LEADERSHIP
REVIVALS ACROSS
B Y
N I C H O L E
C R I S S
E
very few years or so, there seems to be turnover in buzzwords, slang, and catchphrases laced with nuances of pop culture. Of course, it’s the cool kids who immediately know the appro-
priate way to incorporate the updated vocab into their conversations, memes, and DMs, while everyone else secretly googles the meaning of the current trending Twitter hashtag to be in the know. Not so long ago, the concept of servant leadership—a term used by Robert Greenleaf in his book Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power & Greatness—became the topic of the cool kids in christian leadership. While Greenleaf’s book wasn’t written for christian ministry, but rather corporate America, his methods and technique for leadership through service were latched onto by churches and leadership teams. Ironically, given that the subtitle promised personal power and greatness, Greenleaf’s concept of servant leadership replaced a biblical theology of service and, therefore, became the epitome of Christian leadership. Greenleaf briefly used Jesus as a case study on servant leadership, but the premise of his characterization of Jesus was not rooted in the biblical truth that Jesus was God, but rather simply based on Jesus’ acts of service to his disciples as it pertained to the procurement of power and greatness. Let’s be honest: Jesus’ parables probably wouldn’t have gone viral on Twitter—the nuance wouldn’t have been
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