I recently
finished reading a book called “Servant Leadership in Action” (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018) written by over three dozen contributors including leaders in business,
education, ministry, military and other walks of life. The one common thread
throughout the book was that servant leadership is not about the “boss”
controlling everything or telling everyone else what to do. Servant leaders
empower others to take ownership of their area of responsibility and to “run
with it.” Of course leadership always involves vision, guidance, and some
boundaries, but in a servant leadership model, people are not just cogs in a
machine.
The idea
of servant leadership comes from the Bible. For example, in John 13 where Jesus
takes on a servant’s roll and washes the feet of his disciples. Or in
Philippians 2:7 where Paul speaks of Jesus “taking on the very nature of a
servant….” In First Corinthians 12:12-31 Paul also gives a great model of
servant leadership when he discusses the church as the body of Christ in which
each person has different gifts, talents and abilities, but all work together
and everyone is important.
As a pastor, I have never seen my role analogous to that of a
CEO. I see myself more like the conductor of an orchestra (Ironic, since the
only instrument I play is a radio). We have many talented and godly people at our church and it is exciting to watch God work through them!
