[Gary Petty] Jesus was talking about leadership with His disciples, and He said this: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:25-27; Mark 10:42-44)

Servant leadership is sort of a buzzword in business and in churches and non-profit organizations. Of course, you can’t get people a lot of times to even agree what that means. Now what is servant leadership? Some people think it doesn’t even mean leadership – it means just sort of letting people do whatever they want. But no, servant leadership is leadership. So what makes it different than other kinds of leadership?

Max Depree, in his book Leadership is an Art, makes this statement: “Leadership is an art.” Now think about that. We think “leadership” in terms of, we just read a book, we have certain principles. No, that’s management. There’s a difference between leadership and management. “Leadership is an art, something to be learned over time, not simply by reading books. Leadership is more tribal than scientific.” It’s an interesting concept. It’s more about relationships than it is about management style. “More like a weaving of relationships than an amassing of information. And in a sense, I don’t know how to pin it down in every detail. Leadership is much more of an art, a belief” – listen to this – “a condition of heart, than a set of things to do. The visible signs or artful leadership are expressed ultimately in its practice.”

Leadership is about – servant leadership is about relationship with those whom you lead. It’s about leadership and all that that entails. So you see, management is concerned mainly with timetables, policies – we need that. Whatever endeavor we’re in, we need policies, we need timetables, we need measures of efficiency, but that is actually a management function. Leaders take people and they bring them together with a shared vision, a shared mission, to accomplish something. And ultimately, when we talk about Christian servant leadership, you measure it by the results in the people that are being led. How much are they like disciples of Jesus Christ? How much are they growing? How much are they learning? And so, servant leadership in the end is about, in the Christian sense – it’s about the people that you are leading, and leading them to God.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.