AD CLERUM - APRIL 2005

My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

Over the past two months I tried to say something about the ministry of all believers and spiritual formation. This month I want to say something about the third of the main points of our vision: visionary servant leadership.

Jesus never actually uses the words "servant leader," speaking instead of himself as the "good shepherd." Nevertheless, the term "servant leader" has its origin in Jesus. Both by teaching and example Jesus gives shape and meaning to the term - the one who comes among us not to be served, but to serve. Jesus as the "good shepherd" is the servant leader, the visible image of the invisible God. Only as servant leaders, therefore, can we exercise the ministry of shepherd; only as servant leaders can we make the truth of God visible to others.

The term "servant leader" appears to be an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. A servant stands below and behind, a leader is above and ahead, and the one logically cannot be the other. But in his book "Servanthood," Bishop Bennett Sims suggests for us as Christians each word belongs with the other: the word "servant" describing our identity in Christ, and the word "leader" describing the specific role we are called to exercise as servants. St Augustine puts it this way:-

"For you I am a bishop, but with you I am a Christian. The first is an office accepted; the second is a gift received. If I am happier to be redeemed with you than to be placed over you, then I shall, as the Lord commanded, be more fully your servant."

In other words, a servant leader is always a servant first rather than a leader first, someone who is drawn to ministry out of a desire to serve others. It shows in a deep, ongoing concern for the well being of the other. Servant leadership is not a technique to be learned and implemented, but is an attitude towards others - a way of living and responding to others - that affirms and empowers others and brings out the best in them. The best test of servant leadership is: Are those we serve growing in grace and wisdom and are they, in their own lives and relationships, living as servant leaders?

Conventional styles of leadership vary greatly, but all use power to control others and to ensure compliance and conformity. To a greater or lesser extent, the exercise of power relies on violence, coercion and threat and evokes fear and resistance in others. It is, in essence, unfriendly. In contrast, servant leadership is not driven by a need to control. Rather it relies on influence and inspiration to draw forth the noblest and the best from the other. It listens, takes the other seriously and seeks to promote and align people around a shared vision, a keen sense of belonging, and motivates and empowers them to work together for the common good. It is, in essence, about love; the transforming power of love rather than the love of power.

Servant leadership is about "power with" rather than "power over." It is collaborative rather than competitive. As such, servant leadership is subversive, repudiating the lessons of competitive capitalism and xenophobia. Instead of a hermeneutic of suspicion it models a hermeneutic of trust and love that seeks the best rather than the basest in others.

Contrary to what many might believe, leadership is primarily a theological and spiritual issue that reveals the basis of our understanding of the nature of God. In Jesus, the visible image of the invisible God, we see a God not enthroned in the power of imperial privilege, but revealed in the passion and compassion of servanthood; a God vulnerable and open to the pain and agony of the world. Time and again in the prophets we glimpse that pain, a pain all the worse because God cannot protect us from ourselves, but can only share in the pain of our disobedience and brokenness. No wonder Jesus wept over Jerusalem.

If God is to be made visible in us, we must be servants first rather than leaders first, people whose ministry is fired with the love of God. Our hearts must be broken by the things that break the heart of God and we must weep with God for those entrusted to our care. We succeed by serving, gain by giving, and win by creating collaborative communities who grow in grace and wisdom and live as servant leaders.

May the resurrection life of the servant king be visible in our lives.

+Brian

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