This gives a brief overview of Christian Leadership and Abraham. He is then compared to Jesus to bring out how leadership looked like in the old and in the new.

1. By:
•Leadership and
Abraham
Joseph Oloba
jose.oloba@gmail.com
joloba@livingstone.ac.ug
+256785552288
+256700552288

2. Case Objectives:
• Case review for Abraham and leadership
• Overview of Abraham
• Recognize strength of Abraham
• Light up weaknesses of Abraham
• Provide Notable Leadership Qualities of Abraham and
patterns,
• Point out learning points
• Abraham & Jesus Christ
• Uganda perspective (applicability)

3. Case review:
• Darlington was a vibrant, youthful, energetic recruit for
sub-county chief position in the early independence era in
Uganda.
• He decided that it was time he settled with a family.
• So, he got married and to a beautiful wife.
• Unfortunately, they could not produce children…
together.
• Being under pressure and impatient to see his own
children, he got a second wife

4. Case review:
• He got children with the second wife, added another (third)
wife; got more children, and gained fame in the village, given
his position.
• He continued working and acquired more land, outside family
land.
• When convinced he had everything, he put his brothers on a
dark corner, where all kinds of insults, upon insults were
sustained among one another.
• Further discussion will reveal the truth behind Africa’s failure
to utilize its vast resource potential

5. Overview:
• Originally Abram
• Jewish Tradition: born in the city of Ur in Babylonia
• First of three (3) biblical patriarchs
• The other two: Isaac & Jacob
• The story is contained in Gen 11:26 – 25:18
• Founding father of the Jewish nation of Israel
• Son of Terah, an idol merchant
• From childhood, questioned the faith of his father and sought
for the truth (Levine, 2016).

6. Overview:
• c. 1813 BCE – c. 1638 BCE
• Raised a city dweller, adopted a nomadic lifestyle
• Bore no children for along time with his wife Sarai:
at 100 & 90, respectively, God promised Abram a son
& changed Abram’s name to Abraham (father of
many) and Sarai’s to Sarah (from “my princess” to
“princess”).
• Isaac was the ancestor of the Jewish people.

7. Overview:
Family Tree
• Father: Terah
• Brothers: Nahor & Haran
• Wife: Sarah
• Sons: Isaac & Ishmael
• Nephew: Lot
Key Verses
• Gen 15:6
• ……… Heb 11:8 – 12 (conclusion).

8. Strengths:
• Man of great faith and obedience to God
• Came to believe that the entire universe was the
work of a single Creator, and began to teach this
belief to others (Levine, 2016).
• Abraham tried to convince his father of the folly of
idol worship… (story).
• Overcame trials and tests
• Courageous (Gen 22 – Isaac’s sacrifice)

9. Strengths:
• Brave (Lot’s rescue when taking captive after
the battle of the valley of Siddim).
• & most importantly,
• Well respected & successful in his occupation

10. Weaknesses:
• Impatience
o famine: flew to Egypt
o Slept with Hagar
• Fear
• Lies (his wife’s identity)
o Pharaoh
o Abimelech

11. Notable Leadership
Qualities:
• Vision
• We” not “I” / me”
• Communication
• Trust
• Objective (rescue lot)
• Reputation (Prov 22:1)
• Diligence
• Prudent
• God the ultimate leader (Matt 6:33)

12. Patterns Discovered in the
Timeline:
• Family
• Childhood Growth
• Occupation
• Served others
• Communicated and left a mark of what God truly
was
• Passed on the mantle to others
• His work not forgotten & still remembered

13. Learning Points:
• Spreading faith – major aim
• Authenticity: followers
• Welfare concerns: Sodom & Gomorrah
• Rejection of status quo & willingness to do things differently
• View on hospitality to strangers
• Passion for justice, humility, & simplicity (Gen 18:27 – “but
dust and ash”)
“Humility is regarded as the mother of all virtues”

14. Learning Points:
• God’s calling will usually come to us in stages
• Father of all of us (Rom 4:16)
• Spread of Christian values
• Vision, confidence, and great sacrifice
• Relationships – family & others: he was called by
pagans as prince of God
• Leaders (church) are called to be spiritual fathers of
the people

15. Learning Points:
•Decision making: gather data,
analyze & ponder endlessly &
consult with others
•In selecting leaders: personal
character and maturity

16. Abraham & Jesus Christ:
• Descent
• Humility
• Service
• Hope
• Mark 9:35 – 37

17. Weaknesses:
• Fashion designs
• Immoral values
• Broken relationships
• Corruption
• Social injustice
• Ritual and tradition
• Centered church systems
• Riots
• Communalism
• And so on …
Today, we need leaders like Abraham to lead society
which is influenced by:

18. Country Perspective:
•& All Most
Welcome!
(The change)

19. Conclusion:
• Abraham died at the age 175
• Heb 11:8 – 12 …
(Bible’s faith hall of fame)

20. Conclusion:
A leader has to be:
• Psychologically balanced
• Spiritually integrated
• Physically fit
• Intellectually advanced
• And moral oriented

21. Conclusion:
Finally,
• Communicate a new vision to the world:
• & dramatically change man kind!

22. Bibliography & Reference:
• Hendel, R. (2005). Remembering Abraham: Culture,
Memory, and History in the Hebrew Bible. Oxford
University Press.
• Marvin, W. R. (1989). Our Father Abraham: Jewish
Roots of the Christian Faith. Massachusetts: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing.
• Levine, J. (2016). Abraham (c. 1813 BCE – c. 1638
BCE. American – Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.