Servant Leadership Is All About Relationships

It really doesn’t matter what area of life we are discussing; be it secular employment, child rearing, or church leadership, it all comes down to relationships. We are only as effective as the depth of the relationships that we establish with other people. As go our various relationships, so goes the surrounding structure. If this is the case, and I believe that it is, then we would be well served to do whatever is necessary to improve our relationship skills. If we are going to fulfill our mission as Christian leaders, and live out the legcy of our calling, then there are a couple of relationship points that bear remembering.

First, we do not, nor can we, exist in isolation. As much as we may earnestly desire the opposite to be true from time to time, it is impossible for any person to reach their full potential by themselves. Naturally flowing from this thought also is the point that the Church cannot fulfill her mission if we isolate ourselves as Christians. We need one another in order to fulfill our potential. If we are talking about marriage or certain sports the principle seems obvious, but in leadership we tend to believe that we can make it alone. The maverick, lone ranger, my way or the highway styles of leadership seem to be the ones that grab our attention the most. As much as we may admire the leaders who appear able to function all by themselves and make things happen, we need to understand that these styles of leadership run contratry to what is modeled for us in Scripture.

Paul, would lead us to understand that we are all connected, members of one another. And as such, if one person falters we all are harmed. This means that even the leader, is only as effective as those men and women being led. In order for me to achieve, I must ensure that each individual member is achieving. My individual success depends upon our collective success as individuals. What does this mean for me as a leader? What kind of leader does this turn me into? What, given these facts, must I become in order to succeed? A servant!

Wow! What a novel idea. But, I recognize that many of you may be perplexed by the notion that one person can be both a servant and a leader simultaneously. You may ask, how can I remain secure in my position as leader, if I become the servant of those that I am called to lead? Well, it is actually not that difficult a prospect, particular if we recount the life of Jesus Christ himself. Jesus said, in Matthew 20:25-28,

…You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave, just as the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

In the words of Jesus, a true leader is a servant first. We must make every effort to see ourselves first as ones called to serve the needs of the persons we lead; caretakers of a sort. This is a far cry from the Western notion of leadership, and particularly leadership in the neo-pentecostal, apostolic, and charismatic movements, where those we lead are seen as caretakers of our needs. But if we seriously consider the role of a caretaker, he or she would typically be the one in leadership, mainly due to their access and proximity to the knowledge and resources needed for the good of the group. This caretaker is not the owner of the resources, nor the keeper of the knowledge, but simply the one entrusted to ensure that everyone prospers (given the current culture I was slow to use that word) and has access to all that is available. The caretaker is the owner’s steward. It is not our special knowledge or private stash of goods. We serve the needs of the owner, by ensuring that everyone is served. In so doing, the caretaker ensures that the owner is pleased. The caretaker is a servant leader. The question is, do we see ourselves as caretakers?

So what does this have to with relationships? Well, everything. If we are called to lead, then we are called to be in relationship with and serve other people. We must see ourselves as persons seeking the ascent of other people. We exist to see other achieve. This kind of view is demanded by our interconnectedness as Christians, and our calling as leaders. Until we can see the values, mission, vision, purpose, and goals of another person as vitally important to the fulfillment of our own, then we shall continue to fall short of fulfilling our legacy as Christian leaders.

 

Servant Leadership vs. Positional Leadership

I ran across this blog post at Brant Hansen’s Letters from Kamp Krusty (yes, that is the name of the blog). I have to say, these comparisons hit the nail (or out of touch positional leader) on the head. Check out Brant’s original post here.

Servant Leader:  Has something to say

LeaderMan:  Wants a platform on which to say something

———–

LeaderMan:  You almost feel you know his family, because he’s your Leader

Servant Leader:  You allow him to influence you, because you know his family

———–

LeaderMan: Wants you to know he’s a Leader

Servant Leader:  You’re not sure he knows he’s a leader

———–

LeaderMan:  Loves the idea of the Gospel, and the idea of The Church

Servant Leader: Loves God and the actual individual people God brings across his path

———–

LeaderMan:  A great speaker, but self-described as, “Not really a people person.”

