Rector's Thoughts and Reflections

October 20, 2004

Servant Leader

In the nineteen seventies the former bishop of Atlanta, Bennett Simms, coined a phrase that captured the imagination of many Episcopalians, when he spoke of Christians living into the reality of being "servant leaders." The words seemingly had such opposite connotations that at first it sounded odd that the church should be raising up new leaders who understood the implications of servant hood in the context of the Christian experience. Put the two words together and you have the making of a powerful experience not only for the individual who tries to live it out, but the church itself, in an increasingly secular society, which becomes empowered to live into the reality of Christ in the world, not as simply a theological notion but the church engaged as both Christian leader and servant in the world. Both words, used as nouns and verbs, express the inward and outward condition of the Christian. Both leader and servant must have an authentic origin not as a mechanical response to the Christian witness, but living in concert with the very spirit of a person

In the course of the biblical story in both the First and New Testaments we can identify countless "leaders" responding to God's call to serve in numerous capacities: prophets, judges, boat builders, sheepherders, men, women, youth, kings, queens, soldiers, priests, the humble and the mighty, and the list goes on. Ordinary people find their stride as leaders through the grace of God and the circumstances that prompt them into action.

There are genuine servants in the biblical story as well, people who place their lives humbly before God and humanity, who respond in that classic sense of the word "servant." We witness them willing to sacrifice their lives in upholding and encouraging the lives of others and submitting to the will and spirit of God. Ruth comes to mind, as well as Jonathan, Samuel, Aaron, Hezekiah, Daniel, Stephen, Joseph, Timothy and the list here is seemingly endless.

Place leader and servant together and there is a short list of notable names that can justify the authority and courage of "leadership" combined with the religious sense of the word "servant." Christ obviously comes to the forefront. It is Jesus who fashions in his ministry and life a sense of bowing to the needs of others and yet extending himself as a person with personal integrity and that innate authority that caused people to pause and eventually to follow by example. His leadership quietly commanded attention, not simply through rhetoric, but as he lived by honoring sacrifice, love, forgiveness and obedience. His sense of leadership and even what it meant to be a servant had a seamless quality that was a natural extension of self. This servant-leader simply lived his life and through his actions and at times what he did not do, delivered to humanity the face and heart of God.

I believe individuals are called to become servant-leaders. I also believe the "church," in every sense of the word, is called to become a servant-leader in the world, all in the sacrificial image of Christ. Maybe the "church" needs to lose that centuries old ego and learn again the humble action of a servant; maybe the "church" in the quiet work of serving Christ and humanity can gain a measure of true leadership that doesn't draw attention to itself and yet offers an example to the world about sacrifice, love and forgiveness that was greatly stressed by Jesus. I believe our baptismal vows speak of dying to self and being reborn. Our baptism is the wellspring of that spiritual condition that submerges the ego and has the servant image.

Christian servant-leadership is about authentic faith in the midst of the world. We are not talking about the idealized Christian, a rare person of faith that does extraordinary things. The servant-leader is not that one-in-a-million person that leaps tall buildings and has a capital "S" under their Clark Kent facade. The servant-leader is simply faithful to Christ in a world hungry for leadership and receptive to someone who is willing to stoop and extend the breadth and depth of faith and genuine love.

It doesn't make any sense, yet servant-leader is about ordinary Christians discovering the transforming power of Christ within them and taking that humble spirit into the world.

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Rector's Thoughts and Reflections