Pastor as friend: Reinterpreting Christian leadership

Christian leadership has long enjoyed the idea of servant‐leadership or doularchy that has been seen as standing against any form of kyriarchy. This article is an attempt to solve the problems left by doularchy and construct a model of philiarchic leadership based on the identity of pastors as friends. Several texts in the Gospel of John will be reinterpreted using the philiarchic lens. The article concludes with three applied ideas that today's Christian leaders should take into consideration.