1 Peter 5

Ah, 1 Peter 5! The end of the book we have been going through for the last seven weeks. And still, a challenge to our way of life. How do you lead? Are you an authoritarian? Are you a lead-by-example kind of leader? Are you a negligent leader? Whatever your style, you are a leader in some respect in your life. But now we have instructions on the kind of leader we are to be.

For so long many of us have been taught that leadership can follow a pyramid metaphor. The chief leader is on top of the pyramid, and the various layers of leadership trickle down from there. Then we morphed that into an inverted pyramid to show the idea of servant leadership, where those on the front lines are the ones being empowered, and the chief leader is truly the chief servant. What if there was a better way to think of leadership? What if it was not a hierarchical model at all?

Perhaps if we thought of a sheep pen in the form of a circle, it would help. The sheep and the shepherd(s) are in the pen together. They are all mingling about, and the shepherd is simply the one showing the sheep where to go and what to do. They are all in it together, but there is an example to follow. I think that is a little bit closer to the model of leadership Peter is describing in 1 Peter 5. We are to be humble toward one another, and elders are to lead out of a servant's heart by example. How does this match the style of leadership you employ? Without giving up the role of authority, how could you lead more along these lines, and would it be effective?