ACADEMIA Letters Refection on four leadership attributes of Jesus Christ and their relevance to contemporary church leaders Phumezile Kama, Tshwane University of Technology Abstract This paper explores the nature of leadership styles demonstrated by Jesus in his ministry. The gospels record the life, teaching and ministry of Jesus Christ as a foundation of Christianity and Christian leadership. In this article, some foundational theological assertions for Christian leadership will be identifed. The aim is to explain how Jesus Christ leadership fts intocon- temporary church leadership with regard to areas of ministries and governance. Keywords:Transformational leadership, servant leadership, transcendental leadership, spir- itual leadership, Church leader 1. Introduction Generally, leadership is described in terms of interpersonal infuence, efective communica- tion process and the fulfllment of a specifed goal or goals. Jesus’ leadership extends to every aspect of life, including work. The attributes of leadership displayed by Jesus are essential in the contemporary multicultural society given that is constantly growing, changing and adapt- ing to changing realities around it (Kelderman et al, 2005, p. 10). It is no surprise then, that the teachings in the Gospel has wide application to work. They pay deep attention to work-related topics such as wealth and power, economics, government, confict, leadership, productivity and provision and investment. Champlin (1993, p. 24) describes a leader as “someone who Academia Letters, October 2021 Corresponding Author: Phumezile Kama, KamaP@tut.ac.za Citation: Kama, P. (2021). Refection on four leadership attributes of Jesus Christ and their relevance to contemporary church leaders. Academia Letters, Article 3691. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3691. 1 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0