Human beings are created in the image of God. This profound truth implies that a sovereign capacity—a self-governing dignity—resides in every person, mirroring the sovereignty of God Himself. The purpose of leadership, as it commonly appears in human affairs, is to ensure order and prevent the chaos born of lawlessness. Yet the very need for governance underscores a departure from original design: it is a degraded humanity that requires external guidance and rule. An ideal person, perfectly exemplified in Jesus Christ, has no need of human leadership, just as God has no need of being led.
In a world fractured by imperfection, leadership seems indispensable; but Christianity, representing the Kingdom of God, operates on an altogether different plane. Within that kingdom, leadership structures—as the world understands them—become unnecessary. The statement is as strange as God’s Kingdom is strange in this world. Few things expose the peculiarity of the human condition as vividly as our deep attachment to leadership.
Consider the present: Russia finds itself embroiled in a war whose reasons may escape the understanding of many of its own people. Yet the conflict receives widespread support simply because it carries the endorsement of the nation’s leader, who is often viewed with an almost divine reverence. A leader holding the opposite view would likely command equally unquestioning loyalty. Frequently, leaders are accorded a level of respect that borders on worship—even in the absence of merit. This glorification is symptomatic of a cultural condition rooted in idol worship. Alongside this, there is the practical appeal: proximity to power offers the hope of favour and personal advantage.
There is a sense of safety among those who dwell under a leader’s protection, though the leader himself remains, in essence, enslaved. He may appear content, but his soul is not free, conscious as he is of the inescapable mortality that awaits him. To live under a leader’s dominion is to inhabit a state of bondage, for the leader too is bound by servitude. A leader is necessary only for those groping in ignorance. At its best, leadership embodies the visionary capacity to guide others toward safety. It can therefore be categorized as either positive or negative. A positive leader steers people toward true security; a negative leader drives them toward ruin. Discerning this distinction is essential to grasping the true essence of leadership.
Ineffective leadership commonly reveals itself through self-interest and the abuse of power, bringing untold hardship to those under its sway. The world’s widespread lack of effective leadership can often be traced to the election of self-centred individuals to positions of authority. Armed with the tools of power, these negative leaders can make life unbearable for their subjects. In a democracy, when the majority of voters are themselves self-centred, they are likely to elect a leader who mirrors their own traits. This dynamic creates suffering for the entire community, yet no one takes responsibility—especially not those who voted that leader into office.
Negative leaders often find protection among people of dubious ethical standing within their inner circles. The led, resembling accomplices, also seek shelter under the wing of a corrupt leader. They are ready to risk their lives for him, knowing that his downfall would imperil them as well. This explains why even the most despotic rulers are fiercely defended, despite being widely condemned by the masses. Their primary focus is self-preservation, not the welfare of the people they claim to lead. Negative leaders detest criticism; positive leaders, by contrast, are generally known for welcoming honest critique and demonstrating readiness to change.
Seasoned dictators routinely lavish rewards on their inner circle to secure loyalty. These confidants may even be permitted to engage in illegal activities, which can later be used as leverage for blackmail, ensuring continued allegiance. True freedom comes from escaping these spiritual shackles. All of this raises the pivotal question: Is leadership necessary at all? When leadership is rightly ordered, people rejoice. As the Book of Proverbs states: “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan” (Proverbs 29:2 NKJV). Effective leadership begins with a thorough understanding of the role—aiming to provide robust, servant-hearted guidance.
A good leader differs from a bad one in that the good leader surrounds himself with people of integrity rather than with unscrupulous allies. He aspires for those he leads to surpass him, thereby fostering a sustainable and positive future. This is the leadership style that brings genuine joy to followers. The global landscape is often divided into “third world” and “first world” countries, but at root, the affliction of the third world is the rise of negative individuals to leadership. Positive leadership alone can elevate a nation’s status.
Contrary to the view that a good leader must be the most intelligent person in the room, a truly good leader is one who, though not necessarily the best thinker himself, can recognize the best thinkers among those he leads. Good leaders put the right people in the right positions. This can be appreciated by examining the world’s most successful organizations. Even in football, the most successful teams have coaches who know how to select the best players. The coach may never have been a star player, but he possesses the discernment to assign each role perfectly.
Spiritually advanced individuals do not need leaders, believing that their state of being transcends such a need for external direction. They consider themselves akin to God’s children, living beyond the realm of coercive human authority. Conversely, those fixated on the physical realm often find leadership essential to navigating challenges and prize the insight of an informed guide. This dependency on a leader to carry their burdens fosters a submissive mindset toward other people, without which survival feels impossible. The Israelites found themselves in precisely this condition when they implored God to give them a king.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
“According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, heed their voice.
“However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behaviour of the king who will reign over them.” So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. And he said, “This will be the behaviour of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots.
“He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plough his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.
“He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. So the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every man go to his city.” (1 Samuel 8:4-22 NKJV)
This passage seems largely unknown to most Christians, who often assume that leadership is inherently virtuous in God’s eyes. Why did God identify the Israelites’ demand for a human king as yet another way of rejecting Him? Because the request clearly violated the first of the Ten Commandments, God was not impressed. The unseen God, to whom they were supposed to remain attached, was accessible through their inherent capacity to reason and relate. Any departure from that truth amounted to straying into confusion.
