In our last Letter, we saw that self-giving love is at the core of healthy Christian leadership. For the healthy leader, the “fundamental focus shifts from what we need and from what others should be doing for us to what we can do to serve them… [This] is the very essence of what Jesus did in His life and ministry and it is at the heart of what He calls us to do (Matt. 20:26-28).”

So, does the Christian leader need help from others or is his focus to give help to others? Of course, the answer is yes!

Jesus was perfect and, yet, He needed the ministry of others to Him. Jesus had friends and He needed them; as a Man, He needed their fellowship and support. For example, Jesus was grieved when they fell asleep in the garden (Matt. 26:36-45). He needed them:

…My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. (Matt. 26:38)

Paul also had friends, and they nurtured and strengthened him:

You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also… (1 Cor. 16:15-18)

Significantly, Stephanas was Paul’s own convert! Paul was not too proud to receive nurture and support from his own spiritual son. Onesiphorus, also, was a friend to Paul and strengthened him in “many ways,” doubtless including emotionally and spiritually:

May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. (2 Tim. 1:16-18; cf. 2 Cor. 7:6-7)

Romans 16:1-16 mentions several of Paul’s “dear” friends and even a spiritual “mother” in verse 13!

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. (Rom. 16:13)

According to Ken Williams in A Model for Mutual Care, Paul’s “letters mention at least 75 specific friends and colleagues. These were significant people in his life, many of whom ministered to him.” Paul, clearly, had a strong personal commitment to community!

If Jesus, the Son of God, and Paul, the mighty apostle, needed friends, who are we that we don’t? It is not a sign of strength to be by oneself in leadership. It is a mark of weakness. Leaders need friends. Their community around them is like the soil in which the leader grows and thrives, and a plant is never independent of the soil.

…in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Rom. 12:5)

No leader ever grows to the point where he is so strong in God that he no longer needs vital relationships with others around him. Effective Christian leaders lead in a context of community – not as tough “ministry islands” off by themselves. In the body of Christ, no members are independent:

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. (1 Cor. 12:12)

At the same time, the healthy leader recognizes that his primary role is to serve – to be a giver. Consequently, his focus is on the people he serves.

…children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well… (2 Cor. 12:14-15)

The healthy leader honestly recognizes his own needs for help and, embracing those needs, puts himself in the place where he can receive nurture, encouragement and accountability, but he does not demand that his needs become the center of attention. In fact, Paul describes this demanding as one characteristic of the false teachers who were serving themselves at the expense of the people:

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Cor. 4:5)

In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. (2 Cor. 11:20)

Even when Paul exhorted the people that they should give, it was for their benefit, not his:

I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me… I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances… I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles… Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. (Phil. 4:10-17)

Thus, the healthy leader recognizes his own needs and puts himself in the place where those needs can be met, but he does not make his needs the center of attention, selfishly and immaturely demanding that others put him first. The healthy leader is a giver – a servant.

…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28)

In our last Letters, we looked at the relationship between Christ and Community in the leader’s life: Christ builds Community, and Community builds Christ.

First, “Christ builds Community” means the leader’s union with Christ will be expressed in the leader living together with others in the Community in self-giving love, in true servanthood. If you know God, you will love and serve your brother (1 John 4:7).

Second, “Community builds Christ” means that it is only as a part of the Community that the leader will fully experience the indwelling life of Christ.

For the leader to live in true love and servanthood, and thus experience the fullness of Christ in His people, clearly requires that the leader embrace the cross. His love must be truly self-giving.

Sadly, the fact is that most people everywhere are absorbed in their own needs and focused on having those needs met rather than on what they can do to help others. This is a core part of the fallen nature of man. Many Christians are certainly saved but they are still babies, and babies are, of course, entirely self-absorbed. All they know, all they can see, are their own needs. As they mature, they gradually begin to recognize that others have needs, and that they have responsibilities to others and not only to themselves.

