Why Christians Expect Pastors to Lead Like CEOs (And Why the Church Is Different)

Introduction

The gap between how much secular businesses spend on leadership development versus how much evangelical churches, denominations, and networks spend on leadership develop is larger than you think. According to the best estimates, in the US last year (2025), secular corporate businesses spent roughly $160 billion on leadership development (executive programs, coaching, digital learning, etc.). The evangelical church in the US, on the other hand, spent about $3 billion in the same period.

That’s a 50 to 1 difference.

No wonder why it feels that the gap between secular corporate leadership and church leadership is growing larger every year. Because, in a way, it is.

And because many Christians today work in high-capacity, high-standard business environments, where they see corporate leaders performing at world-class levels, with consistent excellence and innovation, they bring those expectations, consciously or unconsciously, into the church. This has led to a growing sense of disappointment and frustration among church-going Christians with church leadership because most pastors are simply not as well-trained in leadership as corporate leaders are. Secular leaders have 50 times more money invested into their leadership abilities than the average pastor.

To make matters worse, most famous pastors of megachurches run their churches like CEOs, partly because they have to (megachurches are so large and complex in structure that corporate business models and principles are almost necessary to run them effectively) and partly because they want to (it may give them a sense of control, prestige, or empowerment). The example that these famous CEO-type pastors set for other pastors only exacerbates the disappointment and frustration that church-goers feel with their leaders. After all, if some pastors can function like successful CEOs and grow and run their churches as well as successful corporations, why can’t their pastors do the same?

The Big Question

But that isn’t the most important question on this topic. The most important question isn’t whether pastors can lead like CEOs but whether they should. Another way to frame the question is: to what degree should the Body of Christ emulate worldly models and apply worldly principles of leadership? Secular leadership has a lot going for it; it proves itself time and again in its efficiency and impact. Just look at the growing value of corporations like Nvidia and Intel, or the stock market’s ability to break its own all-time highs year after year (over 200 broken records in the past ten years alone). With such proven effectiveness, why shouldn’t the church take a page or two from the secular leadership playbook?

But to paraphrase the early church father Tertullian, “What has Wall Street or Silicon Valley to do with Jerusalem?” In other words, what’s the proper relationship between the business world and the kingdom of God? Jesus’s teachings in the gospels consistently show that the values and principles of God’s kingdom are often the opposite of the values and principles of this world (Matt. 20:16, 25-28; 23:11-12; Mark 10:42-45; Luke 6:27-36; John 5:41-44). In John 18:36, Jesus explicitly declares, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Even the Old Testament prophets asserted that God’s ways are different (and superior) to our ways (Isa. 55:8-9). So, at the very least, we shouldn’t be quick to assume there is congruity, parity, or even compatibility between secular leadership and church leadership. Even this initial claim should be approached with a healthy dose of skepticism.

“But to paraphrase the early church father Tertullian, ‘What has Wall Street or Silicon Valley to do with Jerusalem?’”

On the other hand, we can also quote another early church father, Augustine of Hippo, who said, “All truth is God’s truth.” This phrase has been applied to various fields to mean that any truths we discover about the world must be from God because God is the author and creator of all truth, scientific, philosophical, or otherwise (Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:20). This means, any helpful principles or best practices that we learn from the field of secular leadership can be claimed by the Church because those principles and practices will have been established by God in the first place. Such ideas are more “discovered” than “developed”.

So, who’s right, Tertullian or Augustine? Do we eschew the learnings that come out of the $160 billion secular leadership industry because they are of the world and not of God’s kingdom? Or do we embrace their teachings as part of God’s wonderful, good creation?

A Biblical Path Forward

It’s good to quote church fathers for insight, but it’s even better to quote the Lord Jesus if His words apply. And here, Jesus’s words to the Pharisees in Matt. 22:21 seem relevant: “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Church leaders should give to God their devotion, their attention, their prayers, and their hearts. But they should also give the world credit for helpful insights and practices that make churches run better and leadership teams operate more effectively. Why reject a good idea simeply because of where it comes from? That’s just a form of the genetic fallacy.

Moses was a great spiritual leader, one of Israel’s greatest. He was a man who understood that the effectiveness of his leadership came from the outflow of his intimacy with the Lord (Ex. 33:11). He knew how to seek God’s guidance in prayer. And yet, when Jethro suggested to him that he appoint elders to assist him with the judgment and administration of the nation, Moses listened (Ex. 18:17-23). Jethro’s advice could be seen as an example of worldly wisdom or secular leadership, but because Moses saw the value in it, he accepted and applied it, to his and everyone’s benefit.

“Pastors are, first and foremost, undershepherds who feed and care for the flock under the watchful eye of the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ Himself.”

So, should pastors and church leaders take everything the business world says as gospel? Should they become beholden to secular leadership theories, devoting themselves more to the Harvard Business Review than the Bible? Should church members expect their pastors to operate at the same operational proficiency as Fortune 500 leaders? For each of these questions, the answer is a resounding No. Pastors are, first and foremost, undershepherds who feed and care for the flock under the watchful eye of the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ Himself. They are beholden and accountable to Him and expected to lead with the wisdom from above rather than the wisdom from below (James 3:13-17).

But pastors and church leaders are also free to learn from others and to apply good ideas and practices—if they are helpful to the ministry. Jesus calls us to be as gentle as doves but also as shrewd as serpents (Matt. 10:16). Therefore, if secular leaders can be so shrewd in managing the affairs of this world, church leaders ought to be just as shrewd and capable in managing the affairs of God.