I have been thinking a lot about leadership and consensus building, especially among other leaders. My desire in building consensus in a group, especially in a group of leaders has always been that the group, through open, honest and transparent discussion, can find themselves at the same conclusion. I think this is the ideal situation, but I don’t think it is practical to expect it to work that simply.

A good leader among leaders must be open to the perspectives, ideas and divergent courses of other leaders and people in a group or on a team. But, a good leader must also very clearly know where he or she is leading the group or organization and only allow that course to be deterred when clear error is revealed in the course he or she has set. Aside from that possibility, it is the leaders responsibility to set the course, listen to the ideas and thoughts of others, assimilate and adjust as necessary and finally direct the course accepting the fact that unseen errors may still exist.

I don’t see many, if any, examples of leaders in the Bible who lead by consensus, unless they were abdicating their leadership to the rebellious, sinful nature of the group. Leaders cannot afford to let their team flounder on the map making exercise too long or the opportunity to take the trip will be lost or worse; the team will loose interest in the destination all together. Leaders must keep their team moving, must patiently but firmly set a direction and call for an assent to and support of that direction from the rest of the team.

A Christian leader faces the compelling requirement to be a humble servant to everyone on the team and at the same time assert his or her authority. A Christian leader has responsibility to those to lead with love, humility and purposeful, assertive authority. I pray for the leaders of churches to lead as they are called to lead, otherwise the church will flounder like a ship without a rudder.