TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP SERIES (TLS 52)

Solomon Appiah

ISA 58:12

Welcome to another week of the Transformation Leadership Series (TLS). I would

like to thank everyone for welcoming me to the DU Transformational Leadership
WhatsApp platform.

Today we will discuss Leadership as shown in 1 Corinthians 11. This chapter is

FULL of nuggets on leadership however this week we will only consider verse 1
and 3 which focus on Leadership, Mentorship and Followership.

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP SERIES

THE LEADER AS AN EXAMPLE OR PATTERN

Leadership can be described as a two-sided coin. On the one side, leaders are
expected by God to live lives that teach or influence others positively—especially
followers. Actions sometimes teach better than words. Leaders are thus expected
to live lives that others can pattern themselves after. On the other side of the
leadership coin, leaders imitate those who have gone head of them. As aspiring
transformational leaders, we must have godly role models. We must follow leaders
who follow Christ, the great Leader and Teacher of Leaders.

1 Corinthians 11:1 (AMPC) PATTERN YOURSELVES after me [follow my

example], as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah).

1 Corinthians 11:1 (Weymouth) Be imitators of me, in so far as I in turn am

an imitator of Christ.

From the above, we see that transformational leadership is about becoming

positive examples and patterns of conduct and action for others, that is, modelling
in our daily lives the life of the greatest transformational leader ever to walk the
earth—Jesus Christ. Leadership can be likened unto a continuum. Using a
thermometer as an example, Jesus as a leader is at 100 degrees. He is the perfect
mark and example of leadership. Other leaders (followers of his) may be at 70
degrees, others at 40 degrees, 20 and 10. Those whose leadership resource
development potential are lesser are admonished by the scripture to follow and
imitate those whose potential are higher.

God is Leader of Leaders and since He can only reproduce after His kind, all His
offspring are likewise leaders howbeit at different levels of manifesting sustainable
influence. This sphere and level of influence manifested is subject to how much
time, energy and prayer is invested into developing one’s leadership resource
potential. Take a look at the following verse:

1 Corinthians 11:3 (AMPC) But I want you to know and realize that Christ
is the Head of every man, the head of a woman is her husband, and the Head
of Christ is God.

The word ‘head’ can be used interchangeably with ‘leader’ for the purposes of our
study. The verse confirms that all leaders are ultimately followers and all followers
are potential leaders. There is only one Being in the Universe(s) and beyond the
Universe(s) who follows no one because he is ALL-MIGHTY. He is God the Father,
the Leader with no leader.
Even Jesus according to verse 3 is a follower. While on earth, He only did, imitated
and patterned himself after what He saw the Father doing. This is confirmed in:

John 5:19 (Weymouth) "In most solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that
the Son can do nothing of Himself--He can ONLY DO WHAT HE SEES THE
FATHER DOING; for whatever He does, that the Son does IN LIKE MANNER.

The phrase “in like manner” is instructive. It means Jesus imitated God the Father.
And His disciples imitated Jesus as Jesus imitated God.

LEADERSHIP, SUBMISSION AND APPRENTICESHIP

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP SERIES

Leadership schools have grappled with the question: Are leaders born or made?
By and large, most believe that leadership is something people can learn and
develop. Much of the discourse surrounding this point of view focuses on the
intellectual development of persons who aspire to be leaders. While intellectual
development is beneficial, it is only a fraction of leadership resource development.
Leadership is also caught by observation in a discipleship or apprentice setting.
Jesus lived with his disciples who were submitted to Him. Not only did they learn
intellectually from him but they observed His life and character, how He did things
and that accounted for part of their apprenticeship, discipleship or leadership
resource development program. This is how they became great leaders in their
own right. It is because they observed Him and His ways carefully that they could
recount what they saw in the books of the bible known as the Gospels.

BE AND EXAMPLE AND FOLLOW AN EXAMPLE

If you want to be a transformational leader, BE AN EXAMPLE to others and

FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE of Christ in others who have gone further than you in
following Christ’s leadership example.

