Servant leadership

As we continue our journey through A Faith for the Future, and consider the chapter on mission, I am reminded of conversations in pastoral care class at seminary.

We covered several “models” of leadership in the church.  One that seemed to captivate and inspire most of the seminarians in my class was that of “Servant Leadership” or what can be better called “Incarnational leadership.” The servant-leader role is rooted in the life of Jesus, as “He took a towel” (John 13:2-5); we will celebrate this model of servant ministry on next Maundy Thursday. 

I found this inclination to be emphasized in our book: The good news of Jesus Christ is ultimately about the relationships we share with God, one another, and the world. So it takes a community of people to share the Christian message. Jesus told his followers as much: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples," he told them, "if you have love for one another." Relationships of reconciled love within the Christian community can teach other people more about Jesus than a slew of words ever could.

If you think about it, Jesus was very efficient with people; he had goals in sight but was also relational over being task-driven. This kind of leadership produced a community filled with real purpose and motivation as people were called, appreciated, loved, encouraged, and involved by mentoring and discipleship before they were deployed (or dismissed) for ministry.

How do we do this? This is what many of my colleagues wondered. One thing became apparent in answering this question: we must make sure we seek God’s Spirit at the center of any ministry. Thus, the leadership derived from the model of Jesus-as-servant hopes to produce a church of spiritual maturity, keen discernment and involvement.  

As seminarians we were encouraged to embrace this model and to equip and encourage others toward the same. 

In sorting the wheat from the chaff, we are called to be aware that manipulation, conniving, and posturing are to be absent, and that God’s Love is to be the fuel that sustains us. This kind of leadership sees God glorified as our tempers and temperaments come in line with His precepts. It means being imitators of Jesus as we go in the direction of the possibilities; we stretch beyond what we think we can do or go, and seek where and what He has for us, even with our limitations and frailty.

How can we, in this Lenten season, draw nearer to a servant model of leadership? 

The challenge lies before us and within us. As our book clarifies: This can seem like an impossible dream. Not only are Christians dismissed and called to take the Eucharist into the world, but we have to do it with other Christians who can drive us absolutely crazy with their different beliefs, challenging personalities, and odd practices...[BUT]...Mission is not primarily about church; it's about Jesus.

This painting was set before us in every pastoral care class I attended. The professor said, over and over again, no matter what you learn, you are to be the bony finger you see on John the Baptist here: point to Jesus. Indeed. Let Him increase, let me decrease.