Servant Leadership with Biblical Integration

Emmanuel Morris

Faith Chibuzor Ogbonna

Guinevere Klous

Lindsey Coggin

Melanie Ruiz

Noel Bergeron

Liberty University

Author Note

The authors listed above have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lindsey Coggin

Email: [email protected]

Table of Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 4 Part 1: Biblical Critique of Robert Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership Philosophy 4 Traditional Authority 4 Foundation in Servant Leadership 6 Serving Others 7 Part 2: Christ-centered Servant Leadership Principles 8 Believe 8 Motivation 9 Humility 9 Covenant 10 Pray 10 Sacrifice 10 Stewardship 11 Fellowship 11 Conclusion 12 References 13

Abstract
The purpose of this biblical integration paper is to provide an analysis of the biblical deficiencies found in Robert Greenleaf’s perspective on servant-leadership and to discuss seven biblical principles associated with the foundation of a Christ-centered leadership model. The seven principles discussed are believe, motivation, humility, covenant, pray, sacrifice, stewardship, and fellowship.

Keywords: Robert Greenleaf, servant leadership, Christ-centered

Introduction
One of the major success drivers when running a business is having an effective leadership model. The servant leadership model which was first developed by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970 has become more popular in recent years due to its major emphasis on meeting the employee’s needs besides empowering them to deliver their best (Crowther, 2018). Despite the many benefits associated with the model, there are deficiencies found in Greenleaf’s approach to traditional authority, the foundation of servant leadership, and serving others. A biblical examination of these deficiencies is discussed to show the shortcomings in Greenleaf’s idea of servant leadership. In addition, the following biblical principles are evaluated to show the importance each principle has in relation to the foundation of Christ-centered servant leadership: believe, motivation, humility, covenant, pray, sacrifice, stewardship, and fellowship.

Part 1: Biblical Critique of Robert Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership Philosophy
This part of the paper assesses the deficiencies found in Greenleaf’s concept of servant leadership. Traditional authority, the foundation of servant leadership, and serving others are the topics discussed to show the shortcomings in Greenleaf’s perspective of servant leadership based on a biblical perspective. Overall, Greenleaf’s servant leadership model lacks a strong foundation, but Christ’s model provides a strong foundation.

Traditional Authority
One of the major deficiencies characterized by Greenleaf’s servant leadership model is that it works against traditional authority. The model requires leaders to be willing to offer absolute authority contrary to the traditional workplace structure whereby the chief executive officers make the organizational decisions solely, communicate the decisions to the subordinate staff and receive credit upon successful implementation of the decisions by file and rank. In contrast, servant leadership requires leaders to sublimate their egos and give credit to the employees to help them in delivering the best of their abilities (Prosser, 2010). However, in modern society, it is not easy to find business owners and leaders willing to work selflessly in pursuit of success which is a reflection of servant leadership.

Similarly, the model also reduces managerial authority. By placing the employee’s needs first, the overall function of business management tends to be minimized (Crowther, 2018). For instance, when employees see their managers taking care of their needs, they tend to perceive their leaders as being less authoritative. Additionally, when the senior management requires middle and low-level managers to push for high performance among the employees, the low-level managers often experience challenges especially when they want to assume a dominant role. Rarely will business owners and leaders model understanding and empathy without exerting a sense of authority which sets out the difference between the employees and the managers/business owners.

Additionally, servant leadership reduces employee’s motivation at work thus producing poor results. Naturally, servant leaders are normally inclined to stepping in and solving organizational problems which may comprise accomplishing tasks that employees failed to honor. The more times servant leaders step in and rescue the employees through accomplishing the undone tasks, this motivates the employees in working hard and completing their assigned tasks since they know that even if they fail to perform, their managers will come to their rescue thus sitting back with less devotion to the assigned roles and responsibilities. Loss of productivity and motivation are huge deficiencies in servant leadership (Prosser, 2010).

Foundation in Servant Leadership
Greenleaf’s perspective on servant leadership is also deficient in comparison to the foundation of Christ’s servant leader model. The foundation of Greenleaf’s idea of servant leadership centers around a natural way of thinking. His conclusions were based off his own observations and thoughts of leadership and the inspiration he found in a short story, A Journey to the East, by Hermann Hesse (Kimotho, 2019). These insights were not specifically grounded in any belief or religion, so the source of Greenleaf’s style of leadership is centered around what man can do. Greenleaf even alluded to the natural way of thinking by defining his form of leadership as a natural feeling and a conscious choice to lead (Spears, 1996).

