We have learned, through experience that the typical corporate model in the context of leadership is a pyramid. The managers and leaders occupy the upper domains and the laborer lies on the lower regions of the pyramid. Perhaps the most radical opponent for this concept is Jesus Christ, In John Chapter 13, when it was about the time for Him to leave the world; he showed his final demonstration of love: He washes the disciple’s feet.
Leaders Meeting 2004 Session 4
Introduction
We have learned, through experience that the typical corporate model in the context of leadership is a pyramid. The managers and leaders occupy the upper domains and the laborer lies on the lower regions of the pyramid. Perhaps the most radical opponent for this concept is Jesus Christ, In John Chapter 13, when it was about the time for Him to leave the world; he showed his final demonstration of love: He washes the disciple’s feet. The explanation for his action comes at the end of the passage. Jesus said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you (v.15)”.The whole life of Jesus, teaches us to view leadership from a different perspective: perspective of a servant. Quiet often, we describe servant leadership by inverting the pyramid mentioned above, suggesting that the leaders are at the bottom, serving the needs of the people. The idea of inverting the pyramid has limitation and is not the best reflection of real servant and thus, this misconception of Servant Leadership still lends itself to hierarchical thinking. We must get beyond the idea that a servant leader is a wimp, someone who can’t lead dynamically and therefore, follows what the majority says. Servant leadership is a mindset and a relationship of a body of Christ serving one another in their unique roles. In practicality, servant leadership fits and supports ICF to create a productive community by understanding the role of servant leadership and carry out those roles responsibly.
Servant Leadership
Greenleaf, in his book, Servant Leadership states the concept of servant leadership like this:
A new moral principle is emerging which holds that the only authority deserving one’s allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader. Those who choose to follow this principle will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions. Rather, they will freely respond only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted as servants. (Greenleaf, 1977: 9 – 10)
Literally, leaders and servants are two contradicting words. You can be a servant and not a leader. You can be a leader and not a servant. But the bible said both aspect are included, a servant leader is one who both serves by leading and leads in such a way as to exemplify a servant’s attitude. Just as leadership is a relationship versus something leader does, servant leadership is a type of relationship process. It is a relationship where a group of people choose to serve each other in unique roles. Servant leadership is about a group of people submitting to each other for the purposes of achieving something they could not achieve alone. Christian servant leadership is to operate in the context of a body of Christ, or a team, as shown in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. And because the core of Christian servant leadership is relationship and serving, Christian servant leadership has no place for individualistic ambition and advantages, but is for building up one another. The way one tells a servant leader from a non servant leader may be different than many people perceive. A servant leader can still be strong, dynamic, animated and outgoing and strict at the same time. We have to avoid stereotypes and personality idiosyncrasies in understanding servant leading.
Going into detail, what makes a leader a servant leader is not temperament, strength or energy but the type of motivation in a leader. When the motivation of a leader is to unleash the potential of the followers and primarily benefit the whole body of Christ, that person is a servant leader. A person who is not a servant leader will tend toward goals by manipulation, using people, and prideful attitude. It is better to think that a servant leadership is model which did not imply the higher and lower strata (pyramid). If we place leaders in a single line with others in the leadership relationship, the implication is that there are none higher or lower, but that all are peers in an influence relationship. The New Testament discussing spiritual gifts and the body of Christ, No part of the body is better than another, just because some are given more prominence. This does not suggest that all are equal in impact. The heart obviously plays more important role than the hand. The leaders fill the key role because without the leaders, the quality of the relationship of the body of Christ will decrease. Along with that, a leader is considered a peer.
The Role of Christian Leadership
As we have learned so far, the bible teaches Christian leadership is servant leadership. Therefore, these two words will be used interchangeably throughout this paper. We can view leadership from different perspectives, each of which gives us understanding about the whole complex tasks of leadership.
