What if the future of Christian schools depends less on finding new leaders—and more on fully developing the ones already in our classrooms?

For a long time, I missed this opportunity as a school leader, and it was a teacher’s voice that reframed my leadership.

During a season of leading a growing and evolving high school, I found myself overwhelmed. Like many principals, I responded by investing heavily in my own leadership development—seeking out conferences, books, and professional learning opportunities, believing that if I became a better leader, the school would thrive.

At the same time, I was asking teachers to lead constantly. Departments. Peers. Parent groups. School initiatives. Professional learning. Cultural change. The expectations I put on them and the demands were significant.

Eventually, a teacher offered a gracious but clarifying insight: You’re asking us to lead, but we haven’t been given the space or formation to grow as leaders.

That moment changed everything for me.

I realized I had been investing primarily in myself while overlooking the multiplying potential of the teachers around me.

Teachers do not merely support the mission—they directly shape how the mission is experienced by students, the very heart of our work.

Principals today are leading in a uniquely demanding moment. Cultural pressure, staffing challenges, shifting expectations, and the weight of stewarding Christ-centered mission can easily push leaders into survival mode. In those seasons, it’s natural to focus inward—seeking more training, more clarity, more capacity for ourselves so we can lead well.

That instinct is understandable. It’s faithful. And yet, it may also be incomplete.

Leadership in Christian schools was never meant to be carried alone.

Many principals unintentionally shoulder the majority of leadership weight—not because they want control, but because the needs feel endless and the responsibility immense. When leadership becomes centralized, however, schools grow dependent on a single voice rather than strengthened by a shared commitment to mission.

This is not a critique of principals’ hearts. It is an invitation to rethink leadership design.

Teachers are the quiet heroes of Christian education.

Day after day, teachers shape faith, character, and thinking in ways no strategic document ever could. They carry the mission into classrooms, conversations, corrections, and care. They disciple students through presence and practice. Long after initiatives change and leaders transition, teachers remain the most consistent influence in students’ lives.

If teachers carry this level of impact, then how we invest in them matters deeply.

Leadership is not a position; it is influence.

John Maxwell sums up leadership that simply: leadership is influence. Teachers influence students, colleagues, families, and school culture every day. Yet most leadership development resources are reserved for administrators. Undergraduate teacher preparation programs rarely prepare teachers for adult leadership. Even graduate programs for principals often emphasize theory over practical formation. Every system of development is missing one of the heaviest realities of teaching: the ongoing work of leading and discipling children and families.

As a result, teachers are asked to lead without being intentionally developed as leaders.

If teachers are the primary carriers of the mission to students, then leadership formation belongs with them—not just with administrators.

Principals are not meant to do all the leading—they are meant to grow leaders.

This realization reframed my role. My responsibility was not only to coach effective instruction, but to develop teachers as leaders—leaders capable of stewarding students, culture, innovation, and change with wisdom, confidence, and an equipping that could take confident action in any moment.

When teachers are formed as leaders, principals are no longer carrying leadership alone. Leadership becomes shared. Culture becomes stronger. The mission is multiplied. The burdens and stressors that come with the seat of a principal become lighter and easier.

Teachers deserve leadership skill investment.

In many industries, leadership development begins early. Fortune 500 companies routinely invest in leadership training for entry-level employees, recognizing that influence and responsibility grow quickly. Christian schools, by contrast, often expect significant leadership from teachers while offering minimal leadership formation.

This gap is not due to a lack of care. It is the result of long-standing assumptions about where leadership “belongs.”

What if leadership development didn’t require teachers to leave the classroom?

The Teacher Leader Masterclass offers an alternative. Built on the conviction that teaching itself is a leadership calling, this program develops teachers as leaders while they remain rooted in classroom practice. Rather than preparing teachers to exit teaching, it equips them to lead more faithfully within it.

Through a year-long journey of leadership formation, community, and reflection, teachers grow in clarity, confidence, and influence. They learn to lead adults, communicate effectively, and carry responsibility with humility—without losing their grounding in daily student discipleship.

For principals, this kind of investment multiplies leadership capacity. It strengthens teams, aligns culture, and builds sustainability that does not depend on one leader’s energy or presence.

Research supports this investment too.

Jon Eckert’s collective leadership work through Baylor University would push for the principal being a catalyst instead of a centralized power: “Catalyst leaders accelerate good work in ways that are sustainable, because the work is not about them. Catalysts tap others’ expertise, look for steps that can be eliminated, and try to find an easier way that serves more people” (Eckert, 2023).

This is not about adding another program—it is about stewarding people well.

When teachers are developed as leaders, schools move beyond short-term survival toward long-term faithfulness. Leadership becomes a shared commitment to mission rather than a solitary burden.

Teachers are generation makers. They shape hearts and minds that will go on to influence churches, families, communities, and the world as we know it. If we believe this—and Christian schools must—then investing in teachers as leaders is not optional. It is faithful stewardship.

Which one of your teachers is ready for leadership investment?

The future of Christian education will not be secured by one more initiative or one more exhausted principal. It will be sustained by formed leaders at every level, many of whom are already in our classrooms.

Principals are not failing when they feel overwhelmed—they are being invited to lead differently.

And the invitation begins with investing boldly in the most valuable asset of the school: the teacher leader.

References

Eckert, Jonathan. “Collective Leadership: A Catalyst for Improving in Christian Schools.” Cardus Perspectives. Hamilton, ON: Cardus (2023), accessed February 18, 2026, https://www.cardus.ca/research/education/reports/collective-leadership/

Maxwell, John C. Developing the Leader Within You. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1993.