The Definition of a Successful Leader

In my years of pastoring and counseling, I have become convinced that many of the problems we find within our leadership culture result from an unbiblical definition of success.

For a Christian leader, success should never be defined solely by experience, knowledge, skill, growth, and profit. Success should always be defined by the true condition of the leader’s heart.

If the true condition of your heart doesn’t align with what God values, your knowledge and skill can make you extremely dangerous and susceptible to sin. But because we have incorrectly defined success, we pay little attention to these dangers and become unhealthily invested in our definition of success.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not discouraging advancement, growth, and profit. All of those things can and should be used for the glory of God and His Kingdom. I think Christian leaders should set the agenda for the next meeting, make strategic hires, and seek out profitable partnerships. None of these things are wrong in and of themselves.

But most importantly, these things must never be divorced from living communion with an ever-present Christ. In my experience, Christian leaders often struggle to find humble, needy, celebratory, worshipful, and meditative communion with Christ. Sometimes it appears as if Jesus has left the building altogether.

If we don’t have a deeply personal relationship with Christ that motivates everything we do in leadership, we must conclude that our desire for advancement, growth, and profit is being fueled by something else.

OUR MOTIVATION

We, as Christian leaders, must be enthralled by, in awe of, and in love with our Redeemer so that everything we think, desire, choose, decide, say, and do is propelled by our love for Christ and anchored in our identity of His love for us.

We must be regularly exposed by, humbled by, assured by, and given rest by the grace of our Redeemer. Our heart needs to be tenderized day after day by our communion with Christ so that we become a loving, patient, forgiving, encouraging, and giving servant-leader.

Our meditation on Christ, His presence, His promises, and His provisions must not be overwhelmed by our meditation on how we will advance our ministry, church, or business. Again, we should plan for the future and pray for growth with the work God has entrusted to

us, but more than that, we should pray for our own spiritual health and meditate on our personal relationship with Jesus.

NAÏVE THINKING

It's naïve to think that all Christian leaders are propelled by love for Christ and love of His Gospel. It’s simplistic to conclude that people in ministry have a natural and abiding love for people. It’s dangerous to conclude that everyone who goes to church on the weekend is working to further God's kingdom during the week.

Maybe it sounds harsh, but it’s important to recognize that many Christian leaders have been seduced by self-glory and have lost sight of the glory of God. If they haven’t fallen for the seduction yet, their hearts are tempted every day.

No Christian leader is free from sexual temptation, fear of man, envy, greed, pride, anger, doubt of God, bitterness, and idolatry. Every leader is being reconstructed by God's grace, and in between the “already” and the “not yet”, the heart is the battleground between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self.

With that in mind, it’s essential to define success in a biblical way. We need to examine the true condition of the heart of the leader before we examine their knowledge, skill, experience, strategy, and results.

LEADERSHIP PROTECTION

Only love for Christ can defend our hearts against all other loves that have the potential to kidnap our ministry and career. Only worship of Christ has the power to protect us from all the seductive idols of leadership success that will whisper in our ear. Only the glory of the Risen Christ will guard us against the self-glory that destroys the work of so many.

Only Christ can transform an arrogant "bring on the world" leader into a patient, humble giver of grace. Only deep gratitude for a selfless Savior can make a leader willing to serve those beneath him or her. Only when your identity is firmly rooted in Christ will you find freedom from seeking to get your identity out of your leadership.

We must be careful how we define leadership success and biblical maturity; they don’t always go hand-in-hand. There’s a danger in thinking that the successful leader has a soft and humble heart that is pleasing to God. Biblical success is a vertical thing that will have a wide variety of horizontal expressions. We need to start defining leadership success in terms of a relationship to God that results in wise and humble living.