The Israelites were meant to be a light, setting an example, not mimicking the customs of surrounding nations. Despite God’s stark warnings about the pitfalls of human rulers, they persisted. People often prefer leadership because it allows them to abdicate personal responsibility. Following a human leader is workable only when that leader himself adheres to God’s laws. Through Samuel’s intermediation, God communicated with the Israelites before finally granting their request. Their long experience of God’s deliverance since leaving Egypt had not cultivated an appreciation for the divine relationship they were offered.
The health of humanity hinges on a principle as simple as treating another person as one would like to be treated. That principle does not require human leadership—only mutual understanding achieved through effective communication. If all humanity truly grasped what it means to be a brother’s keeper, why would hierarchical leadership be necessary? From this vantage point, we can perceive the profound value of Jesus and His teachings. Leadership, in the coercive, worldly sense, was never endorsed by God, who created humanity in His own image from the beginning.
Even though the Israelites’ desire for a monarch was misguided, God permitted it as a lesson, akin to the instructive outcome of Adam eating the forbidden fruit. The request for a king seems perplexing given the presence of God’s laws and their inherent sufficiency. Yet the Israelites favoured the worldly practices of other nations over God’s seemingly less popular decrees. Lacking the Holy Spirit, humans are inherently weak and crave tangible guidance. Saul, who embodied the people’s ideals of a king, was consecrated as Israel’s first monarch. Through Israel’s quest for human leadership, God laid bare human imperfection.
Jesus taught His disciples that true greatness means commitment to serving one’s fellow human beings. This is the heart of effective leadership in the Kingdom: the leader prioritizes the needs of the followers over personal gain. Accustomed to the privileges of rank, some disciples sought prominent positions, assuming that leadership implies advantage over others. Yet the Kingdom of God is self-sustaining and, in its purest expression, needs no human leadership as the world defines it. Jesus seized the moment to explain true greatness in unmistakable terms.
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28 NKJV)
Jesus introduced a culture radically opposed to the secular notion that leaders deserve to be served and revered. That secular model is often tied to negative leadership, which exploits followers and places self-interest above the welfare of others. While Jesus envisioned selfless service as the hallmark of His followers, many Christian organizations today practice the opposite. They align themselves with secular patterns and thereby absorb Christianity into the worldly order. Jesus taught spiritual principles that remain uncommon in secular contexts.
Created in God’s image, human beings should, in theory, have no intrinsic need for hierarchical leadership. Jesus proposed a community without masters—looking to Him alone for guidance—where no one on earth is called “father” or “teacher” in a domineering sense (Matthew 23:8-12). Spirit beings, self-governing like their Creator, require no oversight. Only in their physical limitations do humans perceive the necessity for leadership. As free spirit beings with perfect communication, such constraints would not exist. For now, as the embodied children of God, serving those less informed becomes our core calling.
Throughout His three-and-a-half-year ministry, Jesus demonstrated an industriousness unparalleled in human history. He was a teacher more than He was a leader in the worldly mould. His followers, elevated to that same calling, are expected to act accordingly. Jesus fulfilled every dimension of righteous human conduct so that no single Christian can claim to embody all that He fulfilled. This shapes the entire implication of the Christian life.
In other species, what we might call “leadership” is instinctual: each member performs its designated role according to an inherent plan. Honey bee colonies, for instance, display a complex social structure with a queen, drones, and worker bees, each fulfilling its task for the perpetuation of the hive. This system is highly organized and efficient, with every bee doing its part. A careful observation reveals that each species is equipped for self-regulation. Humans, in their elevated status as God’s children, ought to mirror these divine traits.
After the monarchy was established, Israel experienced alternating prosperity and adversity under its human kings. Initially, Saul, David, and Solomon ruled a united Israel. Following Solomon’s death, however, the kingdom fractured: ten tribes broke away to form a separate kingdom under a new ruler. The division fulfilled God’s earlier warning about the consequences of demanding a monarch. The line of David, from which the Messiah would come, remained over Judah and lasted longer than the breakaway tribes.
In Christian theology, it is held that at Jesus’ return, He will reign over the restored throne of David for a millennium, bringing the present era of flawed human governance to an end. The very concept of leadership as a dominating structure is unique to fallen humanity and is not naturally applicable to other creatures except through instinct. God’s original intention was never for human beings to be ruled by one another. The new order is depicted in the vision of God’s Kingdom after this present world ceases to exist, as shown in Revelation 22. As beings created in God’s image, humans possess the innate capacity to govern themselves under God. Jesus established the Church and offered a promise of something imperishable. It is essential to reassess the significance of this institution, as confirmed to His disciples:
When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20 NKJV)
In this discourse, Jesus unveiled previously unknown truths, declaring that those incorporated into this institution would become children of God. Such individuals are not ultimately subject to earthly systems of domination. They call no one on earth “Father” in a spiritual sense, having re-established a living connection with their heavenly Father. Guided by Jesus, they require no earthly overlords—only the call to serve others selflessly (Matthew 23:8-12). As members of this Church, our responsibility is to unfailingly serve in whatever capacity God has bestowed upon each of us. None is superior, and none is inferior.
Andrew Masuku is the author of Dimensions of a New Civilisation, laying down standards for uplifting Zimbabwe from the current state of economic depression into a model for other nations worldwide. A decaying tree provides an opportunity for a blossoming sprout. Written from a Christian perspective, the book is a product of inspiration, relieving those who have witnessed the strings of unworkable solutions, leading to the current economic and social decay. Most Zimbabweans should find the book to be a long-awaited providential oasis of hope, in a simple conversational tone.
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