – instead he walks side-by-side and dialogues with them. 

In the incarnation Jesus assumes the role of another simple human. He intentionally takes his place in the midst of those he will save. So much so that the prophet Isaiah could declare that his appearance and his form would give him lower, not higher, standing among those who looked at him. 

Even in the book of Revelation, the culmination of the Biblical story, God comes in glory to “dwell in the midst” of his people. 

God leads from in the midst. 

Leading from the front is killing you

If God himself aims to lead from in the midst of his people, is it any wonder that leading from the front is (literally, in far too many cases) killing the pastors and ministry leaders who are attempting to lead from the front? 

My friends, we need a new, more biblical vision of leadership. We need to replace the image of the visionary leader, head high, leading the charge for their followers with the image of a humble, dependent, connected servant. Someone who leads from in the midst. 

Leadership in the midst:

What might it look like if we lead from the midst rather than striving to be out front?

Here are a few distinctives:

In the midst of dependence

Adam and Eve’s sin was, in many ways, an attempt to take control of their futures and be free of dependence on God. By eating the fruit the serpent promised they would “be like God” and be able to discern for themselves what was good and evil. Much of modern leadership practice is exactly that – using the tools of strategy, analytics, and marketing to discern for ourselves what good and evil are in the future so that we can walk the “good” path and enable our organization to succeed. 

Leading in the midst is grounded in the realization that “every Good gift comes down from the Father of lights,” and that we actually have no control over tomorrow, much less 5 years from now. This realization results in humble, prayerful dependence on God rather than piercing, prescient clarity on what’s next.  

In the midst of a team

To lead from the midst means that you have a team of people who are co-laborers with you. Rather than bearing the burden of carrying a body of people after you, you’re doing the work together. 

Even if you’re a solo staff member there are people who can be your team. Leading from the middle means that one of your first and greatest priorities is to follow Jesus’ example in identifying a few people “to be with” you, prayerfully cultivating a community in your context that treats you as a peer, not a leader.   

In the midst of real community

Proverbs declares that the one who isolates themselves breaks out against common sense (18:1), yet it’s often leaders in the church and ministry world who are the most isolated people. If that verse in Proverbs is correct, then we’ve got a whole lot of leaders who are lacking the common sense to know their own relational needs. 

In my experience this is often the fault of a broken, worldly church system, as much (maybe more!) than  the fault of individual leaders, but that’s no excuse for those of us who are in leadership roles. We need to be fiercely intentional about putting ourselves in the midst of real community.  We must work to have people who know us deeply enough to see beyond who our position makes us. 

Leadership that lasts

There are times for leading from the front – times when we need to step out in faith and take a risk that others aren’t taking. But always this is done as a follower – a follower of Jesus. And it must always be done from the context of community.  Leadership that truly lasts and has Kingdom impact will, I believe, be leadership done “in the midst.” 

Don’t let leading from the front slowly kill you. Take a step back. Join Jesus in the midst of his people. 

Benjamin Pontious serves as the Midwest Regional Director with elementum and as the Director of Threshingfloor Communities.