This is a key “step” in Christian maturity and especially in the path toward true Christian ministry and leadership – to make the intentional, heart choice to embrace the cross (death to one’s own agendas, needs and hurts) and to reach out and serve others, to look out for their needs, to prefer them before ourselves.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus… (Phil. 2:3-5)

As we choose to inwardly turn from self to others, our fundamental focus shifts from what we need and from what others should be doing for us to what we can do to serve them. This is a profound and painful death but it is also a life-giving choice. For the first time, we find true life and true joy; there is no joy in serving ourselves – self is a hard and endlessly-demanding task master. As we choose to embrace this cross, we ourselves have the wonderful privilege of becoming a genuine part of the solution for man’s sinful condition; we become God’s true instruments in the redemption of fallen humanity. This is a part of what Jesus referred to as losing our own lives in order to find true life (Matt. 10:38-39).

It is so central to the Christian life, that this self-giving love for our brothers and sisters is seen, often in the New Testament, as one key mark of being a genuine follower of Jesus:

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. (1 John 3:14)

It is certainly a fundamental characteristic of the mature Christian leader:

I have no one else like him [Timothy], who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 2:20-21)

Needless to say, this “step” of maturity is much more than a single step. It a daily, and lifelong, decision to choose serving rather than being served:

…If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

It is the very essence of what Jesus did in His life and ministry and it is at the heart of what He calls us to do:

…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matt. 20:26-28)

Moreover, this choice of the cross must not be conditional. We cannot begin to serve others only on the condition that they will then serve us and meet our needs. We do not meet others “halfway.” We must embrace the cross with all our hearts, expecting nothing in return, or we have not truly embraced it at all.

This is the core nature of servant leadership – self-giving love. It is not a love expressed necessarily in swelling words of love; it is expressed in daily choosing the cross, in the usually mundane, often tedious, and sometimes harsh realities of our lives together. This is where we find Jesus, because this is the life that He chose and, through us, continues to choose.

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:12)

No one has ever seen God (1 Tim. 6:16), but when we embrace the cross and love each other we do see Him – in one another!

In our last Letter, we looked at the relationship between Christ and Community and the implications of this relationship for leader development.

In the New Testament, there is a very close relationship between the church and the leader’s maturing union with Christ. This relationship can be expressed in two fundamental ways: Christ builds Community, and Community builds Christ. Continue Reading »

In the western church, Christianity is largely understood as an individual thing – a personal transaction between the individual and God. Consequently, leader development is also understood, largely, in individual terms – the individual learns and grows in an essentially individualized learning environment and then, once qualified, he performs his ministry and fulfills his personal calling.

In the New Testament, however, there is a very close relationship between the church and the leader’s maturing union with Christ. Continue Reading »

In our last Letter, we saw that a healthy church, like a healthy body, is one in which every member is functioning properly; this means that every member grows, serves and builds others. If we can create a church culture in which every believer takes responsibility to grow, serve and build, our churches will transform their worlds! Continue Reading »

What is the best and most biblical way to define a “healthy” church?

Should a church be considered “healthy” when it is doing well financially or when large crowds of people are coming to the meetings? Perhaps a church is “healthy” when the majority of its growth is from new converts, or when it has a strong foreign missions program? Is an effective children’s ministry or youth program the key element for “health”; or perhaps the fact that the church engages well with the culture? Clearly, there are many different things we could focus on. Continue Reading »

The “Be, Know, Do” (BKD) model of leader development is used by the U.S. Army but has also gained some measure of popularity in Christian leader development.

According to the Army, leaders lead others by their character, by their competence, and by their actions; therefore, effective leader development must focus on the leader’s character and values (“Be”), his competencies (“Know”), and his decisions and actions (“Do”). Continue Reading »

When Geert Hofstede, a Dutch sociologist, published his seminal research on dimensions of culture in 1980, he found that Americans were characterized by a high level of individualism – in fact, they were rated the most individualistic people in the world. Continue Reading »

In our last Letter we began looking at the “Be, Know, Do” (BKD) model of leader development. This model is used by the U.S. Army but has also gained some measure of popularity in Christian leader development circles.

According to the Army, leaders lead others by their character, by their competence, and by their actions; therefore, effective leader development must focus on the leader’s character and values (“Be”), his competencies (“Know”), and his decisions and actions (“Do”). Continue Reading »

It may be a surprise to learn that the “Be, Know, Do” (BKD) model of leader development which has gained some degree of popularity in both formal and non-formal Christian leader development did not originate in the church, but in the U.S. Army. Continue Reading »