Gary Bredfeldt And Leadership Summary

In 2006, Gary Bredfeldt published Great Leader, Great Teacher: Recovering the Biblical Vision for Leadership, a book concerning church leadership. Essentially, the thesis of his book was that church leaders should practice leadership according the Bible and, therefore, the fundamental quality of biblical leadership is the proper teaching of Scripture (15). Bredfeldt presented the reasoning behind the significance of teaching, the importance of prioritizing teaching, and recognizing the need for relevant, biblical, sound teaching. The importance discussed how teachers are significant as leaders since they possess power and influence. By providing biblical examples, such as Ezra, Moses, and Jesus, Bredfeldt argued that leaders need to adjust

It is biblical because the Bible repeatedly focuses on the leaders’ role as teachers. Since the first the author, Moses, the Bible has urged leaders to teach. Namely, Deuteronomy 4 urged people to teach their children. Another passage that Moses wrote concerning teaching is Exodus 18:20. Furthermore, David wrote that God commanded the ancestors of Israel to teach the established statutes to the children of Israel (Psalm 78:5). In addition, Bredfeldt correctly cited biblical teachers, such as Jesus and Ezra, who led by teaching. Paul unambiguously included the teaching aspect of leadership in 1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:9, and 2 Timothy 2:24. Although other aspects are beneficial in leadership, as the Bible emphatically focused on the proper teaching of God’s Word, biblical leaders should focus on the teaching aspect of leadership. They should prioritize the teaching of God’s Word as the Apostles did. Peter and the rest of the Apostles understood the urgency of teaching God’s Word; therefore, they appointed deacons to focus on administrational matters, while they taught God’s Word (Acts 6). Bredfeldt’s thesis in his book is significant since leaders may mistakenly consider themselves biblical overseers when they exclusively focus on the administrational affairs of the church, while failing to adhere to Paul’s qualifications in becoming an overseer: failing to divide the Word of God soundly and being able to accurately teach God’s