An understanding of Christian leadership must start and end with the leadership of Jesus himself. Yet from an outside perspective, the Jesus we see in the Gospels might seem an unlikely model for leadership. After all, typical models of leadership entail the pursuit and use of power, whereas Jesus was poor, lacked formal education, and associated with the outcasts of society. He had no military, legal or political power, and he ended his life as an executed criminal.
Nevertheless, Jesus is the most influential leader in human history, and one need not be a Christian to see the truth of that claim. Two thousand years after his death, more than 2 billion people consider themselves his followers. Given the way he lived his life, he should not have attracted so many followers — but he did.
How then do we explain the effectiveness of his leadership, and what are the implications for our own exercise of leadership in our families, jobs and other responsibilities? These are questions we will seek to answer in this series of brief reflections. By examining our Lord’s leadership in the Gospels, we will draw close the heart of leadership itself.
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JOSEPH MCINERNEY is vice president of leadership and ethics education for the Knights of Columbus.