- Christian leaders lead by vision
Great leaders lead by vision. A leader may not always develop a new, unique vision, but may buy into another’s vision. The best leaders are not necessarily the most creative people in a fellowship. Whether the leader’s vision is original or borrowed is unimportant. Good leaders practice ways to communicate their visions, tying future pictures to past realities, showing how such a picture is better than the status quo.
Example in ICF: In recent years, ICF Columbus is experiencing a declining in numbers of people we have previously reached out, the main reason is because we are so much lacking in follow up. Then, coordinators and elders see the idea of following up people. It is better to reach out 5 and be able to follow up 5, instead of reach out 10 and lose all of them. This idea is a vision for better ICF Columbus, ICF full of people effectively follow up and disciple other people. This idea was communicated to the whole leaders and then implemented. This idea might not be a new idea for other ICF, ICF Columbus also learn this idea from someplace else. The most important thing is, leaders should be able to picture that ICF is better with changes and not with status quo.
- Christian leaders influence other people to grow
We, as Christian leaders, lead others whenever we cause others to change their behavior or attitudes, either because they see our example and admire it, or because we persuade them with words to change. Also, personal investment into others’ lives leads to increased influence in those lives. Some leaders focus primarily on influencing those with whom they are deeply involved relationally, and depend on them to influence others. As servant leaders of God, we need to remember that our role in ministry has a time limitation that we need to pass the leadership stick to the new generation. This means that the development of servant leadership and discipleship are very crucial that no servant leader should ignore them.
Example in ICF: We know that ICF is a movement; ICF is unique because the leader’s turnover rate is high. In ICF, we invest in people. When we say we invest in other people’s life, we do not let people that follow us walk alone, we lead them by giving direction, provision, challenge and protection.
- Christian leaders fight
Christian leaders fight negative trends or false beliefs that develop within the fellowship. Remember than Satan always launches attack and leaders should be watchful what factors are leading to the negative trends or views among their followers, and devise counter measures. Sometimes the attack might be subtle and looks like a good thing. However, the attack might distract the whole organization.
Example in ICF: When the CMD curriculum was implemented in ICF, a lot of people, including some leaders argue about what is the point of implementing the curriculum, why don’t ICF focus on relationship with God and lead people to God? Question like this is classical, not necessarily a bad question. ICF leaders should be able to explain, the vision and the importance of the curriculum to those who argue. Also, offering counter –measures such as what happen if the curriculum is not implemented.
- Christian leader builds the team
In ICF, leaders don’t lead alone; leaders lead as a team and build the team. This is often the difference between leaders and others who also get good ideas, but never have much impact on the body of Christ. Christian leaders build the whole group and help them overcome barriers to understanding, personal resentments, jealousies, and prejudice. Good leaders often engage in conflict management with peaceful results. Christian leader is a unity former and make the whole fellowship move as a team. Among leaders, accountability must present. Every leader is responsible to each other, to the whole ICF and to God.
Example in ICF: One of the leaders in ICF “Bandung” has a conflict with other leader. If these two leaders could not manage their conflict by themselves, the team of leaders should not stay calm and do nothing. The rest of the leaders in a group must help them by overcoming personal resentments between these two people. This also applies to the other participant of ICF. Leaders should have a building attitude and deal with negativity occurring in the fellowship.
- Christian leader encourage, compromise and stabilize the whole fellowship
Christian leader is the one who stands firm under crisis and cannot be moved from the foundation of truth. The followers are attracted to such stability and reliability, rightly discerning that such reliability is the result of clear vision for God’s way. Paradoxically, good leaders are also compromisers. We live in a fallen world where our visions will never be completely fulfilled. People never quite do what they should and life presents us with the unexpected. As a result, leaders realize they need to get the best they can, while not insisting on perfection or even on complete agreement. The Bible also commands Christian leaders to encourage one another, and the leader should show the way in this area. (1 Thes. 5:11) Leaders are those who, through encouragement, can restore confidence and enthusiasm to a group of people who are discouraged and depressed. Often times, encouragement from a leader is far more effective than others.
