The Leadership Strategy of Jesus

According to Leighton Ford, who wrote Transforming Leadership in1991 (Inter Varsity Press), here are the leadership strategies of Jesus:
• HE SHOWED HIS WAY: Early followers were called people belonging “to the Way” (Acts 9:2). Jesus said “I am the way” (John 14:6). He set the direction, not so much by a detailed road map, but by His very person.
• HE SHAPED HIS PEOPLE: Jesus had succession in mind. Future leaders must be fostered. Jesus carefully picked and developed his inner core of followers and let them share the centre of His life. When the time came for him to leave, he did not need to put together a crash program of leadership development. No election was needed. The curriculum had been taught, lived out for three years among the next group of leaders who would carry his mission.
So what does this mean for the church? Certainly Jesus understood leadership to be much more than just filling vacant positions! He ‘groomed’ future leaders, not just by classroom instruction, but by the popular term of our day – mentoring. Effective leadership strategy is a long term process that involves so much more than memorizing information content.