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Ken Blanchard, co-founder of Lead Like Jesus, believes that Jesus is the greatest leadership role model. Read the following article to see what he has to say about utilizing Jesus' leadership skills to successfully lead your family...

By looking at how Jesus might lead your family, I hope you will learn how to build a more loving relationship with your spouse, children and extended family - no matter how you were raised and no matter what challenges your family faces. 

To lead your family like Jesus, there are four domains - your heart, your head, your hands and your habits. Let's take a look at each.

Your Heart

First comes the Heart of leading your family like Jesus. Your heart has to do with a couple of things. One is character, which is the sum of all of your capabilities and how you use those to live your life in the way that God created you. He has a plan for your life and He wants you to serve people, not to be served. 

The second part of the heart is your intentions. Are you actually serving God and serving your family, or are you really interested in serving yourself? If I asked you, which would you check on this survey?

I'm a servant leader

I'm a self-serving leader

I'm a little of both

Most people would say, "I'm a little of both." Why? It is reality. The Lord made us in His image and made us loving, caring, serving human beings, but then He gave us free will, which allows our egos to get in the way, and we want things to be our way.

Your Head

The second domain of leading your family like Jesus is the Head. This is the viewpoint or belief about leading and influencing your family. Servant leadership is the only leadership approach that Jesus ever endorsed.

There are two parts to servant leadership. First is the leadership part, which is vision, direction and goals. Leadership is about going somewhere. If your family doesn't know where you want them to go, they'll have a hard time getting there - let alone get excited about the journey. You've got to start with a sense of direction and goals. The second part is about implementation, which is how you help your family live according to the vision and accomplish your goals. 

A compelling vision tells you who you are (your purpose), where you are headed (your picture of the future), what's going to guide your journey (your values) and what you should focus on right now (your goals).

Did Jesus have a vision for His disciples? He called them and said, "Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). That was the business they were in. What do you think the picture of the future was? "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19).

What about values? The Pharisees came to Him and asked, "Which is the most important Commandment?" What did Jesus say? "Love God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul and love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew 22:37-40). It's all about love.

Then what about goals? He was clear on goals, particularly on the first commission when He told them what to wear, where to stay and told them to preach, "The Kingdom of God is near" (Matthew 10:6-7).

People say to me, "Blanchard, did you have a purpose and mission statement for your family?" We did. In fact, our son, Scott, says, "When I was young and got into trouble, which I often did, I wish I was disciplined like my friends. But, no, I had to go down to the dinner table and tell my mother, father and sister why my behavior was inconsistent with family values, which had been established in an offsite retreat."

We realized that if we didn't provide our family with a clear vision to serve, our kids would end up serving themselves. They would become self-centered. We wanted to get into their hearts that life is not just about them. As the Bible says,

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained. -Proverbs 29:18 

To learn about the last two parts of leading your family like Jesus, your hands and your habits, subscribe to TwoTen Magazine for free here.