1 Timothy 4:12 (AMPC) Let no one despise or think less of you because of
your youth, but be an EXAMPLE (PATTERN) for the believers in speech, in
conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.

1 Corinthians 11:1 (AMPC) PATTERN YOURSELVES after me [follow my

example], as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah).

The first scripture says BE AN EXAMPLE. The second says PATTERN YOURSELF
after the EXAMPLE of those who follow CHRIST.

FOCUS ON CHRIST IN OUR LEADERS

On another occasion we will discuss some criteria for selecting a godly

transformation leader to imitate. But let us for now assume that a person has
identified a godly leader to imitate. What if the leader(s) admired and looked up to

has both bad and good traits? Must the person imitate both the good and bad
traits? Honestly, only Jesus is perfect. Everybody else is a work in progress. God
gave the fivefold ministry gifts to equip his people for works of service, so that the
body of Christ may be built up until we all … attain to THE WHOLE MEASURE OF
THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST (Eph 4:12-13). This means we have not attain the full
measure yet.
What do we do then when the leader(s) we aspire to pattern ourselves after are imperfect?
The answer is in 2 Corinthians 5:16. Imitate the Christ in them and not the flesh. Put
differently, followers must learn to focus on the Christ in leaders they aspire to imitate and
not to regard them from a worldly point of view (2 Corinthians 5:16). In the beginning, the
disciples knew Jesus from a worldly point of view but as they grew, Apostle Paul wrote,
“Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer” 2 Corinthians 5:16.

Joshua followed Moses but did not imitate the anger of Moses. Samuel followed Eli but did
not inherit the negative aspects of Eli’s nature. It is possible to focus on and imitate only the
good.

WHAT IF MY LEADER MAKES A MISTAKE

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP SERIES

Leaders that followers aspire to imitate may sometimes make mistakes, get drunk on the
fruit of their labour (vine) and get naked. Some aspiring leaders who follow them may take
this as an occasion to gossip or dishonour their leaders because of the temporary
drunkenness and nakedness. More often than not, this may result in what happened to Ham
and Canaan.

It is imperative to know that as much as leaders cover followers, there are times that
followers must cover leaders like Shem and Japheth did for Noah. This leads to blessing that
elevates sons of this type above those like Ham and Canaan. The inability to understand or
appreciate this truth led to a situation where Canaan’s inheritance was given to Shem the
one who covered his leader’s nakedness (Gen 9:22-23). Who transferred the inheritance?
The leader Noah. His authority did not dissipate because he got drunk. A drunk police man
still retains his or her authority.

Genesis 9:21-23 (AMPC)

21 And he drank of the wine and became drunk, and he was uncovered and lay naked
in his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, glanced at and saw the nakedness of his father
and told his two brothers outside.
23 So Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon the shoulders of both, and WENT
BACKWARD and COVERED the NAKEDNESS of THEIR FATHER; and their faces were
BACKWARD, and they did not see their father's nakedness.

It is unwise to gaze and meditate on the mistakes and nakedness of leaders we submit to.
This is why the brothers turned their back to their father’s nakedness unlike their younger
sibling Ham. It is wisdom to focus/gaze at the Christ within and upon the leaders we aspire
to imitate. David even when hunted by King Saul saw the anointing (Christ) on King Saul
and this prevented him from a grave error of judgement. As we gaze at Christ within and
upon the leaders, we too are transfigured in the inner man into that same image of Christ—
the greatest leader and enabler to ever walk the earth.

Isaiah 26:3 shows us that GOD will keep us in perfect peace, if we stay our minds, and
thought life on God or on the Christ in the leaders we aspire to imitate or pattern ourselves
after. The opposite is also true. If we stay our minds on what we perceive are their
deficiencies, we lose our perfect peace. This promised peace that comes with how we focus
our minds, in Hebrew is defined as, “completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, health,
prosperity, tranquillity, contentment, friendship, favour etc.). This is the benefit of setting
our minds on Christ.

In our quest to become transformational leaders, let us all aim to PATTERN ourselves after
leaders, following their example, as they imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah).