Perhaps here we should paraphrase John, suggesting that if every leadership principle available in the Gospels or in Acts were written down, the whole world might not have room for the books that would be written (John 21:25). But several principles stand out with piercing impact for today's church:

• Leadership is servanthood. A servant is a person who submits her own will in order to please her master—and others—without any assurance of reward. Someone once asked Lorne Sanny how it is possible to know whether one functions as a servant. Sanny replied, "By the way you react when people treat you like one."
• Leadership is stewardship. We need not do a detailed study of oikonomos to emphasize the concept of stewardship. In the dynamic parable of the faithful and wise manager, we can see that the manager is placed in charge of other servants not to give them their orders but to give them their food allowance. He holds an absolute responsibility for awareness of the master's will and carries out his tasks within the light of the master's return.