Christianity And Servant Leadership Essay

704 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The definition of servant leadership

Benchmark – Servant Leadership and Christianity
Servant Leadership is a leadership style that have been around since Jesus introduced it during his teaching. His style have been tried again and it has proved to work. Different organizations have gravitated to this style of leadership and they have become one of the biggest companies in the United States of America. Example of the company that practice Servant leadership is Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines management have practiced servant leadership style that it is now their motto. They believe in serving their consumers through their employees since they are the ones that deal with the consumers on a daily basis. They believe in treating their employees like family then that will empower …show more content…

He also added that the driving for is the desire to acquire material possession (Greenleaf, R.K, 2016). However, the Bible passage clearly stated that the Holy Spirit is inspiration behind a person wanting to lead others (ESV, 2016). Furthermore, it is a divine calling with love been the propelling force that drive a person to be a leader. In addition, both Greenleaf and the Bible passage agreed that a servant leader must first of utmost be a servant and they must serve. They believed that a servant leader focus should be the growth and wellbeing of people and their highest priority is to accomplish for others so that people can perform to their maximum …show more content…

A servant is a person that serve others and put the needs of others as his main focus. This was profound and indifferent. Jesus mentioned this as a leadership style that God requires in order to be a leader that rally impact the lives of many. Jesus used himself as an example in verse 28 when he says that the son of man came serve others. Jesus exemplify the role of a servant leader to give them an example to live by (ESV, 2016). Jesus acknowledged the leadership of the Gentile official in verse 25 by saying, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them” (ESV, 2016). This type of leadership was dictatorship for it was not to serve the people instead it exercises power over the people. This was contrary to Jesus’ method of leadership for one must serve others with passion and with love. This method of servant leadership really influence others greatly and it produces more effective servant leaders. Similarly with Greenleaf’s principle of servant leader, for one to be a servant leader, one must “put the needs of others as the highest priority” (Greenleaf, R.K, 2016). In other words, a servant leader must focus firstly on providing and accomplishing the needs of

Show More
Related

  • Southwest Airlines: Servant Leadership

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    Servant leadership, as defined by Kretiner and Kinkicki (2015, p.486), is putting the needs of others, including employees, customers, and community ahead of one’s own needs. This management style requires selflessness and humility from management so the organization can focus on serving key stakeholders. There are ten characteristics of a servant-leader as identified in the text

    Read More

  • Robert Greenleaf: Servant Leadership

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    There has been a bit of research done on the nature of servant leadership. The belief is that many organizations are moving from the traditional style of leadership to a more servant based style. Larry C. Spears (2010) and Kent Keith (2016) note a few characteristics of one who is a servant leader. The characteristics proposed by Spears (2010) are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to others growth, and community building. These traits will often manifest naturally becoming more enriched as time goes by through experience. Keith (2016) references only four elements of servant leadership. He begins with an element of morality, then of the servant focus, concern for others’

    Read More

  • The Human Resources Framework By Bolman And Deal

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that augments the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and creates a more just and caring world, they put the team first, and themselves second (MindTools, 2015). Servant leaders are able to demonstrate their traits through interaction with followers and other leaders within the organization. The characteristics of servant leaders include their commitment to the growth of people, stewardship, and building community, and provide leaders with the opportunity to experience change and to invite followers to change (Savage-Austin & Honeycutt 2011). Servant leadership encourages leaders and followers to ‘raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality’, and set their leadership focus: follower’s first, organizations second, their own needs last (Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). The servant leader focuses on the needs of others to include team members.

    Read More

  • Book Review - Lead Like Jesus

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    The authors then go deeper than just leading; they speak of being a leader and growing other leaders. One of the greatest challenges leaders today face is training and developing new leaders. Jesus wanted those around him to succeed. He had vision, values, and purpose, he stated them clearly, and did all he could to see they were carried out. In the book Lead Like Jesus we read how Jesus empowered and gave ownership to those around him, concerned more with their success than his own. It highlights that Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time, that He mandated Hi...

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Leadership

    1549 Words  | 4 Pages

    Servant leadership is an approach that goes against most leadership styles because it has the lead being the servant to their followers. This style of leadership wants the leader to be focused on the needs of their followers, empower their followers, and help realize their full capabilities.

    Read More

  • Servant Leadership Reflection Paper

    1564 Words  | 4 Pages

    Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy, which addresses the concerns of ethics, customer experience, and employee engagement while creating a unique organizational culture, where both leaders and followers unite to reach organizational goals without positional or authoritative power Baghurst,T., Carter,D. (2014). Servant leadership is the number one reason for “moral and ethical” culture that must be implemented in a productive marketplace. Servant leaders must have a humble and non over-bearing persona. Employees are trained to become leaders by servant leaders. Employees must develop a productive relationship with managers.

