I’m going to begin this post with a quote from Robert Greenleaf in Servant Leadership.
A new moral principle is emerging, which holds that the only authority deserving one’s allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader. Those who choose to follow this principle will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions. Rather, they will freely respond only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted as servants. To the extent that this principle prevails in the future, the only truly viable institutions will be those that are predominantly servant led.
This Greenleaf quote, immediately brings to my mind these words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 20:25-28,
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you have seen me refer to these words of Christ and the example of his life as a call to the Church to be expression of his servant leadership. For me this is the definition of missional. The question that stands before the Church is, are we accessing the authority that comes with servant leadership, or are we seeking some other form of authority?
While many believe that power and authority are synonymous, I do not. Authority is granted to a person by another person. James Hunter, in his book The Servant, defines authority as “the skill of getting people to willingly do your will because of your personal influence.” Willingly, the operative word in Hunter’s definition, means getting people to grant you the ability to lead them. In the model of Jesus Christ, and in the mind of Greenleaf a servant model of leadership best accomplishes this goal.
Answering my own question, I do not believe that enough churches are accessing the authority available to us as servant institutions. I believe that there are an increasing number of ministries that are reverting to hierarchical, power-based models of leadership, believing them to be more biblical.
I’m in agreement with Hunter’s definition of power as, “the ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they choose not to, because of your position or your might. Jesus told His disciples that power doesn’t work, and should not be the way we conduct ministry amongst ourselves (inside the church) or externally (to the communities we serve). When will the Church recognize that we cannot force people to obey the will of God. Chiding doesn’t work in the long-run. Fear-based ministry doesn’t work in the long-run. We need to develop servant-leadership models of ministry both internally and externally, if we truly intend to make lasting impacts for the sake of the gospel in the world.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? Do you know of examples of ministries that are proving themselves to be servants first? Are they being granted authority in their communities because of this?