What is servant leadership?

 

 

 

Serving others breaks you free from the shackles of self

 

and self-absorption that choke out

 

the joy of living.

 

James C. Hunter, The Servant

The word service generally carries with it some very negative connotations. The concept of leadership has only a slightly better reputation.  Many of us have been exposed to the term “servant leader,” and tend to think of it in a church or religious setting.  However, servant leadership is not confined to any particular or peculiar setting.

Servant leadership is a specific mindset which affects how you view and deal with the world around you, how you lead your own life, and how you lead others.  Now, I know what you are thinking.  “I am not a leader, so this doesn’t really apply to me.”  Au contraire, mon ami!

We are all leaders in some aspect of our lives, and often in several different roles.  First and foremost, you lead and manage yourself. You lead your families and friends.  You influence and lead people at work, even when you hold no leadership title.  Someone is always watching your behavior, trying to figure out who you really are, and will likely imitate some of what you do if they deem you a success or a role model.  This is exactly how we all learn to function in society. You watch and learn, you imitate, you keep what works and discard the rest.  So, like it or not, title or no, you, my friend are a leader.  The choice that you must now make is what kind of leader you be or become.

There are a few specific characteristics that apply to a servant leader. Well, they should probably apply to most leaders, but we are targeting “servants” specifically for today’s discussion.

1. Ego-less.  Servant leaders work at being other-serving, rather than self-serving.  Many people who rise to the top in their field tend to be driven there by our own ego or self-esteem.  Servant leaders lead from a position of strength and not ego. hip forces you to put your ego aside for the sake of others. Servant leaders know that the mission, goal, vision, well-being of others, pushing people to their fullest potential is about others, not about them.

Read more here...

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Just a thought or two: Spiritual narcissism, and other things...

Just had a conversation with Dan Rockwell, he writes one of the blogs that I follow regularly, called Leadership Freak. We have never met in person, but the beauty and the upside of social media is the ability to connect with people who are interested in the same things you are, people who are wiser or have more experience than you. Or, as in my case, connect with someone to talk about organizational issues who is  not mired down in it. I'd like to give him a shout-out and thank him for personally reaching out.

As seem to be the way God moves, this comes on the heels of stumbling across across a short blog by John Bishop about his new book, Dangerous Church (I haven't read the book, yet). Bishop's piece gives such a wonderful definition of what it means to be narcissistic, that I think you should read it context for yourself. Like reading the Bible, I think it is always important to read things I context. Anyway, the quote is this:

Entitlement in the simplest form is spiritual narcissism. A person who struggles with being narcissistic is someone who is essentially all about themselves. When leaders are all about themselves, they will eventually realize they are all by themselves.

I love this definition:

Narcissists hold unreasonable expectations of particularly favorable treatment and automatic compliance because they consider themselves special. Failure to comply is considered an attack on their superiority, and the perpetrator is considered an "awkward" or "difficult" person.

What kind of churches have we made for ourselves? Yes, for ourselves, because we certainly have not made them to honor and worship God. When did what we do everyday become more important that what Jesus has done for us?

I am prayerful and anxious to see our churches alive with passion for fulfilling the "Great Commission" again. How do we accomplish our calling when we are being inundated with meeting after meeting, followed by power struggles between the powerful and the insignificant, pushing and pulling us down a path to nowhere? Aren't we supposed to be building up the body of Christ, searching for and saving the lost? Are we doing our job?

How do we overcome our spiritual narcissism?

So, what's a church to do? Change or die.

What's a member to do? The Apostle Paul might say, stay and fight the good fight....Or go?

Maybe it's just me. Thoughts, Comments, Suggestions?