The push has been on for several years to develop Servant Leaders. I know this to be true because I have been one of those pushers. However, I have been thinking lately that maybe we have it wrong. Maybe we shouldn’t be creating more Servant Leaders, but instead create more Leader Servants. I know that you may think that I am playing with semantics and that it really doesn’t matter how you state it, but I have been pondering that maybe we have been looking at Servant Leadership all wrong.
From a technical standpoint, when we speak English, we see the phrase different than maybe it was intended. In English, if we have a noun with a descriptor before it, we visualize the descriptor as an adjective clarifying the noun. So, when we see Servant Leader, we mentally translate it as a leader who is a servant, that the path to leadership is through servanthood.
But I think that the goal Jesus has in mind is not a path to leadership, but a path to servanthood; that leadership is a byproduct of being a true servant to those around us. True servants do not aspire to leadership Aspiring to leadership is self-glorifying, which is the exact opposite of what Jesus intended. We don’t serve others with a goal of becoming a better leader. We serve others and a result of that service is the way we are able be perceived as leaders, servants who reach into people’s lives and show them by example the value of following Christ.
When we lift others and give of ourselves in acts of servanthood, we example to those around us the values that Christ attempted to instill in His followers. Our focus should never be on becoming better leaders, but instead to become better servants. By becoming better servants our eyes are opened to the way Jesus sees people. As long as we seek to be leaders, we find ourselves looking for followers. Christians don’t need followers. They are encouraged to lead others into a relationship with Jesus and then disciple them to become obedient followers of Christ. When people follow us, they will eventually be disappointed. But following Christ is never a disappointment. We lead others into that kind of relationship with Jesus by serving them and exampling servanthood as Christ exampled it.
He was born in a cattle trough and the witnesses were commoners, townspeople and animals. Throughout his life he exampled what servanthood was all about. He sat with sinners. He healed lepers. He fed the hungry. He gave water to the thirsty. He healed the sick. He engaged with people of all backgrounds. He chose ten common men to be his disciples. He washed feet. He was forced to carry his own cross through streets of Jerusalem. He died as a common criminal on a cross after being beaten and pummeled. even though He was innocent of wrong doing.
So, yes, I think we got it wrong. I, for one, want to strive to be a better servant, to lift others, to make a difference in the lives around me so that those souls can come to a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe. I want to consciously seek the humility that Christ exampled to all of us. Not because it will make me a better leader, but because it will make me a better servant.
God bless you all.
Rev Walt
