91—Servant Leadership
THIS IS NOT ON FIRST RECORDING
My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.
Jesus said, “Whoever would be great in God’s kingdom must be the servant of all.” The concept of true servant leadership is something that is unique to the church. Yes, our government workers and politicians are called public servants, but often act like they don’t take that seriously. From Catholicism, we know “pope” originally meant servant. It is easy to intellectually understand the concept, harder to actually make it function, especially if one is in a leadership position.
If I have a business, I can hire employees, and they will follow my direction, without regard to my leadership ability, to collect a paycheck. Conversely, even among us believers, no one can pay you enough to go to a country which has a law to kill you on sight until the Holy Spirit refuses to give you peace until you go. Somewhere in the middle are many believers to desire to serve God, and are paid to do so, and ultimately find their service to Jesus compromised by the battle between social expectations, the need for a paycheck, and a lack of any other skill needed by the society around them.
The Bible teaches that apostles, believers gifted in establishing new churches, are worthy of being paid, as they must go from place to place. God gave as the main example of this type of ministry Paul, who had a transportable skill such that he didn’t have to depend on others for his livelihood. What God did through his obedience is more remarkable when we realize he was working part-time. Many modern ministries have little fruit with highly intellectually trained leaders, tax-favored status, significant budgets, and marketing plans adapted to target a certain population’s demographics.
You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com. You can find out more about organic church at http://www.simplechurch.com/ or (local website).
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