Servant Leadership

by Mike Chong Perkinson

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say. Emerson

Leadership Tension: One can do the right thing and do it poorly or one can do things right while doing the wrong thing. This is possibly why many ministries flounder.

It is said that a manager is one who gets things done right, while a leader is one who gets the right things done. Management follows good leadership. Let me use for example a group of people that are tearing up a field so that a baseball park might be built on it. No matter how good the management is, it is all worthless if the group of people are working on the wrong field. Leadership is the ability to find the right field. We are in great need of spiritual leaders; being busy is not our goal, but doing what is right and pleasing to the Lord for the benefit of the Kingdom is. As a result, the most effective leader is one who is willing to serve and be led by the Master Himself. We want people who are servant leaders and not leaders who simply want to be served. Keep in mind, we are never beyond a task (that is, above doing it). If our Master can lower Himself to the service of a slave as He washed the disciples’ feet; surely we can allow ourselves to not be above any task.

Five questions are in need of answering by us on a regular basis. They are:

What are we leading/managing? Too often we lead a structure and not people. We are more interested in building a ministry than doing ministry with people. Our focus is always to build people and not our ministry. I realize this is obvious, but people are the ministry. The following is the way I seek to build people (taken from Matthew 5:13-16):

“Light the lamp” -- Help people light their lamps through the Holy Spirit. This is the stage of salvation and healing. Many who come to you, even those who know the Lord, are dry and without life and in tremendous need of healing.

“Let your light shine” -- Help people practice individual spirituality in their private life. We want people to grow as Christians from the inside out.

“Set it on a lampstand” -- Help people share the reality of God’s work in their life to everyone they come in contact with by word and deed. This tends to come more naturally when people’s lives are changed. This sets us up for our “virus” approach to evangelism. We desire to infect people with Jesus. The best way to do this is to catch the “virus” of Jesus ourselves and be the church anywhere, everywhere, and all the time.

Why are we leading? This should be brought before the Lord on a regular basis. He will purify our motives as we grow as leaders. Practically, if you discover you are leading out of an incorrect motive, don’t quit. Let God purify you as you lead. The single greatest need of spiritual leaders today is to ignore the voice of flesh that beckons us to be noticed and successful and learn to hear the voice of God that beckons for us to be humble and for Christ to be noticed.

Where is the leadership going to take you? Do we really know where we are trying to take the people? Keep in mind, it is ludicrous that others can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there. This does not imply that you have to be an alcoholic to minister to alcoholics. Rather, it clarifies for us the key of being servants and broken before God. Are you actually living out what you are leading? The destination is more than systems and numbers, it is about character and the forming of Christ in people.

What are the values we embrace? And do they fall in line with what we are doing? All too often, people will do the opposite of what they profess to value. For example, they say they believe in servant leadership, but rarely serve when the opportunity comes. We know we are actually servants in our hearts the moment we are treated like one and we are ok with it.

Is the ministry growing? This is where the American success mindset has really impacted us. We tend to believe that growth is best monitored by numerical increase. Always remember, a large ministry does not mean anything more than a large ministry. It does not necessarily mean the people are growing in Christ. By this, I am not suggesting we do not want more people to get saved nor am I being critical of large ministries. Remember big is not better. Small is not better. Better is better. Our focus is not get to bigger, but to grow big people. We will let the Lord take care of the increase. Here is the criterion I use to determine if my ministry is growing or not:

Are people’s relationships with God stabilizing? Before we can change the world, we need to see God change the world of individuals.

Are people’s relationships with each other growing?

Is concern for the lost and broken increasing in the fellowship? Are they beginning to reach out?
Are we beginning to reproduce ourselves? This will involve discipleship of Christians and non-Christians. Where the presence of the Lord is, life will happen. As Acts 2:47 seems to indicate, people coming to Christ is a by-product of our relationship with Jesus – the lived way with Christ, with others and for others.

May we all become servant leaders, who desire nothing more or less than living our lives to the King and His Kingdom. To help us prepare our hearts for such I offer you this prayer.

THE SERVANT LEADERS’ PRAYER
Don’t give us blessings--give us grace to be unquestionably obedient to Your every last command and desire.
Don’t give us status--give us a place to serve.
Don’t give us things for our use--use us.
Don’t give us a mansion to live in--give us a springboard to take Christ’s love to the whole world.
Don’t give us good jobs--put us to work.
Don’t give us pleasure--give us perspective.
Don’t give us satisfaction--teach us sacrifice.
Don’t give us entertainment--enable us.
Don’t give us good salaries--give us strength to do Your will.
Our great joy in life is in pleasing our Lord--and there is no other joy comparable.
- Gordon Aeschiman

God raise up servant leaders!
Tell me what you think. Let’s talk about it.