[Friday's Devotional] - Down and Dirty

We looked on Wednesday at the work of Robert Greenleaf and his ideas on the servant as leader.  Obviously I have reservations about the idea of the servant leader serving the perceived highest priority of the person being served.  However, there is one part of Greenleaf’s idea that I think is challenging and wonderful.  For Greenleaf, leadership is not about the leader being (somehow) above the person being led. It is about the leader being with the person that they serve.

 

Greenleaf turns the world of leadership theory upside down. Quite simply, you can’t serve someone unless you are at their level, walking with them and breathing their air. This idea could be termed as incarnational: the idea that, like Jesus coming and living among us (John.1.14), Christians need to be among those that they seek to serve. You can’t do servant leadership at long range. I find this idea wonderful because I love the idea of the church as a community: a family sharing life with each other through the week. A family joining in with each other’s pain and joys. A family caring for and helping each other in practical ways; involved in and enriching each other’s everyday life. I love that idea. But I find it challenging too because it will involve me entering into the pain of my brothers and sisters in Christ. It will involve me opening myself up to them too. It may be costly to me too and it may mean big changes in my life. For example, helping my brothers and sisters may mean Jesus asking me to move house and be nearer to those that he has placed in my life. Being the slave of Christ for my brothers and sisters could be costly for me….. But then again, serving me cost Jesus everything.

 

For prayer…

 

Read Philippians 2 and pray that Jesus will make you a good servant leader.

Some lovely music to listen to as you pray : Brother sister let me serve you.

 

 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, Matthew 20: 26 [NRSV]

 

John Martin-Jones

[Thursday's Devotional] - The slave of Christ

We looked yesterday at the idea of the servant as leader and discussed how, for a Christian servant leader, the person that you are primarily serving is Jesus and that all acts of service to others flow from that. I want to think today a bit more about what that means. St Paul often described himself as the servant of Christ (see for example Romans 1.1). The Greek word used for servant is doulos and can mean that the servant is literally a slave. This is different to the Greek word diakonos from which our word deacon comes. The term diakonos means servant or steward, but does not imply the same level of slave like servanthood as doulos.

 

Paul mainly describes himself as doulos of Christ and the diakonos of the church (see 1 Cor 9.19 and 2 Cor 4.5).  For Paul, his serving, or slavery to Christ takes precedence over his service of the church.

 

It is because Paul is first and foremost servant of Christ that he can serve the church so effectively. For example, because he serves Christ first he is able to rebuke the Corinthian church when it is not conducting itself in a holy manner. He loves the church but recognises that his service to the church has to flow from his love for Jesus. He is not free to decide what shape his service of the church should take and neither is the church. In short, it is all about Jesus.

 

As church we need to be constantly aware that we are the slaves of Christ and the servants of each other. As church we need to continually ask ourselves whether what we are doing is what Jesus wants us to. Points like these are often made when discussing the situation in churches which are perhaps traditional and have falling numbers in their congregation. But all churches, including modern, charismatic and numerically growing ones are quite capable of doing things that are not centred in Jesus and all churches are ultimately capable of going totally off the rails. All churches need to be constantly praying that they are led by Christ.

 

For prayer…

 

Think about Paul; the slave of Christ and the servant of the church. Ask Jesus that you are able to have the same relationship with him and his church.

 

John Martin-Jones

[Wednesday's Devotional] - The Servant as Leader

On his retirement from work, circa 1970, Robert Greenleaf set about developing a new model for leadership in business management. The model that he pioneered, known as ‘servant leadership, is now used by a number of global brands. The servant leadership model is explained below.

"The servant leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead."

"The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priorities are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servant? And what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or at least not be further deprived.1

 

Interesting idea isn’t it?  You won’t be surprised to know that Greenleaf was writing from a faith background; in fact he was a Quaker.  I really like his thinking and wonder how much more people might enjoy work if more business leaders operated on that basis.  However, I have one major problem with his idea.  As a Christian my role is not to seek to serve the highest priority of those around me.  No, ultimately I am the servant of Christ and my servant hood of others is done because Jesus has told me to.  Jesus sets the agenda from which I serve.  Because of this I need to ensure that I am not brow beaten into acts of service that are not in line with the purposes of the gospel.

 

For prayer today..

 

Ask God to make Jesus and his kingdom the highest priority in your life. Ask him that you serve others out of Jesus’ love for them and not out of their desires.

 

Some music while you pray?

Martin Layzell 'Walk as Jesus Walked'

 

 

1 Robert Greenleaf: The Servant as Leader 1970. From http://www.greenleaf.org.uk/about.php 

 

John Martin-Jones

[Tuesday's Devotional] - It shall not be so among you

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, 29^th Chapter: ‘Is it a Crime’. From ‘Underdogz’ 2006 Survivor/DTR Records

 

John Martin-Jones

[Monday's Devotional] - Leadership

This week, we will be looking at leadership. I want to start with a quote from a Christian writer on leadership:

 

Leadership is a ‘glow word’ on many lips. Politicians pretend it. Youth question it. The old yearn for it. Parents grasp it. Children defy it. Police seek it. Armies impose it. Terrorists seize it. Executives claim it. Corporations exploit it. Scholars study it. Pundits pretend it. Sound bites impose it. Media announce it. Sycophants worship it. Religions bless it. Psychologists psych it. Autocrats manipulate it. Experts teach it. Conservatives defend it. Liberals suspect it. Ethicists critique it. Philosophers debate it. Theologians integrate it. (Those who love it, one suspects should rarely be granted it; those who usurp it not allowed it; those who feel entitled to it not be trusted with it; only those who accept it as – a service delegated by community and for community – deserve to serve in it)1

 

Leaders are not just people with power and authority, neither are they simply managers.  A leader is someone who is in charge of setting the goals and the direction of travel of a group of people with a common interest; this could be any group from a desire to do something for the homeless, to a local running club, to a multi-national company. Leadership is something that we all interact with each day. Are you someone who finds themselves exercising leadership? Are you someone who aspires to be a leader? Do you regard leaders as trustworthy? Or, has life taught you not to trust people who seek to influence or lead you?  

 

Well, whatever your position with regards to leadership, it is clear that leadership is a responsibility, a huge responsibility in fact.

 

For prayer

 

Let’s start the week by praying for the leaders that we interact with. Pick two or three leaders that you come into contact with and spend some time praying for them. Ask God’s blessing on them, but also ask God what you can do or say to support them in their role.

 

1 David Augsburg ‘Evaluating Servanthood: From Servant Leadership to Leading as Serving,’ The Three Tasks of Leadership, Ed Eric O Jacobsen, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009, (99-109), 100.

 

John Martin-Jones