In Christ’s servant leader model, the source or foundation is rooted in God. Matthew 6:33 instructs believers to seek God first before anything else, and He will provide what is necessary (English Standard Version, 2001/2016). Kimotho (2019) found the biblical standpoint of servant leadership is to serve God and others. Greenleaf’s philosophy excludes the most important part of servant leadership, God. Due to the sinful nature of man, man is not trustworthy. According to Jeremiah 17:9, the heart of man is deceitful by nature (English Standard Version, 2001/2016). Galatians 5:17 further argues that there is conflict between the flesh and the spirit, since the desires of the flesh are opposite of the spirit (English Standard Version, 2001/2016). The apostle Paul also supports the struggle with the sin nature when he evaluated himself and found himself doing the opposite of what he desired, for he did not have the strength to do what was right by his own will (Romans 7:15, English Standard Version, 2001/2016). Paul’s self-evaluation is the same for anyone and shows that the desire to serve and do good can be a struggle if relying on one’s own strength. However, Jesus’ sacrifice, when he was crucified and paid the price of sin, made it possible for Christians to have a closer relationship with God. John 14:6 implies that Jesus is the way and John 1:12 establishes the intimate relationship a believer has with God by choosing to receive Christ (English Standard Version, 2001/2016). These verses show the importance of a relationship and reliance on God; therefore, Greenleaf’s approach is lacking a solid or God-centered foundation. Blanchard and Hodges (2003) stressed the need to trust and seek wisdom from God in a God-centered leadership role.

Serving Others
One important biblical deficiency in Greenleaf’s approach on servant-leadership would be Greenleaf’s idea that people are to serve others first. While this notion is correct, Christians are expected to serve God first before anyone else. Serving God first is the ultimate call and foundation for all servant leaders. In Mathew 6:33, the Bible says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (English Standard Version, 2001/2016). This counters Greenleaf’s belief that the first thought of all individuals should be service to others. Duby (2009), argued against Greenleaf’s belief while suggesting that, “the foundational call of a Christian servant leader is their service to God first.” Duby (2009) claims that the Bible teaches Christians leaders to follow the leadership examples of Jesus Christ. They are expected to submit to the will of God and not that of men. This also includes each individual’s will. Many times, Christian leaders may have to give up some of their fleshy desires to serve God truly. To truly serve God first, it is essential to follow the examples of servant leaders in the Bible. Contrary to Greenleaf’s perspective, the main goal and focus should be to please God before men. According to Spears (1996), Greenleaf encourages a “serve first mindset.” This is important because the Bible encourages Christians to have an open mind. Philippians 2:4 says, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (English Standard Version, 2001/2016). This verse of the Bible emphasizes the need to serve people.

Part 2: Christ-centered Servant Leadership Principles
The focus of this part of the paper is to provide a set of biblical principles that lay the foundation for Christ-centered servant leadership. The importance of each principle will be described as well as examples of successful implementation of each that are found in God’s word. Being a servant leader is only possible by a foundation set on Christ.

Believe
The first step to becoming a Christ-centered servant leader is to believe. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved…“ (New Living Translation, 1996). The Greek word for believe is pisteuo. Goodrick and Kohlenberger state pisteuo (as cited in Velarde, 2009) is translated as “to believe, put one’s faith in, trust, with an implication that actions based on that trust may follow”. Dr. William Mason (personal communication, November 9, 2020) stated,

I believe a Christ-centered servant leader absolutely must be a believer in Christ to present the work of a servant leader; otherwise, the life of sacrificial service would never develop. How can one who does not know Christ personally be Christ-centered in his/her leadership? How can one reflect what he/she does not have? Once we know Him, genuinely know, Christ becomes our model in all of life as He lives in us. Mr. Coggin’s paper on Servant Leadership makes it perfectly clear that there is a difference between the leadership styles of a believer and a non-believer. One sees that difference strongly reflected in the life of our LORD, Jesus the Christ. Therefore, our leadership as a servant must follow Christ’s example.

