view, we may say that the power/responsibility/service correlation
describes the chain of human relations in society.
On closer analysis, this relation is set on three levels : the person
responsible, the area of responsibility (individuals, duties, actions,
attitudes, character) and the authority before which one is account-
able (e.g. a tribunal, the people concerned by a decision, one’s con-
science, God). In short, responsibility will be understood here as the
capacity to answer for and assume one’s actions and their conse-
quences vis-à-vis others and society, on the one hand, and this aware-
ness of being at the service of others, the wider community and God,
on the other. This is a requirement of community life which is part of
the I-me, I-you, I-we, I-it relationship.^8 Consequently, the responsible
person or the responsible leader from the Christian point of view, is
the one who is concerned for the balance of the community. He is
called to serve and to which he must answer, just as he is accountable
before God, on whose will all his decisions and actions are based.
What is central for the responsible Christian leader (in theory) is
the sense of service and of accountability to the community and to
God. Such a leader is motivated by :
- fear of God
- God’s will
- faith
- love
- solidarity
- service
- justice
- humility
For the Christian leader, the model is Jesus Christ crucified, obey-
ing the will of his Father, the humble servant, sacrificed for the sake
of humankind and for others. In some respects, the responsible leader
from the Christian point of view, resembles the responsible traditional
leader, theoretically at least, for both are meant to render service to
society and, to do that, they have to abide by certain principles such
as moral integrity, credibility, justice, solidarity.
The theoretical difference appears when it comes to the authori-
ties to which each is accountable. While the conception of the tradi-
tional leader sees him as accountable only to society, when possible,^9
the conception of the Christian leader makes it clear that he must give
account of himself both to God, to whom he is answerable as God’s
envoy, and to the society into which he is sent. At the purely concep-
tual level one might say that the difference is that, on the one hand,
Traditional and Christian Approaches in Cameroon 41