Many people struggle at work because they want more authority. It turns out you can get a lot done if you just take more responsibility instead. It’s often offered, rarely taken. (And you can get even more done if you give away credit, relentlessly).

Tell me that’s not really, really good.

The adjacent truth for me would go like this:

Many people struggle at work or ministry or family because they want more authority. It turns out you can get a lot done if you serve others more instead. Everyone needs that, Jesus modeled it, and yet we struggle to do it. (And you can get even more done if you give away credit, relentlessly).

Yes?

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:45

KINDLE has define Servant Leadership as the following:

A KINDLE Servant Leader helps others celebrate their Baptismal identity, become more Christ-like commit to the development of others as Christ-like servant leaders.

I love it that the first thing on “the list” for KINDLE Servant Leaders is helping others celebrate who Jesus had made them in their Baptism. This is a grace-place to begin. We are, by God’s action in our Baptism:

• His
• Free
• Saved

What a lovely place to begin! How can we help others connect with that Baptismal identity and celebrate it? Some ways to do so might be:

• To help Servant Leaders see feedback from others (positive and negative) through the lens of God’s total acceptance and love for them, as well as His desire to make them useful for Kingdom work.
• To connect them with Scriptures that point out their Baptismal identity (try Ephesians 2:8-10; Isaiah 43:1; Psalm 139:14; Romans 6:3-4).
• To help Servant Leaders know that Whose they are is the most important information and qualifying characteristic about them.
• What else??!?

KINDLE has define Servant Leadership as the following:

A KINDLE Servant Leader helps others celebrate their Baptismal identity, become more Christ-like and commit to the development of others as Christ-like servant leaders.

The first thing I notice about this definition is that it is focused on others. The definition does not illustrate the Servant Leader, but rather describes those served by that leader. It is a phenomenal and crucial shift in focus.

Have you ever considered looking at the people you lead to help you discern how you are leading? It is a somewhat frightening thought. Of course, we cannot control the actions of others, and yet, if we are hoping to serve them, then a good look at how they’re doing and how we can help is a place to begin. Yes?

You can also access highlights of the sessions here.

Your Boss Needs You to Be:

• A Straight-Talker: don’t engage in triangle conversations or put-downs of your team or leaders.
• A Loyal-Friend—you don’t have to hang out together, but he needs to know you are “for” him. If put in a corner, your boss knows you would defend her.
• An Innovative Thinker—be solution-oriented. Don’t just come to your boss with problems, but also solutions. Your attitude should be, “Economy tough? Less staff? Lower budget? No problem, we’ll figure out a way to get through this!”

Even more than a helpful list, the post got me thinking about how Servant Leaders are followers, too. Of course, we follow Jesus. AND very few people in this world are not accountable to another leader in their life. We all follow someone (or many someones). Learning to be a good follower is an important Servant Leader skill. When we follow well, it impacts our church, family, company or other organization in hundreds of positive ways.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnuvFAb4hIo

Clergy health studies say that many clerics have ‘boundary issues’—defined as being too easily overtaken by the urgency of other people’s needs.

Yah THINK?

KINDLE’s “under the waterline” servant leadership strands (Stewardship of Self and Stewardship of Faith) and their practices can help with church-worker burnout. AND, if you are a churchworker reading this, consider what your example in this area is modeling for congregational leaders. All servant leaders need to pay attention to their own relationship with Jesus, as well as the disciplines that care for the body and mind God has given them. And we can do that, by God’s grace!

Year after year, this is my favorite Vacation Bible School photo.

I remember the early days of my ministry. I had responsibility for Vacation Bible School, but I didn’t much care for it. FOR SURE, I didn’t like getting ready for it. So much work, so much recruiting, so many days wringing my hands because we were short teachers, or helpers or goldfish crackers or whatever.

Somewhere along the line, my whole attitude shifted. I caught a vision for VBS as a servant leadership development process. We use a “crew leader” rotation system for our Vacation Bible School each year—the picture above was taken just yesterday of the army of crew leaders—mostly middle and high school kids with a few adults thrown in. These crew leaders are responsible for a small group of children during VBS each day. Some of the servant leadership skills they develop:

• Building community in their crew (KINDLE Practice 11: Build the Community)
• Leading a small group discussion
• Modeling participation in the activities and songs (KINDLE Practice 1:Set the Example)
• Greeting and engaging parents
• Concern for the safety of those they are leading
• Working out disagreements in their crew (KINDLE Practice 14: Manage Anxiety and Conflict)
• Telling their kids the daily Bible point several times a day (KINDLE Practice 19: Witness Willingly)

This list is only a few of the literally HUNDREDS of other ways Servant Leadership skills are developed with crew leaders (and other volunteers!) before VBS during training and as VBS week unfolds. Can you see why the crew leader photo is always my favorite VBS photo?

The author of this short, sweet and very helpful book is Lauren F. Winner. She is a young Jewish woman who converted to Christianity seven years before she wrote the book and misses the spiritual rhythms of her Jewish roots:

Still I miss Jewish ways. I miss the rhythms and routines that drew the sacred down into the everyday. I miss Sabbaths on which I actually rested…I miss the work these practices effected between me and God.

She explores 10 practices from the Jewish faith that can have new and helpful application for Christians. These include:

• Candle-lighting
• Doorposts
• Aging
• Hospitality
• Mourning

…and of course, Sabbath.

KINDLE Servant Leader Practice 16:

Embrace Sabbath Living

Eagerly worship, partake in Holy Communion, and nurture additional behaviors which foster spiritual renewal & rest.

Winner’s book has a winsome way of leading the reader into new and joyful ways of embracing Sabbath living. The name of the book comes from the Mudhouse Coffee Shop where Winner now spends her Sunday (Sabbath) afternoons journaling, reading her Bible and praying. For each of the ten practices, Winner does a lovely job of painting the Old Testament picture of that practice before applying it to a Christian life. I was drawn in and intrigued with each one and that background shed new and helpful light on my own hopes to do a better job on KINDLE Servant Leader Practice 16. I really recommend it.

Thanks to Jim Haack, Dean of the KINDLE for Recent Grads in September 2010 for giving me the heads up about this book!