What does a Servant Leader Look Like?

According to W.B. Yeats, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”.

I am about to take part in a teaching day for emerging leaders here in Victoria, Australia and have been wrestling with how to define what servant leadership looks like in practice.

The visual image of Jesus washing his disciples feet is the Biblical motif we reach for. But foot washing doesn’t connect with Aussie culture any more than it does in the UK – so what does a servant leader look like?

Here’s my starter for ten.

1. Our primary calling is to be servants of Jesus Christ.

2. We recognize our calling to obey Christ rather than simply meet peoples demands.

3. Our values will be consistent with Christian character.

4. Our mission is to enable others to grow, develop and take responsibility for themselves.

5. We will seek to put the good of others and of the community we serve before our own.

6. We shall not neglect our own health and spiritual welfare or that of those in our immediate family for whom we are responsible

7.We will develop accountable relationships where we are honest and transparent.

8. We will commit to a journey of life-long learning as disciples of Christ.

9. We will maintain a commitment to admit our failures, profit from them and make such adjustments as necessary.

10. We will resist every temptation to elevate or promote ourselves or to take ourselves too seriously.

There’s a distinct difference between a shepherd and a sheepdog.

Make sure you choose the right one to copy.

Born Free?

I guess it’s a mark of getting older.

Today, I spent a fascinating few hours wandering through Melbourne Zoo (which, by the way, is well worth a visit).

The trip was occasioned by a by a wonderful few weeks catching up with our Aussie grandchildren. As I pushed a stroller through the sunny crowds I realized it’s the third zoo I have visited this year….and it’s only July………

I didn’t make that many a year when I was ten years old.

About coffee time this morning I realized I have become a zoo connoisseur who can spot a grubby gibbon from a depressed dingo and a flaming flamingo from a pouting parrot. Perhaps this is what my future looks like? A Trip Advisor expert on happy days out for kids and senile grandparents?

But, as they say, it set me thinking.

A couple of years ago we had the privilege of spending some time in the African bush. It was a once in a lifetime experience, witnessing a leopard propped up a tree devouring a freshly caught impala – and all from about 6 meters.

Actually it was frightening to spend a few days in the bush aware this was a potentially dangerous place where you need to be constantly aware of where you are and what is happening around you. And hoping that someone with a gun was close by.

I thought back to that this morning as I watched elephants controlled by electronic gates and orangutangs waiting for gourmet breakfasts to be delivered by hand, and pondered on the difference between life in the wild and life in the zoo.

There’s a world of difference.

So here comes the theological question:

How have we made church more tame and less scarey?

How has faith become safe and sanitized instead of dangerous and demanding?

I am reminded of C.S. Lewis’ take on the fearsome Aslan in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe;

Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Church in the wild.

Less sanitized, more edgy; less predictable more prophetic; less formal more free.

More of the bush and less of the zoo.

Yes, please.