Let's overturn these tables

I love it! I think it says it perfectly.

“If serving is beneath you, leading is beyond you.”

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The saying has apparently been around for decades, but I first saw it yesterday.

A newspaper report on a Sydney Muslim community program training up young boys, included a photo of two men in T shirts with the slogan: “If serving is below you, leading is beyond you.” *

Origins

No-one knows for sure who said it first. But the idea has a long history:

• Jesus said: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44).
• Apparently Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad also demonstrated and taught that leadership should serve.
• Buddhists too believe in servant leadership, and that the Buddha embodied this teaching.

Robert Greenleaf coined the term “servant leadership” in the 1970s and the aphorism “If serving is below you, leadership is beyond you” seems to have come into vogue around the turn of the century.

Servant leadership in business management

Authority and leadership down through history has often been associated with power and submission. Kings and leaders commonly ruled with close to absolute power, and everyone else served them.

Jesus recognised this when he said: “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.” (Mark 10:42)

Presidential leadership, as in the US, has some of the same features, with the President having a greater amount of individual power than a Prime Minister in Australia or UK has.

Businesses often had similar power structures, albeit somewhat more limited in scope. After all, centralised and authoritarian leadership can speed up and simplify decision-making.

But by the middle of the 20th century, it was recognised that: “Command-and-control leadership produced inferior long-term results”.

Employees have greater rights and freedoms than in the past (e.g. the feudal system in UK) and more effective results are obtained if they are empowered and encouraged rather than subjugated. Sadly, this isn’t always recognised by government or industry leaders.

Servant leadership and the church

The church has followed servant leadership to varying degrees.

There have been many examples of leaders who serve – think St Francis, the Anabaptists, Mother Theresa. But, sadly, also many examples of leaders who exercised authority harshly, used their position for personal gratification or seemed to care little for the welfare of those “under” them.

Servant leadership in the church today

Churches can easily and perhaps imperceptibly move towards more authoritarian leadership. Preaching, leadership of the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper and decision-making can be limited to the ordained leaders and elders. Trained staff rather than volunteers can lead the key ministries.

This may have apparent advantages:

• This may suit pastors and leaders, who can better control what is said and believed, supposedly keeping the congregation from error. The most important ministries are run by experts and so run efficiently.
• The congregation can make their financial contribution and then relax and let the professionals lead them, making life easier.

But while superficially attractive, this approach has drawbacks.

• The responsibility and workload taken on by the pastors, especially the senior pastor, can lead to burnout, with a large number of clergy in the US and Australia leaving the ministry.
• Pastors can become celebrities, which can lead to selfish decisions, overuse of authority and spiritual abuse of the congregation (more on this next post).
• Congregations can become demotivated (if they are keen to be involved) or lazy and dependent (if they are happy to be consumers).
• The church’s ministry suffers because the gifts of the congregation are under-used, and church members’ spiritual growth is stifled. This can especially be a problem in outreach, because clergy’s experience of the world may be very different to other people’s. As a result, they can easily be out of touch with culture.

So Jesus’ way of servant leadership is best. A servant leader will look to build up the congregation, not their own authority – just as Paul says in Ephesians 4:11-16. This means many more people with a wide variety of gifts will be involved in ministry. Pastors can do what they are equipped and gifted to do, and not try to do everything.

It may also reduce the temptation for a leader to build their own empire by growing a bigger and bigger congregation – when experience shows that planting newer, smaller congregations and missional communities is a more effective missional strategy.

Shared leadership also better allows the Holy Spirit to guide the body through the prayers and wisdom of many people, just as we see in the book of Acts.

Read more about Jesus and servant leadership

Who’s the boss? Leadership in the christian church.

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* I slightly prefer the alternative reading with “beneath” instead of “below”.

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