'What is this?' said people of Jesus as recorded in the Bible. 'He teaches with such authority.' No matter what you make of the authenticity of the Bible stories there can be no doubt that a picture is painted of Jesus the leader; able to persuade people to follow him. Some left everything to do so.
How do you know if you're a leader? There are many ways. It may say so on your office door. Or in your job description. You could wear the captain's armband.
My favourite answer to that question is - look around and see if anyone is following you.
I don't particularly enjoy leadership. But I hate a leadership vacuum even more. If I'm in a group of people trying to do a job and nobody is being in charge I will, pretty rapidly, become in charge. The sorts of people who become clergy are often comfortable being in charge of projects and meetings.
A group of my friends with whom I used to co-lead once admitted that they often deliberately mucked around to see how long it would be before I took charge.
A friend I co-lead with, and trust absolutely, is happy with our joint leadership statement to our team - whoever appears to be in charge, is.
So I chuckled at the story of the Portishead annual residents' meeting that ended after six minutes because the authority of the person in the chair was not recognised.
It's tough this leadership thing. Are you in charge of stuff? How's it working out? May I commend servant leadership as the Jesus method. It involves juggling being in front, alongside and behind clearing up at various times. Let me know how it goes.
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