The transforming leader : The characterization of Jesus as leader in Matthew’s call narratives and its implications for pastoral leadership today

Författare

Daniel Hjort

Summary, in English

The first part of this paper discusses how Jesus is presented as a leader in the call narratives in the Gospel of Matthew (4.18–22). By making use of a biographical-narrative reading of Matthew, which takes the biographical genre seriously and pays attention to the narrative development of the story, and modern understanding of leadership, mainly by making use of transformational leadership theories, it is possible to shed light on the presentation of Jesus as a good leader in this passage. The calling narratives clearly emphasize the leadership role of Jesus. Contrary to the view of many scholars these narratives do not emphasize the authority of Jesus, but his attraction as leader. Jesus is unmistakably presented as a role model for his followers, who are to imitate him. The author also portrays Jesus as an empowering leader who develops his followers into leaders.

In the second part of the paper the relevance of the findings from the Gospel of Matthew for pastoral leadership today is outlined. The portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew as the good leader and the model for his disciples also encourages us to see Jesus as a model for leadership. The calling narratives in Matthew thus help pastors today to see essential characteristics in pastoral leadership. Today’s pastors are surrounded by a multitude of opinions about how they should lead and what it means to be a Christian leader. Matthew’s portrait of Jesus suggests that two aspects are central in pastoral leadership. The pastor is supposed to lead the people by being a model and thus showing with his life how a Christian life is to be lived. Pastoral leadership also needs to be empowering leadership and the leader has to focus on developing followers to become leaders themselves.

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