Servanthood in a Leadership Culture

Servanthood in a Leadership Culture explores the biblical doctrine of servanthood within a culture in which it has been eclipsed by the doctrine of leadership. The paper asks the question, Is the biblical concept of servanthood compelling to contemporary believers and able to motivate them to become fully committed followers of Christ? The question is explored within the context of the following facts:

1) Christ calls Christians to be followers and servants – only a few can be “leaders;”

2) Servanthood appears to be a lost concept in the church;

3) Leadership is a highly attractive concept to contemporary believers; and

4) The idea of service and servanthood appear to no longer be popular concepts either in a secular or spiritual context.

Several secondary questions are explored as well such as

1) Does Christ call Christians to be followers, servants, and leaders?

2) Did Jesus teach servanthood to the exclusion of leadership or teach both concomitantly?

3) Is leadership a biblical concept?

4) Are servanthood and leadership two sides of the same coin? Numerous sources are used to explore these questions, both secular and Christian, and a survey is employed which is designed to gauge the attitudes of the average believer.

Servanthood in a Leadership Culture concludes the Bible does not teach leadership, which may come as a surprise to some, and equally surprising may be the fact that Jesus calls His followers to be servants and not leaders. No biblical evidence is uncovered that Jesus taught leadership to His disciples, but ample evidence is found that He taught servanthood. Furthermore, it may be concluded that if leadership is not taught in the Bible that it is not truly a biblical concept, even though many principles of leadership are identical to those of servanthood. What is the difference? The difference lies in the attitude of the heart, leading to the conclusion that servanthood and leadership are antithetical ideas, but not mutually exclusive actions.