LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Assignment Title: Servant Leadership Theory
Course: CHMN 699 - Internship
Student: Kristine Sage
Date: January 29, 2022
Professor: Dr. Joel Breidenbaugh
Servant Leadership Theory
Robert Greenleaf is often credited for initiating the current interest in servant leadership.
The concept was conceived by Greenleaf after reading Herman Hesse’s (1956) mythical story,
Journey to the East. Leo, who performs the most menial of tasks during the journey, sustains
the
group of travelers with his spirit and song. However, when he becomes lost the group
disintegrates. It is only then that Leo was discovered to be the discrete leader who had
sponsored
the journey. From this, Greenleaf (1977) saw business leaders as needing to serve society more
constructively than merely by increasing profits for the company. He felt “business exists as
much to provide meaningful work to the person as it exists to provide a product or service to
the
customer” (p. 142).
The philosophy of leading by serving has been explained by countless leadership theorists
to
include building an environment that not only serves the needs of the organization, but also
provides a climate for its workers to grow and develop as human beings. After strict usage of
the
Delphi method, Laub (1999) developed a functional definition of servant leaders and servant-
led
organizations:
Servant Leaders and Servant-led Organizations
Value People – by listening receptively, serving the needs of others first, and trusting
people
Develop People – by providing opportunities for learning, modeling appropriate
behavior
and building up others through encouragement
Build Community – by building strong relationships, working collaboratively and
valuing individual differences
Display Authenticity – by integrity and trust, openness and accountability and a
willingness to learn from others
Provide Leadership – by envisioning the future, taking initiative and clarifying goals
Share Leadership – by creating a shared vision, sharing decision-making power and
sharing status and privilege at all levels of the organization.
Though servant leadership has many parallels with transformational leadership, it differs in
leader focus (Patterson, 2003). Transformational leaders build commitment in followers toward
organizational objectives; servant leaders’ highest value is the people, and organizational
results
are secondary outcomes. “Serving is not the means by which to get results, but the behavior of
serving is the result” (Farling, et al., 1999, p. 3).
Servant leadership remains an intuitive-based theory because little empirical (observable;
testable as experienced) evidence of servant-leader behavior exists. Nevertheless, the term
servant leadership appears to be more than the sum of the words service and leadership. The
concept continues to be influential in the future, especially in the leadership of learning
organizations (Senge, 1990).
Implications for Church Leadership
Servant leadership theory can hardly be rejected by a Church built on the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the ultimate example of servanthood, by leaving
all the glory of heaven to come as a human and accepting the way of the cross. His earthly
ministry built up a Church that spread the gospel to the ends of the earth after He ascended
into
heaven again. The Church of the man who wrapped a towel about Himself to wash His own
disciple’s feet as His final lesson to them certainly cannot reject servant leadership as a proper
approach to leading others. Not out loud at least. But in practice, servant leadership may be no
more common in a church and in Christian organizations than it is in secular corporations.
While church leaders salute Jesus Christ as the model servant-leader, and affirm the servant
leader approach loudly, in actual operation many church leaders practice leadership “as the
Gentiles” do (Matthew 20:25-28) in real life. Some of the implications of servant leadership
theory for church leaders may be:
Church leaders must value people, for they are God’s handiwork. Listening to people is
important in the church. This is how the Holy Spirit guides the church—through its
people, not just through the designated leader.
Church leaders must be people-developers more than program-pushers. The church-
based servant leader starts with the people, not the program. People development is
the
church’s product.
The church does not make a product, it is the product. Churches don’t just have pizza
parties to attract new people—they do this to build community, to become what the
church is to be: a community of the saints. Community building is a primary task of the
church leader.
Church leaders must be authentic people who inspire trust. Talking about big dreams for
the people to follow isn’t enough; people follow leaders, not dreams. And they follow
leaders with trustworthy integrity.
Leaders in the church must be men and women of vision, seeing the future and
clarifying
goals. In the church vision isn’t just a picture of a bigger church or larger congregation.
It is a picture of God’s kingdom as it should be and seeing one local church’s part in that
vision.
Church leaders should help their followers see God’s vision directly from God, not just
from the pastor. The followers can be trusted with decision-making power on how that
church can become what God desires. After all, the clergy do not get filled with a
different Holy Spirit than the laity.
References
Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and
greatness. New York: Paulist Press.
Greenleaf, R. K. (1996). Part two: Essays on power, management and organizations. In D. M. F.
L. C. Spears (Ed.), Robert K. Greenleaf on becoming a servant-leader. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hesse, H. (1956). The journey to the East. London: P. Owen.
Laub, J. A. (1999). Assessing the servant organization: development of the organizational
leadership assessment (OLA) instrument. Unpublished Dissertation, Florida Atlantic
University, Boca Raton, FL.
Farling, M. L., Stone, A. G., & Winston, B. E. (1999). Servant leadership: Setting the stage for
empirical research. Journal of Leadership Studies, 49-63.
Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization (1st
Ed.). New York: Doubleday.
