Two types of Christian leaders and discipleship

 A lot of clever people have already written about leadership in the church, the different styles of leadership and more...

However, I have recently become convinced that there are only two types of leaders in the Christian church and all the other kinds or types of leaders can be divided into one of these kinds of leaders. This is especially true for those leaders who consider themselves as "making disciples" (Matt.28:18-20) of others. Because this shines the light on the most important aspect of leadership in the church... disciples of whom? 

As a leader/disciple-maker I can be making followers either of me, or followers of Christ Jesus. I can teach people to learn from me or to learn from Jesus through his Word and by his Spirit. I can teach people to be led by me or to be led by the Holy Spirit. I can teach people to hear the voice of the great Shepherd of our lives (Jesus) or I can be teaching them to hear my voice. To read the Bible and interpret it as I do. To learn what the Bible teaches (correctly) from me, rather than from the Holy Spirit. To become dependent on people (me, or the leadership of my church) in order to "rightly divide the word of the truth". At the end of the day, these are the only two types of Christian leaders, those who teach other to hear and follow Jesus Christ, or those who teach others to follow them.

Now I can already hear the counter argument, "But Paul taught the Corinthians to follow him!" (1 Cor.11:1). True, but only half true, they were to follow him, but only to the extent that he followed Christ, because that is the rest of the sentence (and where the emphasis should be), "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." As more mature Christians, I should indeed teach those who are younger in the faith to follow my example... as I follow Christ. I should be teaching them how to hear the voice of Jesus, how to be led by the Holy Spirit, how to read the Bible as the Word of God. I should not be telling them primarily what the Bible teaches, but how to read and understand it for themselves. I should not just demonstrate how to live a Spirit-filled life, led by the Holy Spirit, but teach them how be led by the Spirit and pray for them to be filled with the Spirit of God. I should be teaching them how to discern false teaching, not tell them who the false teachers are or just identify the false teachings for them. This is the calling of leaders in the church, to teach us how to follow Jesus (Eph.4:11-16).

This has profound implications for all aspects of the church. No longer is a leader in a position of power and status. His authority is derived only from the extent to which he make Jesus known in word and deed, by becoming a servant, like his Lord (Matt.23, Phil.2). We are all followers of Jesus, who alone is the head of the church (Col.1:18-20), leading us by his Holy Spirit. And the human leaders are meant to teach us how to hear his voice for ourselves, to follow Him to the end. They are not to make us dependent on them in order for us to hear Him or follow Him. This will also free us from the need to "belong" to a certain leader or denomination. No, they all belong to Jesus Christ (if they truly follow Him) and therefore as servants to us, not us to them. We should follow them to the extent that they follow Christ. At the end of the day, this is the only unity that matters, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph.4:3). A leadership of autocracy will hate this. A "leadership" of "the people decide" (democracy) will hate this. But this is the Kingdom (Reign) of Jesus, the only King Messiah (Christ) to which He called us.

Which kind of leader are you? And which kind of leaders do you follow?