Authentic Christian Leadership Reading PlanSample

The Role of Humility

The practical tension that leaders and all people in authority must deal with is the one between ability and pride. Being able – having the requisite skills, gifts, and talents – should be the basis of one's being placed in a position of authority and influence. 

Because advancement often leads to pride, however, shouldn't humility be a qualification as important as ability? It is interesting that Jesus' teaching about the need for being humble like a "little child" is linked directly with a specific consequence: that anyone causing those more vulnerable to stumble would be better off dead (Matthew 18:6). 

If we put people who lack humility into positions of authority, who is responsible? Without humility, not only may people become prideful and abusive of others, but those who have put them into those positions will have done so at the peril of their own souls. – Benjamin D. Williams

Are you practicing humility in your leadership roles?