Who really leads the church — Christ, or those who seek power and pre-eminence? In this searching and deeply biblical book, Alan Pallister explores the mysterious figure of Diotrephes from 3 John, a man who “loves to be first,” and uses his story as a window into one of the church’s oldest and most painful struggles: spiritual ambition, authoritarianism and challenges to leadership. Drawing from Scripture, pastoral experience, and decades of ministry in Portugal and Britain, Pallister examines how pride, control, and self-interest can damage churches and wound believers — while also showing the transforming grace of God toward broken leaders and congregations alike. Honest, compassionate, and deeply rooted in the Bible, Who Leads the Church? challenges every reader to examine their own heart, confront the “Diotrephes” within, and rediscover Christ as the true head of the church.