Imitating the Leadership of Paul In theory, considering the imitation of Paul’s leadership is compelling; however, in application, for modern leaders, it may be very challenging to fully emulate. This is because modern leaders are products of modern culture and embody the corresponding values, attitudes, and behaviors, which may be vastly different or even contrary from the ones that produced Paul and his contemporaries. Additionally, Paul embodied the ideal Christian leader, and as such a fully comprehensive imitation of his leadership may be beyond what most will achieve. Though, as great of a leader as Paul was, he was not perfect. “Though Paul is fully aware that he has by no means attained complete victory over sin (1 Cor 9:26-27; Php 3:12-14), he calls on the churches to imitate his pattern of life.”[1] Paul calls on others to imitate his life and leadership (1 Cor. 4:16, 11:1; 1 Thess. 1:6). It may not be easy, but it is not impossible or any less desirable and needed. The effort is worth it, and it is essential for the sake of God’s church.
From a socio-cultural perspective, the emulation of Christ as the exemplar par excellence and faithful derivative leaders ensures and sustains performance improvement and excellence both individually and collectively.[2] “[O]ne must remember that an overarching value of the Corinthian community was a belief that the members should actively model their lives on Jesus as the ultimate model, and Paul and other missionaries as existing examples. Paul regularly exhorted the community to live by particular values and codes of conduct. Consequently, we believe the community was relatively high on performance orientation.”[3] While this demonstrates the need for congregants to emulate leaders in their midst, the inference is that those leaders are godly examples and leading like Jesus, Paul, and other healthy biblical exemplars.
Though the consideration is how to imitate the leadership of Paul, Howell in Servants of the Servant observes that Paul did not command others to emulate his leadership, but rather to imitate his doctrine, faith, and speech (Php 4:9; 2 Tim 1:13).[4] “For Christ alone is their leader, whereas [Paul] is a servant commissioned to enhance their allegiance to Christ. [He] sets forth himself not as a leader to follow, but as a fellow servant to imitate."[5] So, it appears from Paul’s perspective that even though he was a leader, he did not perceive himself as being above others, but rather a fellow believer pursuing Christ and setting an example for others to emulate.
As many first-century people came to Christ, they needed to see what it looked like to be a Christian. The original twelve apostles were in the physical presence of Christ for three years and were able to see comprehensively how to be and live in a manner that glorified God. They were able to pattern their lives after His as best as they could, considering human limitations and the sin nature. Likewise, concerning Paul’s converts, “The Philippian believers were not present with Christ when He walked the earth, and they could not therefore imitate what they saw Him do. Yet they could imitate [Paul] whom they did know, and they were to do so in every way that Paul imitated Jesus.”[6] Clarke says that Paul was the only New Testament writer that called for others to imitate him as an ethical example, specifically the congregations of Thessalonica, Corinth, Galatia, and Philippi, all of which he founded.[7]
Some of the ways in which Paul wanted his congregations to emulate him were in his teaching, motives, actions, joy in suffering (1 Thess. 1:6), diligence in providing for their own needs through hard work (2 Thess. 3:7, 9), zealous persistent pursuit of Christ (Php. 3:17), and a sacrificial way of life (1 Cor. 4:16-17).[8] Walton, in Life and Leadership: The Portrait of Paul in the Miletus Speech and 1 Thessalonians, says that Paul’s type of leadership would inevitably involve suffering and servanthood that places the need of others above one’s own need, particularly support of the weak.[9] He also comments that Christian discipleship and leadership is about “Christlikeness, about doing and teaching what Jesus taught and did … (4.1; 5.12; the teaching of Jesus 4.16f ), a model that is to be passed on to the next generation of believers (1.6; 4.1).”[10] In the profile of a servant leader, which Paul was, Howell states that the “fundamental identity of all servant leaders [is] character, motive and agenda.”[11] Regarding the character of the leader, it concerns a “person’s moral constitution, in which is embedded a stable set of values. For the biblical leader, these values are conditioned by revealed truth recorded in Holy Scripture.”[12]
Though it is essential for Christian leaders to emulate Paul’s leadership, as has been delineated in the discussion to this point, it may be difficult for a modern leader to conceptualize what it would look like in their modern world. Forrest and Roden provide a glimpse into how a contemporary leader may imitate Paul’s type of leadership in a modern context.
The implications of leading like Paul are manifold. Such an approach to ministry might find application in something as mundane and symbolic as repainting the church parking lot, so that a reserved spot marked “pastor” no longer exists. Or it might involve something much more significant, such as forgoing the right to a paycheck from the church, as Paul did with the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:6-18). Imitating Paul might even lead to difficult sacrifice of status within the congregation itself – such as sharing the pulpit with another leader whom God has clearly gifted to teach. Indeed, giving away ministry may be at the heart of servant leadership, as it works itself out in day-to-day church life.[13]
Paul as a great leader sought not self-veneration or self-aggrandizement. He sought to exalt Christ in his life and ministry, and while working within a team ministry context, to prepare future church leaders who in turn would prepare others, with the intent to keep the gospel advancing temporally and geographically. Conclusion Imitating the leadership of Paul as this work has demonstrated entails much and will require consistent and persistent effort in all facets of one’s life and ministry. Paul’s leadership was not only influenced by his person but was rather directly reflective of it. Similarly, the leadership of modern church leaders will be directly informed by who they are as a person. Therefore, to imitate the leadership of Paul, one must emulate the person of the Apostle Paul as he had imitated Jesus.
Additionally, emulating Paul’s leadership will require the praxis of team ministry, self-sacrifice, hard work, stringent self-examination and self-correction, a passionate and undistracted pursuit of Jesus, perpetually meeting the church leadership criteria, and giving away ministry to future leaders that the Lord is preparing. Ultimately, imitating the leadership of Paul essentially is trying to imitate the leadership of Jesus, as Paul himself was seeking to be Christlike and lead out of that likeness.
While not many may be a genius like Paul or had the life and educational opportunities that Paul had, nonetheless, every modern church leader has the Paraclete living within them, thus the divine power to conform to the image of Christ, and lead not just as Paul did, but like Jesus. Even if it is not a perfect representation by the modern church leader, it is far better than trying to lead a ministry with one’s own power and insight, which would be oxymoronic, as the church is Christ’s, and one needs His strength and guidance to lead it well. Therefore, as one relies on the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, they will lead Christ’s church with their maximum potential that the Lord gave them, whatever that may be, and that will be pleasing to Him. Then they will be doing as Paul did as he relied on the Paraclete and utilized all that he was to glorify the Lord Jesus through his person and leadership.
Footnotes [1]Howell, 265. [2]Green et al., “Assessing the Leadership Style of Paul and Cultural Congruence of the Christian Community at Corinth Using Project Globe Constructs,” Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership 2, no. 2, (Summer 2009), 18. [3]Ibid. [4]Howell, 265. [5]Ibid., 265-266. [6]Ligonier Ministries, “The Imitation of Paul,” accessed June 5, 2020, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/the-imitation-of-paul/. [7]Clarke, 174. [8]Ibid. [9]Steve Walton, Leadership and Lifestyle: The Portrait of Paul in the Miletus Speech and 1 Thessalonians (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 184. [10]Walton, 184. [11]Howell, 296. [12]Ibid. [13]Forrest and Roden, 418.
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