There was a time when leadership was as it should be all of the time, when motivations were always pure, when goals were not bent out of shape with unholy ambitions, and when the actions of a leader were right and good and pure. With all the corrupted or apathetic leadership that we have observed, it can be tempting to reject leadership as a whole, but leadership was not always tainted by sin. Before the rebellion and destruction found in Genesis 3, there is the beauty of God granting stewardship to humanity. The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. (Genesis 2:15)
God, of course, was not in need of our help. He was not exhausted or running low on creativity. In His grace, He chose to include us, even handing responsibility of naming the animals to Adam. Adam became a leader, or a steward, because God made him one. God is still the One who gives leadership to people “since there is no authority except from God” (Romans 13:1).
Leadership before it was tainted consisted of watching over and working.
Watching Over
Adam tended to the garden where God placed him. One could think of “watching over” as strategic—setting an overarching direction. One could also think of it as culture-building—caring about the beliefs and values that guide how people treat one another and view their world. “Watching over” is what leaders sometimes refer to as “leading at a high level” or “getting out of the weeds,” or “working on the business and not just in the business.”
Working
If “watching over” is leading at 30,000 feet, then “working” is leadership on the ground. If “watching over” is a strategy session at a dry-erase board, “working” is continually doing the important things over and over again. From the first leadership assignment in the garden of Eden, leadership has always turned into hard work. Work was initially holy and good, given by God to humanity before sin messed everything up. Untainted leadership includes offering your best towards what has been entrusted to you.
Because “watching over” was given before Adam’s disobedience, the “watching over” tasks of strategy, planning, systems, setting direction, and implementing values should not be rejected as secular or unholy. They can be expressions of faithful stewardship. And because the responsibility to “work the garden,” was given before Adam’s insistence that he could judge for himself what is right, the ground-level and laborious leadership actions we take every week can be holy and meaningful. The meetings, the emails, the finishing a task by an agreed upon deadline, and the executing the same process for the good of people can all be holy. In other words, untainted leadership includes some of what is bemoaned as unholy or worldly.
Because of our sinfulness, we are prone to turn the “watching over” and the “working” towards our own glory. But by God’s grace we can watch over and work in ways that honor Christ and serve people well.
Adapted from an article I initially wrote for Outreach Magazine.