    Read More

  • Leadership In Servant Leadership

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Servant leadership can be thought of as an inverted triangle where the leader is supporting the organization at the point. As a result of this leadership style, leaders are more in tune with their teams. They have more insight on their team and the inner workings of their organizations.

    Read More

  • A Personal Model of Leadership

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    Servant leadership was a term that was first used by Keifner Greenleaf(1970) in his first essay, The Servant as Leader (as cited by Crippen, C., 2005). Greenleaf based his essay on his belief that a servant leader is a servant first, and explained that it would begin with the natural urge to serve and then the leader would make a conscious choice to become a leader, in doing so he makes the choice to ensure that others needs are met first (2005 ). As a servant leader develops he should always keep aware of those who he serves and strive to ensure that they are becoming healthier, wiser, freer, have an increase in autonomous, and are become more like servants themselves (2005). Leaders and organizations can use the principles of servant leadership to frame decisions, and service that include focus on the community, care of others and quality services (Waterman, R., 2011). Watermen states that working to higher purpose increases standards, integrity and should lead the followers through supports, shared visions and bring followers together in toward a common purpose to provide service to others.

    Read More

  • Spiritual Gifts And Leadership

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the other hand, in the book, Spiritual Leadership, Oswald Sanders talks about Christians having reservation to aspire to leadership. Many Christians are not convinced that it is biblical sound to desire a leadership role in the church. They questioned whether their ambitions are noble or honorable. An ambition that is centered on God is noble but those that uplift one’s own desire should be questioned. Although Sanders talks about ambition, he describes the shortage of leader in the church. He speaks about Christian’s talents and how it is imperative for them to glorify God with their talents. Spiritual leaders are regarded as gifted/talented people; however, the talents do not make them leaders. The talents may accent their leadership but God is the one that makes spiritual leaders. Spiritual leadership combines talents and spiritual gifts. Every spiritual leader should be led by the Holy Spirit. Without Him, it is impossible to be a spiritual

    Read More

  • Christian Leadership

    1923 Words  | 4 Pages

    Robert Clinton states “The central task of leadership is influencing God’s people toward God’s purposes” (Clinton, 1988). George Barna defines a Christain Leader as “someone who is called by God to lead; leads with and through Christlike character; and demonstrates the functional competencies that permit effective leadership to take place” (Barna, 1997). It is a shame we as Christians fail to recognize that Christ would have us be leaders in more than the church.

    Read More

  • Ten Characteristics Of A Servant Leader

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    A servant leader is someone who puts others before themselves. They want not only the better for others but for their community as well. My best friend, Elijah, would have to be the person closest to me who embodies a servant leader. Elijah obtains characteristics that many individuals do not have. He has always put other before himself no matter the situation. He is also very determined and can motivate everyone around him to give there 110 percent at all times.

    Read More

  • What Is Servanthood?

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    The heart of Jesus is that of a servant; and the foundation of the Bible is the Servant of everyone which is Jesus. Jesus is the veracious exemplification of a leader because He is a Servant first. Jesus said, "...whoever wants to be great must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the willing slave of all--like the Son of Man; He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give up his life as a ransom for many.” If one were to define the word servant, the simplest interpretation would be a slave. As such, servanthood can be distinguished as voluntary servitude. To put it another way, servanthood is the condition or state of volunteering to serve others at any cost, rather than being preoccupied with self. Jesus’ purpose

    Read More

  • The 3 Levels of Discipleship Taught by Jesus Christ

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Chung, Y. (2011). Why servant leadership? Its uniqueness and principles in the life of Jesus. Journal Of Asia Adventist Seminary, 14(2), 159-170.

    Read More

  • Servant Leader Essay

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    A servant leader is a person who makes serving a priority in their life. I grew up volunteering in my community on a regular basis; however, it wasn’t until college that I was able to understand the impact of serving your community. Thanksgiving, my dad a law enforcement officer would volunteer at restaurants serving the homeless so service has always been a part of my life. With that being said, there is a huge difference between being forced to do community service and wanting to serve your community. A lot of times we become so consumed with ourselves and our egos that we forget about those who helped formed who we are today. As humans, we should strive to work and exist together at equilibrium.

    Read More

  • Servanthood Essay

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    The emphasis of servanthood covers the Bible, and is a building block of the Christian faith. Many words are used to describe the term servanthood, however, not all are accurate, or Biblical, but there are two words that are key to the definition and execution of servanthood. Humility is a necessary trait of servanthood; without it, servanthood becomes another avenue for the ego to encompass, in a search for self-affirmation. The deepest root of humility is buried in the recognition and of our infinite dependence on God. While greatness is seldom mentioned along with servanthood, they go hand in hand. Because, greatness is truly measured in scale with God Himself, it immediately becomes small and miniscule by comparison. This should, in turn, produce the purest humility. With this in mind, I have come to define and recognize servanthood as the communion of the true definitions of humility and greatness, and their relationship to God.

    Read More

More about Christianity And Servant Leadership Essay

Open Document