The Role Of Servant Leadership And The Christian Religion

Many have developed elements that they believe are the foundation of servant leadership. In summary, included in the fundamentals are healing, creating value for community, empowering, empathy, listening, awareness, behaving ethically, and helping others grow and succeed. Healing refers to leaders trying to help solve problems and relationships. Creating value for community refers to leaders serving as an example and encouraging others to also serve the community. Empowering refers to leaders providing followers with autonomy. Empathy refers to leaders understanding others. Listening is a trait all leaders should possess. In order to understand, one should first listen. Awareness refers to leaders attentive to the things happening around them. Behaving ethically refers to the demonstrating of integrity to gain the trust of followers. Helping others grow and succeed refers to leaders providing support to followers to help them develop and accomplish professional and personal goals.

Over the course of my career, I have tried to model various leadership behaviors based upon successful leaders that I have worked with or for. This has led me to incorporate different styles into my own. Considering my current leadership strengths and how I view successful leaders I will use a servant leadership theory to analyze my own competencies. Servant leaders have 9 different aspects comprised of: emotional healing, creating value for the community, conceptual skills, empowering, helping subordinates grow and succeed, putting subordinates first, behaving ethically, relationships, and servanthood (Boone & Makhani, 2005, pg. 86). The aspects of a servant leader are those that I personally value and identify with. In addition to this, it is my belief that servant leaders, because they are people oriented, are more effective in a variety of environments and situations.

The two theories that I chose to do my self-assessment by are the authentic leadership theory and the servant leadership theory. The authentic leadership theory was chosen due to my desire to stay true to who I am and what I stand for. However, the servant leadership theory was chosen because of my desire to meet the needs of others while doing what I can to help others succeed as well as meet their set goals. Being a servant while being authentic are the traits I want in my style of leadership and are assessed throughout this paper along with my strengths and weaknesses in the area of leadership.

Servant leadership theory’s emphasis on service to others and recognition that the role of organizations is to create people who can build a better tomorrow resonates with scholars and practitioners who are responding to the growing perceptions that corporate leaders have become selfish and who are seeking a viable leadership theory to help resolve the challenges of the twenty-first century (Parris & Peachey, 2013, p 378).

Servant leadership is a well-known concept that “servant-leaders is servant first” (Greenleaf, 1977, p.17-60). Spears (1998) incorporate 10 major attributes of servant leadership; listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. (1-12). However, writers on this subject have found other attributes that are reference to Greenleaf’s writing. By the accumulation of study in leadership, servant leadership attributes according to functional attributes and accompanying attributes. Functional attributes were vision, honesty, integrity, trust, service, modeling, pioneering, appreciation of others, and empowerment.

Servant Leadership Shobhit Patel Indiana Wesleyan University Abstract The purpose of the study is to compare and contrast servant leadership with other styles of ethical leadership in the organization. Servant leadership is about meeting the needs of others first by serving them as a leader, "in the care taken by the servant-first[leader] to make sure that the other people's highest priority needs are being served" (Greenleaf, 2008). The four leaderships are ethical leadership, authentic leadership, spiritual leadership and servant leadership.

Servant leadership is best know for placing the needs and wants of others above those of the leader; this helps to create a trusting and empowered team of followers to help organizations reach their goals (Mahembe & Engelbrecht, 2014). The servant leadership model is able to help nonprofit organizations gain a competitive advantage in ways that are not necessarily profit driven, such as improving employee satisfaction and commitment to the organization (Center for Servant Leadership, n.d.). The improvement of employee satisfaction has been linked to improved customer satisfaction, which helps to build support for the organization (Center for Servant Leadership, n.d.).

Robert K. Greenleaf first coined the term “servant leadership” in his 1970 essay The Servant as Leader, later published in 1991. The leader who follows the model of service has a natural and conscious drive to serve others before leading them. This is in contrast to those who seek to lead first to increase power or personal wealth. While many have analyzed Greenleaf’s work over the years and identified qualities of a servant leader, there are ten qualities that represent a concise and accurate list of behaviors and personality traits needed by any servant leader to be successful. These qualities are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment

From the group Biblical Integration Paper, it was understood that servant-leadership is not only a gift of purpose that God places in the hearts of His people, but it is also a calling in one’s life to truly touch the lives of others in need. Living a successful life, as a servant-leader is not one that focuses on self-fulfillment, rather it is in seeking a fulfillment that comes from Christ when one pours him/herself out for the sake of others. It is through servant-leadership that one is able to bring hope into hopeless situations (Group Integration Paper,

One of the major crisis facing the church in the twenty- first century centered on a misunderstanding of servanthood and leadership. In chapter 2, the leadership model of Jesus exemplified the essence of a servant leader. The biblical and theological foundation offered support, which illustrated the actions, and attitude Jesus had in his ministry. Furthermore, Jesus’ example revealed the mind, heart and life of a servant, which demonstrated a lifestyle of self- sacrifice in which if followed, would transform the church and its leadership. The pinnacle of the Kingdom of Heaven centered on being a servant.

This week I found it very interesting and enlightening to learn how servant leadership principles have been around since biblical times and how they remain timeless even today. I learned more about the leadership traits of those from biblical times during my research for this week's discussion post. While the majority of the concepts of servant leadership made perfect sense to me before in regards to how they were present in that era, this week it has become even more evident that mankind were really meant to serve each other. Through completing this weeks assignment, I have taken a look back at the various leaders that I have had the pleasure of working with, they all held servant leadership qualities.

Simply, servant leaders hold a view as a servant first and leader second (Owens & Hekman, 2012). Moreover, servant leaders emphasize personal responsibility for the organization and all internal and external stakeholders (Peterson, Galvin, & Lange, 2012). As stated, expressing a genuine concern and care for people are a basis of servant leadership. In addition, servant leadership also focuses on the growth of

When it comes to looking at the qualifications for a pastor, the question that comes to my mind is “How important is servant leadership is to him?” Aside from the educational preparation and pastoral internship training, having a sincere, humble heart is essential. The Bible tells us in Mark 10:42-45(ESV) 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, [a] 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave[b] of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” One can have all of the necessary scholastic credentials, but if there isn’t a sincere heart for serving man, it is all in vain.

What is a serving society and does that concept embrace spirituality? Does the fact of incorporating spirituality into an organization or a workplace provide healthier and more effective employees? How does the concept of a serving society and an organization that incorporates spirituality into its mission relate to Robert Greenleaf's servant leadership model? These questions and issues are reviewed and critiqued in this paper.

Servant leadership from a Christian perspective is a replica of what Jesus Christ symbolizes. Jesus was a servant because he showed truth, vision, humility, commitment, teacher to his followers, and brought about change; he was a suffering servant, yet was merciful, he was a teacher, yet willing to be taught by the Holy Spirit. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”