Example in ICF: Encouragement to other leaders and non leaders in the fellowship. As leaders, we have to ask questions like have we acknowledge the work of other leader? Have we point out the strength they have? If not, we really need to work on this area. Encouragement should be greater than admonishment and not vise versa.
Leaders’ Authority
Even though the heart of Christian leadership according to the bible is servanthood (Mark 10:42-45). The bible also teaches that legitimate leaders have authority, in the sense of a right to direct others. This authority comes from God and is delegated to leaders for the good of the body. A couple of verses in the Bible clearly stated that leaders should be respected
* Titus 2:15
[Speaking to a leader] These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
* Heb. 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
* 1 Thessalonians. 5:12, 13
Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.
Thus, being a leader does not mean full authority without disagreement. As a fellowship we must understand that our leaders or fellow leaders are our peers. It is our responsibility to be accountable with them. There is no such thing as autonomous delegated authority. All delegated authorities are under God’s authority. This is why, when scripture addresses those under delegated authority, it also addresses those in delegated authority in the same passage and reminds them of their responsibilities before the Lord. In the same way, leaders must be mature enough to accept disagreements, even sometimes from other leaders without being insecure.
Common Mistakes Leaders Make and Implications
Being a leader does not mean not making any mistake. Leadership is a complex task where influence is the biggest element in leadership. Anyone who influences someone else to do something has led that person. The same case happen in our fellowship, the leaders lead the fellowship to go to one direction. In the way of leading this movement as a body of Christ, leaders often times make mistakes. A couple of favorite mistakes that leaders make include:
- The Top Down Attitude
This is the easiest and common way leaders practiced. It is easier to simply tell people what to do than to try other effective style of leadership. For some reason, our natural selves try to domineer others; this is why people think that leadership is one person over another. Implication of this attitude is creating a dependency scheme in the fellowship. The top down attitude usually held by dominant leaders, even though it seems subtle, the dominant leaders create a culture that he is the one telling what other people should do. The later problem would arise when the dominant leaders left, the whole fellowship would fail.
2. Program Oriented Leadership
Some people tend to be program-oriented and some tend to be people-oriented. The problem is, many if not most Christian leaders in our fellowship today tend toward being task (program) oriented. The problem is, we have subtly made program orientation more desirable in our leaders’ selection process. But, without healthy emphasis on people; the whole fellowship is actually accomplishing nothing. The implication of program – orientation in the fellowship is that people focus more and more to result than process. No grace is being practiced when task is not done.
- Improper Delegation
Most leaders find it hard to let go of their precious responsibilities and they underestimate the value of their followers. No leadership problem is a greater challenge than learning to delegate others. Delegation is hard to do because of fear: fear of losing authority, fear of work being done poorly, fear of work being done better than what other leaders does, fear of depending on other, and also unwillingness to take necessary time. The implications on improper delegation in the fellowship would be: burnt out. Leaders take more responsibility than they should. No trust among each other in the fellowship.
Conclusion
Leadership is a complicated task that God has delegated to human. It involves influence to other people and that is why it is complicated because fallen human tends to exercise this delegation improperly. In this modern society, people have a mindset that leadership is like pyramid chart where leaders are at the top of the portion and the rest of others lie underneath the leaders. The bible opposes the mindset by introducing servant leadership, a concept that teaches us to serve one another as one healthy body of Christ.
Throughout His life, Jesus gives us examples by serving other people, and not pursuing His own ambition as well as leading His followers. Leaders in ICF exemplify Jesus’ action by exercising servant leaders’ roles in the fellowship. The roles are: influencer, fighter, team leader, compromiser, encourager and stabilizer as well as leading by vision. Leaders have authority delegated from God to lead for the good of the body. That delegation, even though prominence, does not mean the leader has full authority without disagreement from the fellowship. Since leaders have the authority and the fallen nature as well, leaders make mistakes that might ruin the body. The rest of the leaders are responsible to hold leaders who make mistakes accountable. Through leaders understanding and carrying out the roles of Servant leadership properly and responsibly, leaders will induce a healthy community.
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