Follow the Servant Leader

LeaderI was watching some kids play the other day and was reminded of the games I used to play as a kid. I especially remember “Follow the Leader.” Everyone wanted to be the leader, and I don’t know about you, but I used to try to do things that the other kids couldn’t do. I would climb over things and under things and make all these weird sort of moves trying to show everyone how good I was. If someone couldn’t follow me, I thought it was ’cause I was such a good leader.

Well, things have changed over the years. I’m realizing that the best leaders are the ones who everyone can follow. It’s not the leaders job to make himself look good, but to move at a pace where everyone can keep up and everyone can play in the game.

I remember one time as a kid when I thought I’d be real smart and I led this group of kids around to the tail of the line so that I was following the last person in the line. All of a sudden there was no leader ’cause I was following the last person. It was just a big circle.

There’s something poetic about this idea as you think about the leader following his people – kind of a leader who serves sort of an idea. But the whole concept breaks down if you’re trying to go somewhere ’cause all you’ve got is a big circle.

This whole servant leader thing is tough ’cause the leader has to be out front taking the hits for everyone (like leading people down a trail where you’re the one who breaks all the spiders webs out front) but he also has to be serving the rest of the group by encouraging them and equipping them to follow. He is in the front and the back at the same time.

Jesus is the only one who ever did this very well. He served people and led them at the same time. I heard someone say that Dorthy on the Wizard of Oz did a pretty good job too. (Check this post) I wanna be good at it too. God help me ’cause it just seems too difficult sometimes.

Leo

Leo Leo is a character in a story called “Journey to the East” by Hermann Hesse. I read an article by Robert Greenleaf for my latest class and learned about this character – Leo. The story is about a guy who joins this group of travelers headed to “the east” in search of “ultimate truth.” Leo is a simple servant among them who is described by Wikipedia as “happy, pleasant, handsome, beloved by everyone, having a rapport with animals – to a discerning reader, he seems a great deal more than a simple servant, but nobody in the pilgrimage, including the narrator, seems to get this.” When Leo disappears, the whole group begins to bicker and fight. Ultimately, the reader discovers that Leo was the leader all along. Although he first revealed himself as a humble servant, Leo was a very strong leader.

Anyway, all of this got me to thinking. Jesus was first revealed to us as a humble servant too – a baby in a manger, a man without a home who travelled the country helping/healing people, one who washes the feet of his friends, etc. I wonder if a pastor could be seen first as a servant? When a visitor arrives at a church, could the pastor be the guy out in the parking lot greeting people? or maybe he should be the guy serving doughnuts? or cleaning the restrooms? I would guess that in a smaller church or a new church plant, the pastor gets the opportunity to serve in all of these roles. But what about a big organization? Shouldn’t the leader still be a servant? I also start wondering who the real leaders are around my church? What would happen if the ushers didn’t show up? Who is the guy like Leo? Who is the guy that, if absent, the whole church would begin to argue and fight? Is my presence at the church in any way similar to Leo’s?

“The law of service: He who wishes to live long must serve, but he who wishes to rule does not live long.” – Hesse, “Journey to the East”