What is a “servant leader”?
Do you serve under one in your church, job, volunteer position, or even your family?
What difference does it make?
Quite a bit–especially if you’re “chaffing” under rules and requirements.
How to define and recognize a Servant Leader
We first learned of the concept many years ago when my husband served in the military.
We joined the Officers’ Christian Fellowship (OCF) — a small-group Bible study held at most duty stations.
In the study, we often discussed how to apply Scripture and the concept of a servant leader in our lives.
Servant Leadership works equally well in marriage, the military, and in real life.
A servant leader inspires people to follow them because they genuinely care about their people. Real leadership has nothing to do with a position you hold. It’s about your character. Do you inspire others to follow you, or do you demand them to?”
LTJG Rachel Christensen, USCG (Bold face is from me)
Similarly, from the same article,
Servant leadership, “is not being a servant nor simply being a leader, but a combination,” said Bryan. “All leadership should be about accomplishing the mission, while taking care of your people. {This results in] making the unit/family/organization better along the way.”
LTC Bryan Groves, USA
Who does this remind you of?
Can you see that Jesus was a servant leader?
Jesus as a servant leader
These are the ways that I see Jesus acted in love for his followers:
- He called them individually.
- He recognized their gifts.
- Jesus joined them in their work–he didn’t order them around.
- He showed his disciples how to do what he’d taught them.
- Love came even when they made mistakes–or doubted his teachings.
- They worked together as a team, with Jesus leading the way at first.
- Jesus trusted his men to do what he’d told them to do–even when they failed.
- He didn’t leave them or forsake them without providing another leader. (Holy Spirit).
- As part of his servant leadership, Jesus didn’t humiliate his men in public.
- He forgave their errors and provided a way to learn and try again.
As Christiansen noted about servant leaders:
Two key characteristics are confidence and humility, which may sound contradictory to some, just as servant leadership does. While confidence is necessary to both positional and servant leadership, humility is the foundation of servant leadership.
We know Jesus humbled himself for his followers–all the way to the Cross.
What does such leadership look like?
Groves:
The model includes ensuring our troops get good food without interruption (despite having to lead a convoy through dangerous territory all night). Prioritizing missions to protect and help local people, despite enemy attacks.
Sometimes it means fighting unpleasant bureaucratic challenges to use the unit’s money to best equip and train soldiers.
He went on to apply the concept to the family:
At home, a servant leader means fighting for my family in prayer. Equipping my kids: to love God and people, and with the life skills for work and play.
What about the church?
As followers of Jesus Christ, our role in the church is to emulate Jesus.
While someone needs to be the leader, that leader should consider themselves a servant leader–a leader like Jesus.
Many probably see themselves that way.
Many are that way.
Praise God.
By taking care of your people, you can experience joy.
But what are the characteristics of someone who isn’t acting like a servant leader?
Linked In has a list about the concept of a servant leader:
- Not a sign of weakness.
- Not a one-way street.
- Not a quick fix.
- Not a one-size-fits-all.
- Not a solo act.
In the article, businessman Warren Long explains it well:
“It’s not about being a pushover . . . it’s not about blindly following orders.
Instead, it’s about serving the greater good of the organization by fostering collaboration, transparency, and trust. It’s about empowering team members to make informed decisions and providing them with the support they need to succeed. Servant leadership means advocating for ethical practices and long-term value creation, even if it means challenging the status quo or having difficult conversations with stakeholders. It’s a delicate balance of serving others while still driving results and maintaining accountability.”
What to do if you work or serve under a non-servant leader?
That will be next week’s post.
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?