Servant Leader:  Makes himself a people person

———–

LeaderMan:  Helps you find where God is leading you in his organization

Servant Leader:  Helps you find where God is leading you

———–

LeaderMan:  Gets together with you to talk about his vision

Servant Leader:  Just gets together with you

———–

LeaderMan:  Resents “sheep stealing”

Servant Leader:  Doesn’t get the “stealing” part, since he doesn’t own anyone to begin with

———–

LeaderMan:  Wants the right people on the bus

Servant Leader:  Wants to find the right bus for you, and sit next to you on it

———–

Servant Leader:  Shows you his whole heart

LeaderMan:  Shows you a flow chart

———–

LeaderMan:  A visionary who knows what the future looks like

Servant Leader:  Knows what your kitchen looks like

———–

LeaderMan:  If it’s worth doing, it worth doing with excellence

Servant Leader:  Not exactly sure how to even calculate “worth doing”

———–

LeaderMan:  Talks about confronting one another in love

Servant Leader:  Actually confronts you in love

———–

LeaderMan:  Impressed by success and successful people

Servant Leader:  Impressed by faithfulness

———–

LeaderMan:  Invests time in you, if you are “key people”

Servant Leader:  Wastes time with you

———–

LeaderMan:  Reveals sins of his past

Servant Leader:  Reveals sins of his present

———-

LeaderMan:  Gives you things to do

Servant Leader:  Gives you freedom

———–

LeaderMan:  Leads because of official position

Servant Leader:  Leads in spite of position

———–

LeaderMan:  Deep down, threatened by other Leaders

Servant Leader:  Has nothing to lose

Unfortunately, I have to admit that there are too many leaders of the ‘LeaderMan’ type in our contemporary churches. What the church needs is a leadership repentance, purging, and revival. We need to repent of our need to have our itching ears tickled and heaping up the kinds of teachers and leaders who were only too eager to oblige us. We need to purge the ranks of church leadership of all of the ‘LeaderMan’ types of leaders; those leaders who saw (or see) church leadership as an easy hustle, or a way toward financial independence on the backs of God’s people. Finally, we need to experience a revival of Bible-based, Christ-centered, servant leadership. This type of leadership is modeled after the ministry of Jesus Christ, and is always other-focused. Remember, Christ deferred all glory to His Father in heaven.

…You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Matthew 20:25-28

 

Stop the Tug-of-War with Jesus

Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.  He must increase, but I must decrease.” – John 3:25-30 English Standard Version

John the Baptist was a servant first. He was sold out for the mission, and selfless in his desire to see it fulfilled. A mark of the ministry of John the Baptist was his repeated deference to the ministry of Jesus Christ. In response to the questions posed by the Levites and priests, he responds that he is not the Christ, Elijah, nor the prophet. He goes on to state that the one who comes after him, whose way he is sent to make straight, is one whose sandals he is not worthy to unstrap.

In the section of Scripture quoted above, we see John in discussion with his disciples. He is sharing with them his joy in the arrival of Jesus Christ. There is not a tinge of competition or jealousy evident in his comments. What is evident is the genuine joy of a servant who has faithfully completed the task set before him. John saw his mission as simply pointing others to the one who was greater than himself. He was called to make such a case for Jesus, that all who followed him would gladly leave and follow Christ when He arrived. And this would be perfectly alright with John. In fact, it would make his joy complete.

Unfortunatley, this is not the picture that can be seen across a wide section of contemporary Western Christianity. It is almost as though we find ourselves in competition with Jesus Christ for disciples. We are in a tug of war to determine whose name will have the greatest impact. Gone in many sectors of the Church is the notion that motivated John the Baptist; the notion that leads a leader to believe that in order for Christ to increase, I must decrease. Instead we make our names the prominent one on the marquee and in the marketing materials we use. Men and women are told that “we” have a word that will change their lives. Our pictures and likenesses are trademark protected, and our sermons have become “intellectual property”. We seek to gather unto ourselves disciples, those who will submit to our counsel, authority, or covering.

