Term Paper on "Theology of Servant Leadership"

Term Paper 9 pages (3574 words) Sources: 9 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

The disciples understood that Christ was an example of servant leadership. In what is termed "kenosis as leadership," the disciples, most notably Paul, endeavored to make themselves as much like Christ as they could to provide an example for those who would follow them (Sims, p. 9). Kenosis refers to emptying oneself in order to be a vessel for God, and, as such is devoid of the selfish concerns that oftentimes prompt a desire to be a leader (Sims, p.9). Furthermore, there is "no TRUE kenosis without receiving God's love and the reforming and transforming presence of God" (Sims, p. 10). Kenosis also helps remove some of the hierarchical structures that can impede the church. "Scripture does not attempt to set forth a series of hierarchical relationships but to communicate to us an inner attitude of mutual subordination" (Foster, p.112). For example, Paul emptied himself and became subordinate to God. Although he prayed for relief from the thorn in his flesh, he remained submissive to God even when God refused to answer those prayers (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). By demonstrating submission to God, Paul provided an example of submission in leadership. Furthermore, he demonstrated that, while he was asking people to submit, he was not asking them to submit to him or his earthly leadership, but, instead, to join him in submission to God.

How the Lord is Seeking to Stretch Me as a Servant Leader

Blanchard and Miller point out that servant leaders need to ask themselves several important questions as leaders: "What values or beliefs do I want to drive the behavior of my organization? How can I communicate these values? Which of these values do I most consistently model? Which of these values do I need to work on? What are my actions communicating" (p.123). I feel as if my service project helped me answer those questions about myself, so that it not only provided help to the community, but also gave me an opportunity to learn how to be a better, more effective, and more responsive leader.

For my service project, I chose to engage in & #8230;..

One of the challenges that I faced in my service project was success. One may ask why I would view success as a challenge, but there are challenges that come with success, particularly for someone like me who is still struggling to master the concepts in servant leadership. Robert McKenna described these challenges, "Success gives you things. It builds powerful expectations in others about us that often translate into expectations we have for ourselves. Success gives you the power to get more resources, more relationships, and raise your expectations for your future success" (McKenna, Foreward). For me, what this translated into what success threatened to give me an ego. Having had an initial success, I began to have the feeling that my ideas where, perhaps, more valuable than the ideas of others that I perceived as less successful. I realized how dangerous this position was, but, even knowing that my feelings were not charitable or correct and could lead to me excluding valuable input from others, I still found myself struggling against those internal ideas. This made me aware of the fact that leaders do not only face challenges and setbacks from failures, but can also face those setbacks from success. I began to understand the downfall I had seen in great men and woman, who had once had the promise of powerful leadership and strong convictions, but began to believe more in their accomplishments than in their inherent value as human beings. It made me think about Jesus being asked if He was the Messiah, and, refusing to brag or allow His status to dictate who He was or what He could do. Obviously, as a leader, I will not ever approach the greatness of Christ; it is an impossible task. However, as a Christian leader, I realized it is my responsibility to attempt to emulate Christ to the best of my ability, to call upon Him for the strength to do so, and to try to exercise the humility He exercised in my own leadership.

How I am being Called to Apply Servant Leadership to Present Ministry

When looking at how I am personally being called to apply servant leadership in my present ministry, I must begin with the questions posed by Blanchard and Hodges: "1. Whose am I? 2. Who am I? (p.21). Until I answer these questions, I cannot know what type of leader I will be. More significantly, I cannot know what type of follower I will be unless I decide who I will follow. The first question gets to the heart of who I am seeking to please, and like other earthly leaders, I have sometimes lost my way and believed that my responsibility was to please other people. However, I must agree with Blanchard and Hodges, "Scripture teaches us that ultimately we are created to please God. In the personal leadership arena," I had to choose to first please God (p.21). I believe my choice to enter the ministry was driven by a desire to please God, but this desire is not a one-time thing. I have to remember to always keep the desire to please God at the forefront of my ministry. Likewise, I have to look at my purpose on this earth. "Scripture teaches that true success is the fulfillment of the life mission God planned for you. Your success in life depends on your relationship with Christ and what level of control you will let Him have in your life" (Blanchard & Hodges, p.21). Therefore, I feel I must emulate Paul and try to make of myself an empty vessel, so that Christ may use me as an instrument, allowing me to fulfill my purpose.

My current church faced a serious crisis. The previous pastor mismanaged funds, which lead to a lack of confidence, and even suspicion, in the congregation. Moreover, it helped destroy lower levels of leadership in the church. I am being called to apply servant leadership to help restore this church and its faith in its leadership. The mismanagement of funds is a serious problem, and one that I have not been able to completely unravel. Whether the fund mismanagement was due to incompetence or an intentional desire to misappropriate money from the congregation is something that I still do not know, and may never know. What I do know is that funds that the parishioners believed would be used for legitimate church purposes were used for other purposes. I cannot restore the funds to the church; it is outside of my current financial abilities to simply replace the missing money for the church. More importantly, it is critical to realize that a church is not a business. The crisis could not be solved by simply replacing the money. This had led me to think about a statement Jim Collins made, "We must reject the idea- well intentioned, but dead wrong- that the primary path to greatness in social sectors is to become 'more like a business'" (Collins, p.1). He even specifically discusses this within the context of organizations in the social sector needing a more disciplined allocation of resources (Collins, p.1). This makes me realize that helping restore faith to my congregation is not a matter of returning their lost money to them, though ensuring transparent and accountable money management is part of the goal; instead, it is about helping them take an ownership role in money management, so that they have personal knowledge and accountability of the church's financial position.

I believe that I am being called, not only to lead the church, but to promote leadership within the church. I could not help but think of West's description of the Marines and their expectation of the leadership. The very qualities that the Marines think of as critical in its leadership, "decisiveness, integrity, dependability, judgment, justice, tact, initiative, enthusiasm, bearing, unselfishness, courage, knowledge, loyalty, and endurance," are the same qualities it seeks to instill in even its lowest-ranked recruits (West 2004, p. 187). Max Depree refers to this concept as roving leadership. "Roving leadership arises and expresses itself at varying times and in varying situations, according to the dictates of those situations" (Depree, p. 20). Likewise, I feel as if I am being called to help instill critical leadership skills in the congregation, so that they have the confidence to lead themselves and the members are prepared to step up and be leaders when the opportunities present themselves.

One of the most inspirational works we covered in class was Brother Lawrence's Practice the Presence of God. I was struck by the contrast between Brother Lawrence's expected life of austerity when he entered the monastery and the life he actually lived there. He came to the conclusion "That we should feed and nourish our souls… READ MORE

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