Is God a leader?

To get better as leaders the best place to begin is by looking at the question - Is God a leader? 

This may seem like an unnecessary question. If God isn’t a leader, then why do we follow Him?

Leaders have followers. The imagery so often made in scripture is that of God being a shepherd. Perhaps what is the best-known Psalm states:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters…
Psalm 23:1(NIV)

People are ‘…the sheep of his pasture.’ (Psalm 100:3). We follow Him. ‘Followership’ takes humility which is essential to leadership. So, the first requirement of any Christian leader is to be a humble follower. 

God of course is the ultimate leader, and Jesus makes it very clear by His example and teaching what leadership ought to look like. It comes as no surprise that Jesus, as the consummate leader, has over 2.4 billion people in today’s world who claim they follow Him.

As human beings made in His image and likeness, we will inevitably lead as those designed to be faithful stewards of all creation.

If God is a leader, then so are we!

God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV)

This account of creation pulls strongly on leadership language. Humanity portrays the image of God, and this includes leadership. Even in our fallen state this image is never taken back. As His image bearers we are to continue under Him as those who represent him on the earth. Humanity's purpose on earth, and how much more the redeemed, is to lead our world as God’s vice-regents.

Psalm 8 restates what Genesis taught us:

… what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honour. You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet: all sheep and oxen, and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
Psalm 8:5-8 (NIV)

Have you ever noticed God didn’t say when he stood back and looked at creation - ah perfect!

He simply said it was very good. Because in creating humankind He chose to involve us in the ongoing work of creating order, beauty, invention, innovation and maybe even cleanliness! Creation was not perfect in the sense that it could not be made better. This is the human task.

To quote Richard Middleton:

"In the Bible the pristine world that God made is open to improvement by the exercise of human cultural power, a calling granted humans on creation."

It’s a high calling and huge responsibility to use the power we have to transform our earthly environments for the glory of God and the good of humanity.

What does this have to do with the Global Leadership Summit (GLS)?

At the Global Leadership Network United Kingdom and Ireland (GLN UKI) we genuinely believe that when a leader gets better everyone wins. We can and must get better as leaders.

When God created the cosmos the author of Proverbs writes:

By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.
Proverbs 3:19-20 (NIV)

This triad of wisdom, understanding and knowledge is what we are instructed to use when we build a house.

"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures."
Proverbs 24:3-4 (NIV)

This can be applied to any endeavour we apply ourselves to. We need wisdom, understanding and knowledge.

A few years back, we felt really stuck in our leadership. We were praying, going to as many church conferences as we could and working hard. But we were stalled. We then attended the Global Leadership Summit (GLS) and heard someone speak who was a leading authority in their sphere of influence. What they spoke about made such sense, so we went back to our ‘house building’ and tried it – and it worked!

We were shocked because as far as we knew the person we’d learned from was not even a believer! Though we are all made in the image and likeness of God, so therefore maybe it is true that ‘all truth is God’s truth’. We have consistently heard wisdom, knowledge and understanding through GLS. Who doesn’t want to grow in these things?

Events and resources to equip leaders for change

 GLN UKI holds Global Leadership Summits in partnership with local churches across the country, bringing together academics, thought leaders, pastors and leading practitioners to challenge us to grow and become a catalyst for change.

GLN UKI goes beyond summits, with leadership resources available year-round, programmes that inspire, equip, and connect pastors, Kingdom-minded leaders, community and business leaders, the next-generation, and men and women in prisons to help them discover their purpose and become leaders for positive change.

This is our vision to help leaders get better to bring about transformation in our world.

What’s your vision and can we help you?

Why not join us at a GLS near you…