What is glaringly missing from all of this is our deference to Jesus Christ. It is as though we have forgotten that “our” words cannot save or truly bless anyone. It isn’t us that men and women have come to see. We are simply the friends of the bridegroom, and many of us are trying to seduce His bride away from Him. In order to do this, we tell them a little about the bridegroom but spend most of the time ensuring that our image is seen as equal to His. In so doing, we intimate that we are an acceptable substitute for the real thing. With a wink and a nod we say, in essence, “I know the bridegroom so well that you can’t really tell us apart”, hoping that people will eventually forget that they initially were betrothed to another.

What is the remedy for all of this? Repentance! Stop exalting ourselves. Stop assuming that the ministries that we have been charged to carry out belong to us. Stop believing that we can in any way, great or small, bless the people. They have come to see Christ! Knowing Him as well as we should, we should be the greatest cheerleaders for Jesus as the answer. Knowing ourselves as we should, we should be the first one willing to deflect all accolades away from our own actions.

There are too many cultic ministries, built on the personalities of their leaders in existense today. There are too many leaders willing to take the praise upon themselves under the guise of being “anointed”. We can all take a lesson from John the Baptist. Its time to repent!

 

A Formula for Leadership Success

We clearly live in a day and time where leadership is both cherished and scorned. It is cherished because we understand its value to the fulfilment of our corporate values, missions, visions, goals, and objectives. It is scorned because far too many claim the mantle of leader or leadership guru without the attendant understanding or calling. We literally elevate anyone who desires to be a leader to leadership positions, often with less than stellar consequences.

I believe that, in the arena of contemporary Christendom (as least as it is expressed in the Western church), these leadership failings are in part due to our fascination with media and the cult of personality. This fact is even more glaring as we observe the neo-Pentecostal, Apostolic, and charismatic movements in the West. We need only tune in to the plethora of “Christian” television networks to see that our “ideal” for contemporay Christian ministry is dominated by glitz, gloss, and glamour. It would appear that the bigger the stage, and the gaudier the set design, the more populated and popular the ministry.

The size of the stage is, in some cases, surpassed only by the flaws in theology and biblical interpretation that are espoused with regularity. The “felt needs” of the hurting, broken, and in need of salvation masses are pandered to with a rash of proof texts and “have it your way” platitudes. In many of these sad scenarios Jesus is cast as some sort of cosmic Santa Claus or genie in a bottle, ready to fulfill the desires and wishes of whoever believes and asks.

What is missing is the Christ that bids all who are weary and heavy laden to take His yoke upon themeselves. Missing is the Christ that calls men and women who would follow Him to consider the cost of discipleship. Where is the call to forsake all or to take up one’s own cross and deny self daily?

The current cult of personality has, in my opinion, exalted one element of successful leadership above the other. In fact, I would submit that they have made this one element the only one necessary for successful ministry leadership. The element that seems to matter most to the cadre of pulpiteers that litter our contemporary Christian landscape is inspiration.

Let me say that I believe that inspiration is indeed an important element to leadership success. A leader must be called and inspired by the Lord in order to successful accomplish the mission set before him or her. But we must know that inspiration is only one part of the formula for successful ministry leadership. The formula for successful ministry leadership should be written in this manner:

Inspiration + Formation + Operation = Leadership Success

In the next several posts, I will discuss the several elements of this formula for ministry leadership success. There has to be a change in the way we are selecting and preparing men and women for ministry leadership, if the current tide is going to be stemmed.

Some reading this may see no need to stem the current tide. You may say that churches are filling, networks are burgeoning, and the gospel is going forth. I would rebut that a crowd and a church are not the same thing. Everyone in the crowd that followed Christ was not a disciple. As I understand the Great Commission, we are called to make disciples of all nations. Our call isn’t to draw crowds. Additionally, I believe that Jesus was disappointed with the crowds that simply followed Him in order to receive more of the fishes and loaves. These failings do not rest upon the people in the pews ultimatley, but upon the people in the pulpit.

 

The Journey Begins

Welcome to A Servant First. In the weeks and months to come, I hope that we are able to share and dialogue with one another around the notion of leadership. I believe that our Western notion of leadership is in need of transformation. The hierarchical, top-down, power-driven, models of leadership are beginning to show their flaws across many sectors of society.

Join me as we explore what it means to be a servant first, and then a leader. This is a concept that I believe most profoundly found its expression in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The journey begins!