Servant Leaders lead but with a style not reflective of the popular
culture
Six Keys to Servant Leadership:
Servant leaders are secure knowing God values us. Only when we accept our worth before God can we freely attend to the needs of others and empower them to their full potential. In John 13:3-4, we read: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he… poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet.” Jesus was at liberty to take the basin and towel and wash the grime from the disciples’ feet because he knew who he was before the Father. If affirming others somehow diminishes our sense of importance, servant leadership will be seen as a personal threat, and we will not practice it.
Servant leaders find joy in encouraging and supporting staff and team members. They enable others to develop their spiritual gifts in the context of ministry, and they publicly recognize the growth and contribution of others. As a result, the congregation functions as a body where every person is valued, not as an audience that feeds the leaders ego.
Servant leaders don’t need
credit for their ideas or visions. The old lament applies here: “How much good could be accomplished for the
Servant leaders are high on relationships and low on control and coercion. People are motivated by genuine care and “heart connection” rather than by fear and judgment.
Servant leaders shun the trappings of authority and status. Realizing that all are equal before Christ, they avoid titles that support hierarchical pecking orders and opt instead for functional language that describes what a person does. They are also cautious about perks, such as larger-sized offices and specially marked parking spaces.
Servant leaders base their authority on character, not the position they occupy. Moral authority arises from a person’s integrity and consistency before Christ. Therefore, true leaders, rather than forcing or coercing people to do their bidding, give followers an attractive model that they will want to emulate.
Excerpt: Baker
books; Leadership Handbook of Management and Administration; piece written by Greg Ogden