Rethinking servant leadership

It’s more about sacrifice than service

Popular among approaches to leadership today is the servant leader ideal, which is equally appealing in mainstream and Christian domains. But is it time for a rethink?

The origin stories for servant leadership are many and varied. The most common origin story in leadership literature is attributed to Robert Greenleaf and his 1977 book Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Leadership. In the opening chapter, Greenleaf explains he first encountered the servant as leader idea when reading Hermann Hesse’s Journey to the East. From this, Greenleaf developed the concept into what has become one of the most prominent leadership approaches.

But the essence of servant leadership can be found throughout history in the world’s various philosophies and religions. Plato and Cicero advocated the idea of leaders serving others. The Islam, Tao, Hindu and Buddhist religions also have the ideal of servant leadership.

Christianity lays a strong claim to servant leadership through the stories of Moses and David in the Old Testament. But it’s the story of Jesus in the New Testament Christians use as the inspiration and example for servant leadership. In particular, they cite the following passage from Matthew 20:

“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others” (26-27, NLT).

I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve read or heard this passage quoted as a call for Christian leaders to adopt a servant leadership style. But I want to challenge Christian leaders on this.

While a servant leadership mindset and style is certainly preferable to the traditional “command and control” style of leadership, it’s not the whole story. For whatever reason, the last verse of the passage is all too often omitted. It reads:

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others
and to give his life as a ransom for many” (28, NLT, emphasis added).

Completing that verse changes the emphasis and significantly increases the responsibilities of leaders, because no longer does Jesus call people to servant leadership but to sacrificial leadership. To follow Jesus’ example is to not just serve but to sacrifice, to lay down one’s life.

In his 2013 book Christ-centered Leadership: The Incarnational Difference, David McKenna proposes that when leaders adopt the attitude of Christ (see Philippians 2:5), a new cycle of leadership is revealed as follows:

• Starting on empty—surrendering all to God
• Leading from nothing—influences others though vulnerability and humility
• Dying to all—daily crucifying self-interest
• Exalted by One—seeking only God’s glory
• Mediating for many—becoming a model, mentor and mediator for the mind of Christ

Maybe it’s time to rethink what it means to truly be a Christian leader.

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Photograph: KamranAydinov on Freepik.