Jesus said…
“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 a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25b-28 [NRSV]
Have you read the above? Honestly? Good; now read it again. Go on; do it now. The words of Jesus are so very challenging here. We can seek to explain them away, but really there is no getting away from what Jesus is saying Christian leadership looks like. It is about serving others. I don’t think that Jesus was saying that his followers wouldn’t need leaders (just servants) although it could be read that way. When Jesus said this he had been leading his disciples for three years and he was certainly capable of being a very clear and directive leader. He also uses himself as a leadership example in the quote. No; Christian leaders are needed, but they must be different to ‘wordly’ leaders. Christian leadership has to be about seeking to serve and grow those people in the leader’s care. Fundamentally it is not about the leader; it is about serving the people Jesus loves. Now you might be reading this thinking ok, I am not a Christian leader and so this stuff is not relevant to me. Well it is and there are two reasons for this:
1) All Christians have the ability to lead and influence other Christians and so we are all in the business of church leadership. Congratulations!
2) Whether you want to be first among Jesus followers or not doesn’t matter. Service is the hallmark of a Christian leader. Leaders set examples. We follow the examples of our leaders. Now get serving.
For prayer…
Today I want you to think about church leaders. These needn’t just be the clergy or the readers, it can be anyone who has vision or the ability to influence in our congregation. Pick two or three people and pray for them in their role.
You might like to think about the quote below as you pray.
True strength is found in accepting that we’re weak
It’s getting on our knees and washing our brothers feet1
1 McGladius, 29th Chapter: ‘Is it a Crime’. From ‘Underdogz’ 2006 Survivor/DTR Records
John Martin-Jones
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