Even though Jesus walked the Earth 2,000 years ago, His leadership model has proven to be timeless and is easily adaptable to your context. The Jesus model of leadership is personal and cannot be manufactured as a program, but it can help you multiply aspiring leaders when you apply it. 

What Is the Jesus Model of Leadership?

Jesus preached to the masses and some groups were recorded to be 5,000 men, not including their families with them (Matt. 14:21). The Modern English Version of the Scripture describes how Jesus had 70 leaders that He was able to send out ahead of Him who returned with testimonies of miracles that took place (Luke 10:1-22).

Within the group of 70 leaders, Jesus had 12 close to Him that He designated as "apostles" (Mark 3:13-15). Within the 12 apostles there were three who He personally trained and who were with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 17:1-13, 26:36-46). From those three came the one who was so close to Jesus he heard His heartbeat and was entrusted with writing the book of Revelation, which completed the canon of Scripture (John 13:25).

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The military practices a similar principle of leadership as they have experienced leaders training new recruits through boot camp and at every level of their military occupational specialty. Every rank has required training and education with performance records identifying where each service member is in the training process and which also specifies where they need to grow in order to lead and advance in order to train others in their sphere of influence. Jesus did this when He identified and warned Peter of what the devil intended and gave Peter a direct charge for his leadership. Jesus said, "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have repented, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:32).

After Jesus ascended into heaven, the apostles applied this concept to their lives because Jesus modeled it for them. As a leader of a company or ministry, you must be intentional to train the trainers, which is part of what Jesus did during His ministry and was applied by the apostle Paul (2 Tim. 2:2).

John the Beloved, the disciple closest to Jesus, mentored Polycarp, who was one of three chief Apostolic Fathers who helped keep the gospel truth due to his connection to John. His writings still influence Christianity today. This is a testament to the timeless leadership model Jesus set in place and are great principles you can adopt and apply in your business or ministry context.

So what can we take away from this?

• Jesus was intentional. He hand-picked 12 to be His close disciples who were to carry on His ministry (Mark 3:13-14).
• Jesus was interested in them and wanted to invest His time with them, elaborating on the principles He taught them (Mark 4:10).
• Jesus was interactive. He asked them questions so that they could find the answers themselves (Matt. 16:13-20).
• Jesus was intimate in that He took these aspiring leaders everywhere He went and was personal with them (Luke 9:10-11).

Do you have a group or several groups of people that you are training to be leaders, outside of the formal weekly or monthly meetings? Are you implementing Jesus' strategy and constantly training leaders in order to release them into their God-given destiny and callings?

When you do this, it is one of the most exciting elements you can be part of as you continue the Jesus model of leadership.

Jared Laskey is starting Destiny Open Bible Church in Virginia Beach, VA and is a Master of Divinity student at Regent University. He lives to see Jesus awaken this generation to the power of His Holy Spirit. You can follow him on twitter @jaredalaskey, or contact him through his website, firebornministries.com. He also co-authored Veronica's Hero found on Amazon.

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