What Aspects of Leadership Involving Biblical Perspectives Do the Leaders Find Plausible

Qualitative Meta-Analysis of Servant Leadership

Introduction

Leadership topics in the Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership (JBPL) hold that theology of leadership which is akin to bringing Jesus to the table of leadership. According to Russell (2003), Christian leadership is a process and not an end in itself. The process involves men and women ordained and called by God to give servant direction and provide humble guidance to the body of followers or believers. It is a common knowledge the current leaders operate in a culturally diverse climate that places a big burden on the leaders. Therefore, the Christian leaders have to draw their leadership styles from their understanding of the nature of God while at the same time, reflecting on the person of Christ. Never the less, they must also be guided by the Holy Spirit (Osborne, (2006).

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Given the broad nature of the theology of leadership, a recent search returned About 47,900,000 results in 0.47 seconds. A further filtering and search in the Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership (JBPL) produced About 2,280 results in 0.49 seconds. When ordered in term of relevance, the researcher targeted only the first fifteen results to b included in the study. The keywords include leadership, theology, and theology of leadership. Within a general category of leadership, leadership studies vary in their underpinning theoretical framework, the research aims and purpose as well as the methodology followed in data collection and data analysis. In some cases, the finding of the leadership theories is conflicting. Based on the multi-focal data, the researcher conducted a systematic review followed by rigorous meta-analysis to get a clearer profile of theology of leadership. The review indicates that the servant leadership are the recurring theme in most of the dissociated researches.

This study aimed to systematically review and provide a synthesis of the literature on the subject of Christian leadership. The paper will answer the following questions:

• What is the cumulative qualitative evidenced for adopting Christian leadership
• What are the main drivers if any that support the effective application of theology in leadership

One of the main themes in most of the literature is servant leadership. Both theology and leadership have to marry into one a nether. A good leader should use the theological, envelopment to shed light on the true leadership. A leader is called to task to manage heavenly resources such as people, talent and time. Leaders are commissioned by God thus should be respected and celebrated as ordained group (numbers 27:15-24). The bible also states that leadership is a gift and a loan of responsibility by God that should not be taken for granted. A leader should also understand that his position is a responsibility of power thus; they should never abuse the position (I Samuel 16:1).

From Philippians chapter 2, Paul talks about the spiritual leadership to the Philippians. Is also reminds them of encourages, and consolation that is guaranteed to them for r beige in Christ (Phil 2:1-5). Paul gave the Philippian's hope and premise of bleedings when he urged the believers to emulate Christ who was a mighty being but chose to humble himself for the sake of his brethren. In his creed, he reminds of the Philippians of the Christ humility and sacrifices but warns them that they should never use the blessings of God to their own advantage. The author also argues that leadership is anthropological and sociological in nature. Leaderships are a social influence exerted on people. The theological leader should be able to contextualize knowledge and make it live in the people (Laniak, 2006)

Servant leadership

The researcher also proposes servant leadership and posits that leadership should be practised in a way that is consistent with the divine characteristics of Jesus. Christians are selected to be servants because Christ commanded and himself exemplified the qualities of servant leadership (John 13:117). Many evangelical theologians including Erickson and Garret both describe God based on his characters and his very nature. It is important to note that god is no contingent, therefore, his attributes can be described as both absolute and relative to the person-describing god. Both social theory of leadership and Fiedler's contingency theory assume that performance should be determined by the situation including the leadership's style (pears, 2018). The paper concludes that leaders should draw from the Bible as the best repository of spiritual guidance as well as religious visions.

Purpose of Biblical Leadership

Biblical leadership is founded on the understanding that god called and bestows talents upon Christians that they should use to serve in his kingdom. The concept of servant leadership is just gaining recognition as an apart of the conventional leadership theories. Servant leadership as a construct. Kliuchnikov (2011). The article reviews three aspects of leadership: theological, psychological and sociological, theological aspects of leadership. A good solid leader should do what is right in the eyes of the lord (Focht, 2015). A servant lead rips a servant first then a leader second. Biblical anthropology states that men can only learn to lead by emulating Christ. Psychological Aspects of Leadership is concerned with the achievement of the of pragmatic task objectives (Gregory Stone, Russell & Patterson, 2004).

Sociological Aspects of leadership is concerned with developing institutions that regulate human behaviours. Mark was the shepherd king; Mathew was a compassionate Davidic shepherd. Luke was the seeking and saving shepherd, John was a self-sacrificing shepherd, Jeremiah was a righteous shepherd, Ezekiel was a faithful shepherd, Zachariah was a militant as suffering shepherd, Peter was a suffering shepherd that suffered from and with Jesus, and the slain lamb was the ruling shepherd. All these qualities of the past shepherd indicate the qualities desirable of the servant leader.

Conclusion

Christian faith can contribute significantly to the understating, and interpretation of the theory and practice of leadership. The most common theoretical foundation of a servant at leadership is the adoption of Christ-like qualities in leadership. Kingdom leadership extends beyond the church door. Leadership is both a gift from God and a responsibility. From communication, negotiation, decision-making, financial stewardship and personal development, a leader is expected to adopt a Christian worldview

Implications for theory, further research and practice

Servant leadership has often been associated with transformational leadership, However, servant leadership involves more than just charisma because it entails the adopt of the Christ-like qualities in leadership. A servant leader focuses more on doing voluntary work for others. A servant leader adopts the altruistic ethics and makes the followers a priority by committing to satisfy their needs. The findings of this study have a theory implication in that servant leadership should be distanced from conventional leadership and the adoption of Christian values or theological teachings in leadership. The future researcher should focus on how leadership development processes should focus on how to embed theological foundations in Christian and organizational leadership

References

Laniak, T. (2006). Shepherds after my own heart: Pastoral Traditions and Leadership in the Bible (New Studies in Biblical Theology). InterVarsity Press.

Osborne, G. R. (2006). The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. IVP Academic.

Timulak, L. & Creaner, M. (2013). Experiences of Conducting Qualitative Meta-Analysis. Counseling Psychology Review, 28(4), 94-104

Ayers, M. (2018). Toward a theology of leadership. Journal of biblical perspectives in leadership, 21(2).

Bekker,, C., & Phil, D. (2009). Towards a theoretical model of christian leadership. Journal Of Biblical Perspectives In Leadership, 2(2), 142-152.

Kliuchnikov, A. (2018). The Supremacy of the Theological Aspect of Leadership. Inner Resources For Leaders | School Of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship | Regent University | Virginia Beach.

Mahan, M. (2018). Toward A Restorationist Theology Of Leadership: Eldership Implications Journal Of Biblical Perspectives In Leadership, 4(1), 70-86.

Russell, R. (2003). A Practical Theology of Servant Leadership. Servant Leadership Research Roundtable, 4(4).

Focht, A. (2015). Identifying Primary Characteristics Of Servant Leadership: Delphi Study. International Journal Of Leadership Studies,, 9(1), 45-57.

Gregory Stone, A., Russell, R., & Patterson, K. (2004). Transformational versus servant leadership: a difference in leader focus. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 25(4), 349-361. doi: 10.1108/01437730410538671

Henson, J. (2017). Journal Of Biblical Perspectives In Leadership: Renewing The Vision. Journal Of Biblical Perspectives In Leadership, 7(1), 4-10.

pears, L. (2018). The Understanding and Practice of ServantLeadership. Servant Leadership Research Roundtable, 21(1).