Vision of a Servant Leader - “Connecting What Can be to What Is”

     The vision of the Servant Leader is a call to think outside the box.

Vision: The unusual competence in discernment or perception –

foresight in the manner in which one sees or conceives of something.

Thinking outside the box is a difficult task, and yet it is an essential characteristic in understanding Servant Leadership.  The Servant Leader is the one who is able to dream- not fantasy or wishful thinking - but able to look beyond the limits of a current situation or moment; being on fire with an urgency and vision for change.

The Power of the Dream

     While understanding the past, the Servant Leader begins to identify the assumptions guiding or informing the current challenges, and wanting to envision a new way of doing things, asks the question “What if?” That’s the moment when the Servant Leader is able to become the motivating force to build those relationships that will foster creative forces and inspire collaboration. Others will be empowered not merely to follow but to lead; challenging the process and encouraging the heart of the mission- sharing the “What if?” 

     The focus of Jesus’ life was in preaching God’s Reign.  It was the center of his teaching, his mission and ministry.  Jesus didn’t perceive or present God’s Reign as a “kingdom” established by power, prestige or position.  Jesus presented God’s Reign as a kingdom established by service.  That understanding was clarified for Jesus for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert (Read the temptation scene.) In the desert Jesus is tempted to give up the long range vision of God’s Reign and his connection with God – Abba - for a more immediate connection – a secular kingdom – without reference to God. 

     Jesus teaches us that God’s Reign is in our midst, and we are invited to share in it by embracing change or conversion - having the eyes to see and the ears to hear. Jesus says, “I tell you many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”  For Jesus, God’s presence is not a one-dimensional but rather multi-dimensional experience.  Not only could we experience it in worship, but also through the experience of art, music, beauty.  The character of God – the Spirit of God - would be encountered in the midst of the common human experience, and in particular in service to others.

     A Servant Leader embodies these qualities:

• 1) The leader must have a vision of where we are going
• 2) The leader must have a plan to get there
• 3) The leader must lead by example
• 4) The leader must hold others accountable

Jesus the model of the servant leader had a vision- the transformation of the world – shaping the present – sharing in God’s life  – the kingdom was in our midst (Matt 6:33); Jesus had a plan on how to get there – Beatitude way of life (Matt 5:3-12); Jesus lead by example – washing the feet of the disciples (John 13:1-17); Jesus would hold others accountable – the story of the Last Judgment (Matt 25:31-46).

What if we shared the same disposition or spirit of service that empowered Jesus?  What if we took seriously the reality that we are the beloved of God?   What if shared the same vision as Jesus for the world? 

God's Vision of Justice

Altruism at the Crossroads

   Last week we explored the concept of humility as an essential component of Servant Leadership.  This week we take up characteristic of altruism. Altruism basically means a selfless commitment to the welfare of others.  
   What does the Jesus say about this?  John 15:13 says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life friends.”
   Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical letter Sollicitudo rei socialis states that:
   A very good example of altruism is the Students for Social Justice Movement, which is illustrated in this video:

When interdependence becomes recognized in this way, the correlative response as a moral and social attitude, as a "virtue," is solidarity. This then is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all. This determination is based on the solid conviction that what is hindering full development is that desire for profit and that thirst for power already mentioned. These attitudes and "structures of sin" are only conquered - presupposing the help of divine grace - by a diametrically opposed attitude: a commitment to the good of one's neighbor with the readiness, in the gospel sense, to "lose oneself" for the sake of the other instead of exploiting him, and to "serve him" instead of oppressing him for one's own advantage (cf. Mt 10:40-42; 20:25; Mk 10:42-45; Lk 22:25-27).

     Even though the dramatic visualization of need surrounds us, we often hear ourselves think “I can’t jump on a plane to another part of the world” -- But --  with a heightened awareness of need throughout the world and in the city, you can find yourself thinking, “I can do something.”    If in recognizing that my city - Canton – is the acre of God’s world that has been given to me to extend my care – then it is here that I give of my time or my resources - at one of our soup kitchens, or sharing my talent on a Habitat for Humanity build, or helping a single mother with three children finish her education or further her education.   It may be giving of my time at Catholic Charities or volunteering to help at school or in my parish or church.  The important thing is that we share our lives in making a difference for one other person – but we need to answer for ourselves the question Jesus asked, “Who is my neighbor?”.  That answer has to be determined by each one of us – but the neighbor is somewhere in this world – maybe in another part of the world or maybe right down the street at the crossroads of the city.  

Servant Leadership at the Crossroads

“Put on the attitude of Christ.” – If you have ever heard me at the pulpit, you have probably heard those words.  I have decided to take the opportunity this Lenten season to start this blog to explore that phrase.  It is my hope that you will feel free to comment and question as we progress, so that we may learn from each other and through the eyes of faith. 

I named this blog At the Crossroads, Where Christ Meets the City because this is a weekly venue with daily feedback, where we can discuss the Sunday messages as we figure out together how we are going to apply them throughout the week.  Through these discussions, I believe we can become transformational leaders within our community, as we meet at the crossroads of the city. 

One thing you are going to hear a lot about from me is Servant Leadership. The phrase Servant Leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, he said:

"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. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature."

Greenleaf says what sets Servant Leadership apart is the way it puts the needs of the people first.  The litmus test for effective Servant Leadership is your answers to these questions that Greenleaf puts forth:

·         Do those served grow as persons?

·         Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?

·         What is the effect on the least privileged in society?

·         Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?

In his second major essay, The Institution as Servant, Robert K. Greenleaf articulated what is often called the "credo." He said:

"This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions - often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt. If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them."

During the Season of Lent – the great season of conversion and transformation in our lives as individuals and as faith communities – my hope is that we will utilize the contemporary insights of Robert K. Greenleaf – the Wisdom of Scripture and Tradition – and the current need of our society - in becoming, as Christians, faithful stewards of the contemporary city – seeing the city through the lens of faith.

What does Scripture have to say? 

One of my favorites is St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians Chapter 2: 5 in which he says, “ Have among yourself the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus… who… did not regard equality with God something to be grasped… rather emptying himself, taking the form of a servant.” 

The Gospel of John reflects Jesus’ attitude in the washing of the disciples’ feet.  “If I therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.  I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you should also do.” John13: 14-15.

Humility is allowing ourselves to recognize first our dependence on God – emptying ourselves in order for the Church (the Body of Christ -) to more readily allow the disposition or attitude of Christ to become part our life, so that as St. Paul says, “it is no longer I that live, but Christ in me.”?

For a primer on Servant Leadership, click here.

For more information on Robert Greenleaf visit the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.

All bible quotes taken from New American Bible.