Motivation
Motivation of a Christ-centered servant leader is a key aspect because it demonstrates the true desire behind why one is serving. Is one motivated for self-gain or is one motivated to server others? The motivation for a Christ-centered servant leader must be to serve and glorify God. Leadership is expected to come from the heart and the motivation must be from a place of good intentions. The intentions behind becoming a servant must be in the interest of the others. In his presentation Personal Application, Fischer (2010) mentioned there is a human desire to know one’s actions make a difference. This desire is usually grounded in self-preservation and can result in unnecessary stress and lack of trust in God. Fischer (Fischer, 2010) subsequently advises leaders to trust God and allow him to provide the grace needed to for each day. Jesus’ motivation was not one of self-interest and gain but was the fulfillment of God’s purpose (Scott, 2014).

Humility
Humility is a key aspect of Christ-centered servant leadership because you do not want pride, which is the antonym for humility, to cloud your judgement. Romans 12:3 states, “Because of privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us” (New Living Translation, 1996). Pride is self-promotion (Blanchard et al., 2016, p. 54) while humility is “…realizing and emphasizing the importance of other people” (Blanchard et al., 2016, p. 80). In John 13:13-14, as a teacher, Jesus showed humility by washing His disciple’s feet and instructed them to do the same for one another (English Standard Version, 2001/2016).

Covenant
What separates Greenleaf’s form of servant-leadership from the Christian style of leadership is the covenant relationship Christians have with God (Fischer, 2010). Jesus created a new covenant with his blood as payment for sin (Matthew 26:28, English Standard Version, 2001/2016). This covenant was the ultimate sacrifice in service to others and provides Christians with hope and life. In Mathew 4:19, Jesus also promised to make the disciples fishers of men if they followed Him. In Luke 12:48, the Bible says, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (English Standard Version, 2001/2016).

Pray
To be a true servant leader, prayer must be part of the routine to check in with God and show Him that He is number one in our thoughts and without Him nothing is possible. When being a servant leader the need for recognition is sometimes hard to overcome; but with prayers, God can lead us away from those urges. In Mathew 21:22 Jesus answered them, “Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive” (NRSV, Original version 1901/1989). In prayer, Christians will bring their faith and the way God designs us to lead in the workplace to enable spiritual growth. We must always pray for guidance to have the fortitude that Jesus had, we must always want to help people as Jesus did to show the world that we are different and to be an example to attract the non-believers to want to follow Christ.

Sacrifice
The greatest example and embodiment of biblical servant leadership is Jesus (Coulter, 2003). He served mankind by dying on the cross to cover our sins. In the book of Mark 10:45, For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (NRSV, Original version 1901/1989). This action alone is the greatest example of biblical servant leadership that has ever happened. In Mark 10:42-45, the Bible emphasizes the need for each individual to understand the expectations of becoming a servant leader. Becoming a servant leader should be more about sacrificing individual needs for the needs of others. When one follows Jesus’ perspective on leadership, they could easily serve others as well as God. They are expected to be as selfless as Jesus was and be prepared to make sacrifices whenever the opportunity comes.

Stewardship
The theory of servant leadership has created a significant change in management style which has been beneficial to both employees, superiors, and generally, everyone within the work environment. In recent times, the successful implementation of this theory has led to the creation of more appropriate ethical behavior, teamwork, growth as an individual, as well as community building (Spears, 2004). It states in Genesis 2:15, “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it” (NRSV, Original version 1901/1989). God has put us in positions to look over and take care of others by assisting them with their spiritual growth and we must do as it is mandated of us.

Fellowship
Fellowship is one the key principles of a Christ-centered servant leader. According to

The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary fellowship or koinonia, in its Greek term is described as “the communion of common faith, experiences, and expressions shared by the family of believers, as well as the intimate relationship they have with God” (p. 380). Scripturally, beginning in the Old Testament we learn that fellowship is designed by God to encourage and support our brothers and sisters in Christ. Proverbs 27:17 states “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (New Living Translation, 1996).

Conclusion
Robert Greenleaf made servant leadership extremely popular starting in the 1970s. He emphasized that leaders should focus on serving others instead of serving their own self interests. Mr. Greenleaf’s servant leadership philosophy and God’s word are not mutually exclusive; however, a major difference between the two is who is being served first. Christ-centered servant leadership requires one to serve God first. From the Christian point of view, Jesus is the greatest example of a Christ-centered servant leader. He walked the Earth spreading God’s word then gave his life so that all of humanity’s sins would be covered.

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