Are You A Leader or a Manager?

One of the most common discussions in the leadership literature these days is the difference between a “leader” and a “manager.” A recent article in the Wall Street Journal described the difference this way: The leader innovates, the manager administrates; the leader is an original, the manager is a copy; the leader develops, the manager maintains. While it’s clear that both are needed on any effective leadership team, it’s also clear that managers would have nothing to do if there weren’t real leaders and that leaders would not get anything done without managers. (On a sidebar, it’s my view that good leaders know how to manage and good managers know how to lead.) While we like to describe the significant difference between these two, my question is this: From God’s perspective, are we leaders or managers?

One of the key differences between leaders and managers is the simple fact that the leader is also the “owner,” and it is the responsibility of the manager to coordinate and administrate the assets of the business in a way that causes it to be healthy, grow and multiply. In that sense, God is always the leader and the rest of us are always managers. Because God has made everything, God owns everything; and because God owns everything, God has authority over all things and is the leader of all things. And because God owns and leads all things, the rest of us own and lead – nothing! We are always, in every situation, the managers of something owned by God. God only “loans” us certain things to manage.

There is a very interesting example of this truth in the book of Leviticus. In the Hebrew calendar the 50^th year was to be the “Year of Jubilee,” the year of restoration. The land was to be allowed to rest, all debts were to be cancelled, all slaves were to be set free. Most amazingly, everyone was to return to the land originally assigned their family by God. During the previous 49 years some families may have fallen on hard times and been forced to sell their family farm (or even themselves into slavery). At the end of the 49 years, some had a great deal of wealth in land and assets while others had sunk into abject poverty. But on the Year of Jubilee, all the land was to be given back and everyone was to start over again with a clean slate and an equal playing field. Why? What was God’s perspective of this situation? “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers . . . for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 25:23, 55). Simply put, the land did not belong to the people; the people did not belong to the people. God alone was the owner of everything; it was the responsibility of the people to manager what belonged to God according to his instructions.

This unique Kingdom perspective on leadership was a prominent theme in the teachings of Jesus. He taught the disciples a parable about what it means to be a “faithful and wise manager” (Luke 12:42-48). Such a manager is trusted by the owner and is put “in charge of his servants,” is given responsibility to oversee and care for the servants in the owners household. If he is faithful and fruitful, the manager may also be put “in charge of all his possessions.” While the manager has clear authority and responsibility, he never forgets that his authority was delegated to him by the owner so that he could manage the owner’s assets in the most productive way possible. But what if the manager begins to feel like he is the owner? What if he begins to misuse his authority in a way that is not only presumptuous and arrogant but also destructive to the interests of the owner? In that case, he will eventually be punished by the owner. In another place, Jesus taught a parable about a shrewd manager that concluded with a lesson about managing temporary things with an eye on eternal rewards (Luke 16:1-13). Jesus ended his parable with these famous words: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” (Luke 16:11-12).

Pastoral leaders are responsible to manage their own family well as a sign of their faithful leadership in the local church (1 Timothy 3:3-4, 12). God has given each of us certain gifts, not to own but to manage in the context of God’s Kingdom. “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).

So who is the leader? What does God own and is therefore in charge of? God owns our very lives. God owns our families. God owns our time. God owns all of our stuff. God owns our talents, abilities, spiritual gifts. God owns our relational connections. God owns our educational and vocational accomplishments. God owns everything – and we own nothing! But we have a solemn responsibility with eternal consequences; we are to be wise, productive stewards of anything and everything God has “loaned” to us. Every aspect of our lives is to be seen in the context of its potential to fulfill the will of God and reveal the glory of God. So what has God loaned to you to manage? And what kind of manager are you?