Dear Friends,

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life for a ransom for many (Matt 20:25-28, emphasis added).

“Servant-leadership” is the much ballyhooed “gold standard” of leadership in Christian organizations. And why not? Didn’t Jesus say, “I came not to be served, but to serve?”  (Matt 20:28).

Servant-leadership, as taught by Robert K Greenleaf who developed the concept and coined the name, is the premise that the drive of those who aspire to leadership should be to serve others, not to lead. A servant-leader makes his or her first priority the service of the needs of others emphasizing collaboration, trust, empathy and the ethical use of power. (You can find more information at www.greenleaf.org ; http://vicnapier.com/MyArticles/OrgDevPapers/contribution_of_robert_greenleaf.htm ).

Servant-leadership sounds Christian and has been greatly influential in American management training, a phenomenon latched onto by those advocating Christian witness in the workplace. Greenleaf was an AT&T executive and management consultant who cited his Quaker background as the source of many of his ideas.

Greenleaf’s seminal influence was Herman Hesse, the modernist German novelist, poet and painter, in particular a Hesse short story called, “Journey to the East.” Hesse was fascinated with themes of spirituality and psychology, but his major spiritual influence was Buddhism which was also an influence on Greenleaf’s work.

I know Christian leaders who have attended training sessions at the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership and found good ideas, but precious little linkage to Christian thought.

Greenleaf actually derived his teachings from a blend of various religious and philosophical sources. His use of Biblical sources generally worked the Scripture around his own ideas. For instance, he used Jesus’ teaching “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27) as a premise for his essay, “The Institution as Servant,” equating corporate institutions with Jesus’ concept of the Sabbath.

My point in this message is not to be critical of Greenleaf. He made a legitimate and positive contribution towards humanizing the corporate culture in America. Furthermore, the fact that ideas aren’t footnoted to Scripture doesn’t make them bad. In fact, a lot of bad ideas are masked by Biblical references.

Scripture teaches that our attitude is to be like Christ’s in that we should put others first, look out for their interests, and do nothing out of vanity or selfishness (Phil 2:3-4). No autocratic, top-down leadership structure can be said to properly represent the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).

Every good and gracious thing given credit for its own inherent value is subject to subversion by Satan and abuse by humans. An old tale illustrates the subtle traps in this. The story goes that God and Satan were walking down the street. The Lord bends down, picks something up, and gazes at it glowing radiantly in his hand. Curious, Satan asks what it is. “This,” answers the Lord, “is truth.” “Let me have that,” says Satan, “I’ll organize it for you.”

From my earliest exposure to the concept, I’ve been repelled by the legalism that is the obsequious “camp follower” of the march of servant-leadership into the workplace. Echoing Jesus, Greenleaf taught that the aspiration of a servant-leader should be to serve rather than to lead. Mandating service by rule rather than conviction seems to me to defeat that purpose.

There are generally agreed to be ten principles involved in servant-leadership as a management method — listening, empathy, healing, self-awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of others, and community-building. Placing such principles in job descriptions, employment policies, and criteria for performance evaluations generally results in the unfair judgment of motives instead of an objective assessment of performance. It also assigns responsibility for an impossible task of controlling the thoughts and responses of others which, if the premise of servant-leadership is true, should be natural and altruistic rather than manipulated and calculated.

Put another way, the attitudes and behaviors of a Christian servant-leader must authentically arise from the heart and mind of someone who has been crucified with Christ and who now lives in his resurrected power (Gal 2:19-20). These attitudes and behaviors cannot be produced on demand any more than the “fruit of the Spirit” can be produced on demand, but rather must grow from and be guided by the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-25). A true servant-leader is one who is surrendered to and possessed by the Jesus Christ who came to serve rather than be served.

But Jesus made a further point that I only spotted recently. In my experience, it is a rarity among Christian leaders at the highest levels to admit need or vulnerability of any kind. They are inclined to say with the Laodiceans, “I have need of nothing” (Rev 3:17). The cause is great, people have needs and the leader is serving those needs. After all, isn’t that how Jesus described true greatness?

Well, not quite. Jesus told his disciples, “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave” (Matt 20:26-27). He wasn’t simply telling the disciples that they could be great by becoming servants. He was telling them that the one who served them would be the greatest.

To be served like that, a leader would have to admit need, be vulnerable, and be humble. A leader who can confess a  personal need for help is a leader who will turn to God and be accepting of the gifts and assistance of others. Such a leader is fit to serve others by caring, really caring, for their needs. He or she can feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the imprisoned and think nothing of it because of authentic identification with them (Matt 25:41-45).

A true servant leader starts the day on his or her knees in supplication and gratitude to the Lord, rises and walks by the impulse of Christ’s love to the persons and places where help is needed, and gives that help. Complicating it more than that tips the balance from servant to leader. Jesus stripped himself down before taking the basin and towel to wash the disciples feet (John 13:1-5). Paul said that Jesus Christ “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant” in order to save us (Phil 2:7). For an authentic servant-leader in the example and Spirit of Christ, less is always more.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).

Under the mercy of Christ,

Kent

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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.

Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Placespublished by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.

 

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