The true form of servant leadership doesn\u2019t lie in Nouwen\u2019s downwardly
\nmobile Christ. Because there is still the assumption that the top-down
\nmodel is implanted within the very psyche of leadership. If you can allow me to be simplistic for a
\nmoment, maybe our ideas of leadership, however informed they are by scripture, might not be informed enough.<\/p>\n
Let us venture through some of the more axiomatic verses typically used within Christianity.<\/p>\n
One of the most used verses to speak of what is known as servant-leadership comes from the scene where Jesus takes a towel and washes the feet of his friends. For most, this might be easily defined
\nas a service-oriented\/customer-service philosophy of leadership wherein the \u2018leader\u2019 remains the leader but takes a position of no-leadership to better serve those s\/he is \u2018called\u2019 to lead.<\/p>\n
What if that wasn\u2019t it though?<\/p>\n
What if our notion of leadership in the Church isn\u2019t radical enough?
\nJesus was a rabbi. Just by being a Rabbi meant you already came with socially recognized status.
\nStatus in this culture, much like our culture, also signified some sort of power and
\ninfluence. I think what is also important to remember that in thisancient Jewish culture, to be a servant meant you had no-name.<\/p>\n
Now a name in this culture wasn\u2019t just a label of some sort but it was
\nwho you were\/could be\/shouldn\u2019t be at the core of who you were. Your
\nname was intrinsically tied up with identity. To be a servant meant
\nyou were quite literally a no-body. Jesus would have been aware of
\nthis. In this one act, Jesus negated himself. In doing so he allows
\nspace for others to establish themselves in their own identity.<\/p>\n
As part of our human condition it seems that more often than not we
\nlook to others to define our ethics and\/or how we define reality. Take
\nfor example the reverse-deification of historical people. Notice that
\nnot every person is included in our history, but rather only those who
\neither contributed for the well-being of humanity or those who have
\nreally messed it up for us. And it seems the pedestals on which these
\nheroes and villains sit is chosen by those who help write history. It
\nseems by Jesus choosing the status of servant he eradicates pedestals.
\nTo be a leader doesn\u2019t mean we look for pedestals to stand upon,
\nrather, it means we look for pedestals to eradicate.<\/p>\n
If we continue to frame our definition of servant leadership on the
\nlife and acts of Jesus then it means we must be in continual revision
\nof how we define both servant and leader. In another place Jesus
\nchallenges his listeners with the notion of death coupled with
\nfollowing. In fact, he goes so far as to say that for some this way of
\nfollowing might be too radical for them. I think this is what happens
\nin a top-down-model, because not only are there pedestals but it
\nincludes the death\/subordination of everyone else around.<\/p>\n
Jesus tells his audience that they must take up their cross to follow
\nhim. This is a radical idea. Because it illicits a full negation of
\nself. Both literally & figuratively. Jesus seems to define the
\njourney through death. Through self-eradication. Leadership is not
\nwhat you do on a Sunday or in a workshop, it seems to be defined as a
\nway of life.<\/p>\n
You are not anymore a leader standing in a pulpit then when you are
\ncleaning a toilet after camp. It\u2019s visceral. So is death. This is why
\nmega-churches are ultimately a failure because they promote the
\ntop-down model. They have to have a traditional leader to sustain
\ntheir behemoth existence.<\/p>\n
But be rest assured this macabre leadership style is and will never be
\npopular. It\u2019s too Tim Burton for most in the Church. To take up an
\nobject like a cross means to also know what its going to mean in the
\nend. That to claim to be a servant leader means one must eventually
\ncome to a point of pedestal-burning and self-negation. This is not a
\neasy option, but neither is following Jesus.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The true form of servant leadership doesn\u2019t lie in Nouwen\u2019s downwardly mobile Christ. Because there is still the assumption that the top-down model is implanted within the very psyche of leadership. If you can allow me to be simplistic for a moment, maybe our ideas of leadership, however informed they are by scripture, might not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n