Page 108 - Principles of Leadership - Nehemiah

Appendix I
Servant Leadership

Many leadership books that I have read have made this statement. “Leadership is one of the most observed
and least understood phenomena on earth.” 226 Does that mean that any study of leadership is really beyond
our understanding? Or is leadership very subjective and objective? Are leadership standards not to be found?
Not at all! However, it doesn't matter where our starting point begins! This is why I would adamantly agree
with the writings of John MacArthur and Albert Mohler, who place a great emphasis upon Biblical leadership
models. Does this mean that secular writers of leadership have nothing to add to leadership discussion? Not at
all, and what I have found is that many secular writers realize that servant leadership methods bring impressive
results to any team. However, I want to add a word of caution regarding the use of every biblical leadership
style that can be found in the scriptures. Authoritarian leadership was much more common in the scriptures, as
found in Nehemiah 13:25, when he beat and pulled out the hair of some leaders. Or when Jesus drove out the
money changers in the temple. Although these are biblical examples of authoritative leadership, I would
recommend that this style of leadership be practiced very sparingly today.

As I begin to write about servant leadership and the popularity of this model today in both secular studies on
leadership and the Christian field of leadership, I am mindful of the warning that David Wells sounds. He says,
“Servant leadership has the ring of piety about it. But it is false piety… The fundamental requirement of the
Christian leader is not a knowledge of where the stream of popular opinion is flowing but a knowledge of where
the stream of God’s truth lies… Only a genuine leader has such a vision. Genuine leadership is finding ways to
reach greater Christian faithfulness and offer greater Christian service. And the one flows from the other. There
is no such thing as Christian service that is unfaithful to God and his truth.” 227 Because servant leadership is so
popular today, as Christians, we need to be careful about separating this Biblical truth from the scriptures. As
David Wells echoes, servant leadership is not just a popular leadership style; it is rather a calling to follow in the
steps of the greatest servant leader of all time, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

From my study of the scriptures, I believe that Servant leadership rises to the top of any form of leadership that
is to be found in the Bible. What is amazing is that many secular writers also express the value of servant
leadership models. That is not to say that Convictional Leadership, which Robert Mohler emphasizes, is not
important. Or that Moving People Onto God's Agenda, which Henry Blackaby emphasizes, is not important.
However, after a careful study of the totality of scriptures and especially the emphasis on our Lord, you will find
that Servant Leadership seems to excel in any other form of leadership. Again, all of the leadership methods
and principles I emphasized in this book should be considered, and a high value should be given to each of
them. However, I believe that servant leadership should rise to the top of our consideration. “Victor Hugo once
said, there’s nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come. Servant leadership’s time has come.” 228 I
believe that the Holy Spirit is compelling each one of us to rise above our current circumstances and transcend
the ordinary. I believe that this call to servant leadership will allow us to soar with wings like eagles. In this
appendix, let’s look at this possibility.

Because scriptures claim to be the word of God, our starting point of any study on Servant leadership must
begin there. Our Lord emphasized this leadership model well before secular writers started to write about it or
claim to be the ones who coined the term. Modern writers on leadership principles claim that in 1970, Robert
Greenleaf is considered to be the one who “coined the term servant-leader to describe a kind of leadership that
he felt was largely missing from organizations.” 229 Again, this is not to say that this leadership model was not
practiced, as I have already pointed out. The book of Nehemiah used the term servant over 45 separate times
and modeled it in his life.

“Self-serving leaders have conditioned us to think of leadership only in terms of power and control.” 230 But
Robert Greenleaf believes that the distinguishing characteristic of a servant leader is that they serve first and
lead second. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. But can the two roles be fused in one
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