Servant Leadership is an oxymoron. You cannot lead without serving, true, but the servant obeys the instructions of the master and the master is in control. The leader is not there to do the whims of the servant, and those who think that leadership is there to appease the feelings of those who one is accountable for has a poor understanding of the task.
The term has had a use: it has subverted the authority of all stewards, all husbands, all parents and allowed rebellion.
A better term is discipleship. A disciple does what his master tells him to do, and the disciple, fully trained becomes as his master. We get an example of this in Luke, when Christ sends out the apostles and sends them out without equipment but with his authority to preach and heal.
And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
I know that the proponents of servant leadership would say that they were serving because they healed. Well, they have not really worked in the healing trade. I have. There has to be a clear hierarchy. I am now senior: if I say that this person needs a CT or a urine toxicology screen or White Cell Count I do not want to have to think about it again until my junior comes and tells me the results. If a nurse is told to write a referral at a team meeting, it should be done. In stressed teams, you have to check: in very dysfunctional teams you do it yourself for no one is trustworthy, and the patient then suffers. Any attempt to disguise the differential in knowledge, in experience, and democratize this process is the work of fools. Under stress and shortage, the model these twits despise — the Medical/Nursing heirarchy — is resurrected because it works. Without leadership, the team falls.
And without vision a people perish. Now, Paul is not merely talking to leaders when he says the strong should tolerate the newbies, the fragile, the weak. For at one time that was all of us, and all of us have our areas of weakness. But again, this is not appeasing the feelings of the weak and fragile: that also does not work. One has to continue to be consistent in one’s actions and plans. And when we fail, continue along the path the following day.
This is all an introduction to another one of those Romans texts that many of us avoid. Because it is deep, it is plain, and when you reflect on your life in the light of this you are nowhere near perfect.
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Anyone who thinks that Jesus was appeasing the feelings and sensitivities of the Jewish people during his ministry has never read the gospels. The best and most righteous of the Jews were the Pharisees, who were founding what is now Orthodox Judaism, and whose disciples wrote the Talmud: Christ was scathing in his condemnation of them.
And anyone who thinks that loving a person is about being nice to them also needs to be corrected. Love is to build up our neighbour, and that will require confrontation. To me, there is nothing new there: one of the duties all doctors have (and dislike) is the conversation that starts “If you don’t do this there is a big chance you will die…” as you consent a person for surgery. (Yes, even in psychiatry: ECT saves lives among the profoundly depressed and suicidal when the drugs do not work, and other biological treatments are being developed or redeveloped: for neither the medications or talking therapy work for all).
Christ chose to lead us to salvation. He walked righteously in this world, and was without sin: but that did not appease the righteous of his age, for he did not follow all their traditions or quirks. For he did not give them respect. Because he did not refer to them as authorities. And in him we have our salvation.
But listen not to those who say that the church is a democracy and it is a creature of the congregation, or the people, or the nation. That is a lie. The church is the living hand of Christ, owned by Christ, and will be complete at the end of this age when we are purified, refined, and presented to Christ as his pride. Our duty is to be his disciples. And that is a place where we are under direction, we are placed in uncomfortable places, and we are told to do our duties.
And do not appease the fashions of this world. They are not of the spirit, and that which is not of the spirit of God is sin. Neologisms and Oxymorons included.