Trusted Leadership: Why Being Intentional With Relationships Is Critical to a Christ-Centered Culture

The Bible has a lot to say about trust (Proverbs 3:5, Psalm 37:5, and many more!)—but it focuses far more on trusting an infinite, intimate Creator than it spends on trusting earthly leaders. (In fact, there may well be more teachings in the Bible about being skeptical of leadership!) God’s Word says that His promises are about the restoration of our souls and, ultimately, our bodies. That is a bit above our pay grade as Christian leaders in Christ-centered organizations. Still, it's not completely unrelated. The best experiences we have on earth are glimpses of God's original design. So, when Jesus Christ—God the Son—says, “You can trust Me,” we should consider how that trust shapes every part of our lives, including (and especially) how we work alongside fellow believers. In an organization where we are called and expected to live from a biblically rooted worldview, the trust we have in God must inform how we view leadership, decisions, and relationships. 

What is trust? A simple online search will say that trust is “belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” Does trust come from a place of position? Certainly not. Is trust optional in a Christ-centered workplace? Does trusting someone mean zero tension in a relationship? Does biblical trust require mutual commitment? Do we, as Christian leaders, have trust awareness? These questions lead to a lot of considerations, for sure, and they probably only scratch the surface. But they matter if we are going to be people who flourish in our responsibilities and relationships as we live on mission, on purpose.  

Let’s face it. We all THINK we’re viewed as trustworthy. And then we get upset when we hear “So-and so didn’t fill out the anonymous feedback survey because she thinks the response will be traced back to her.” You know it’s true. It is in those moments that we have to resist a “Luke 23:34” attitude and lean in on ourselves. Are we actively inviting trust? In what ways? 

Relationships without trust are inauthentic. They are often guarded. They tend to value comfort and convenience over humility and forgiveness. Relationships WITH trust, however, are deep. They can be raw, but they also provide a salve to heal wounds often unintentionally created. I frequently remind my colleagues that relational conflict is often only as healthy as the meaningful interactions between tough times. As Christian leaders, we must work hard to create a culture of trust—horizontal and vertical. Not so that we have “good relationships,” but because it honors God’s design for the best representation of a culture being sanctified in the journey. The best days we have will be those when we come to work knowing that we are all doing our work to trust and be trustworthy. 

If you are a curious leader, this is the point where you may be saying, “Okay, so what now? What are some practical things I can do to build trust?” Here are a couple of recommendations that can get you thinking in the right direction: 

• Read/listen to books on EQ and leadership. 

• One of my favorite books as a Christian leader is “Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better,” by Brant Hansen. This gets to the core of why Christians should be the leaders in open, authentic communication as those who live from a place of humility. 

• Talk openly and often with your team about the desire to have a trusting culture.  

• This means recognizing that in order to lead an organization, you must first know how to lead people. One of the best resources I’ve found for short, practical, people-leadership-focused content is a “300-words-per-day” blog by Dan Rockwell called Leadership Freak (https://leadershipfreak.blog/). It demands self-reflection while also casting a vision for the healthiest of workplace relationships and culture. 

• Consider some level of a trust audit. 

• It could be as simple as an anonymous online form with five questions that have been developed by your team to learn how your employees view leadership. And yes, some will ask if that survey is really anonymous. If you use the Flourishing School Culture Instrument Survey, look for the results that pull from the “trusted leadership” indicators in the “Relationships” domain. (Note: What a great opportunity to build trust by directly communicating your commitment to anonymity with the survey results!) 

As you consider next steps in your trusted leadership journey, I invite you to spend some time with the following questions: 

1. If the trust we have in God informs how we view leadership, decisions, and relationships, then what does it mean to trust God? 

2. What qualities do you think make a trustworthy leader? What does it look like for an employee to trust his/her colleague/supervisor? What does it look like for a Christ-follower to trust his/her colleague/supervisor? Is there a difference? Why/why not? 

3. What is one thing you’ll do to build better relationships of trust (with a colleague or supervisor) in this first month of the 2025–2026 school year?  

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” –Numbers 6:24-26