Tonight, I completed a powerful, short book by Bill Hybels, called When Leadership and Discipleship Collide. Hybels has served for years as Senior Pastor of the Willow Creek Church in Chicago, Illinois. Our staff is planning to attend the Willow Creek Leadership Summit this August.
In his book, Hybels contends that following Jesus sometimes causes us to go against established leadership principles. For example, leadership principles encourage us to surround ourselves with a team of highly qualified leaders. In contrast, Jesus chose a rag-tag group of inexperienced, unproven men to lead the Christian movement.
Hybels contends that discipleship and leadership principles occasionally collide. When the collision takes place, the Bible should always take precedence over “accepted” leadership principles. Hybels wrote:
In those rare cases when the human laws of leadership and the scriptural demands of discipleship do collide, decide on the side of discipleship every time….When the demands of discipleship articulated in the Bible collide with human laws of leadership, read my lips: Defer to the Bible. Look to the Bible. Trust the Bible. And obey the Bible….every time!
This book is a quick, easy read, but it is choked full of helpful, sage advice for anyone seeking to be a Godly leader. Read it. It won’t take long, but you’ll gain a new perspective on the relationship between discipleship and leadership.
Steve Rice 
Just wondering. Don’t good leaders surround themselves with people who are willing to follow? Sure you want people of high moral character and some apptitude, but someone who doesn’t care to “take charge” and aren’t necessarily “type A” can be more effective because they accept the vision of the “head,” and as a functioning member of the body, will do their part happily, and won’t be trying to compete all the time. I guess as a pastor, one would want folks in their respective ministries to be leaders, but they always need to serve under the authority and vision of the pastor. Your thoughts?
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Aha! Maybe that’s one of the reasons you were one of my favorite church members….not to mention your awesome voice!
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Hi Pastor! I ordered this one today…gotta love Amazon.com:) Have you by any chance read any books by Gene Edwards. This one brings “A Tale of Three Kings” to mind…it’s about leadership…and brokenness. Just wondering if you have any opinion on him.
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No Linda, I haven’t read any of those books. What are they like?
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His writing style has been compared to that of CS Lewis (can’t top him though in my opinion), but he writes in a very thought provoking style. A Tale of Three Kings is short, but it is an interesting study on the relationship of leaders with their “subjects” and how to respond to “mad” kings. Just about the time you think you’ve figured it out, he puts in an interesting twist. If you ever do come across one of his books I would love to hear your take on it:)
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