1. Presented to Tabernacle of David Assembly, Lusaka
Building Principles and Practices of Servant Leadership
Adapted from Robert Greenleaf’s book on Servant Leadership and Materials from Pathways to Leadership Program
Presented By:
Elder Fordson Kafweku
(Christian Education Department, Tabernacle of David Assembly Of God)

2. Outline of Sessions
Session 1: Introduction; What is Servant Leadership?
Session 2: Jesus as a Servant Leader (John 13:1-17)
Session 3: Why Servant Leadership? (Mathew 20:20-24)
Session 4: How we can be Servant Leaders (Four Essential Decisions towards being a Servant Leader)
Session 5: Characteristics of a Servant Leader

3. Introduction – Mathew 20:20-28
Session 1 Introduction
Introduction – Mathew 20:20-28
Leadership of this age is that of a “self centered” nature (Matthew 20:21) rather than that of “other centered” nature (Matthew 20: 26) or servant leadership. It is the leadership that Greenleaf (2002) suggests as the leader-first.
Servant Leadership is a principle of Relationship. It is not a skill like accountability, communication skills, empowerment etc.
Servant Leadership is founded on Relationships. Just like exhortation, healthy alliances, power and influence; Servant Leadership is much stronger as it is a by-product of ones character, relationship and dependency on God.

4. What is Servant Leadership?
Definition (s)
A servant leader is a Leader who puts the welfare of others first (Servant-First).
According to Robert Greenleaf, Servant leadership “..begins with the natural feeling of wanting to serve, to Serve-first. The conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader-first, perhaps because of the need to alleviate an unusual power drive, or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve-after leadership is established. The Leader-first and the Servant-first are two extreme types. Between them are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”
Moral authority is another way to define Servant-Leadership because it is a reciprocal choice between leader and follower. If the leader is principle centered, he/she will develop moral authority. If the follower is principle centered, he/she will follow the leader. The essential quality that sets Servant-Leaders apart from the others is that they live/lead by their conscience – the inwards moral sense of what is right and what is wrong.

5. What is Servant Leadership? (continued)
The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the Servant-First to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.
The natural servant, the person who is a servant-first, is more likely to persevere and refine a particular hypothesis on what serves another’s highest priority needs than is the person who is leader-first and who later serves out of promptings of conscience or in conformity with normative expectations.
The question each leader needs to ask him/herself is:
Do those served grow as persons?
Do they, while being served become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived

6. Session 2 Jesus as a Servant Leader (John 13:1-17)
Serving others can be tough, expending your energies and resources in the interest of others can be exhausting. Yet the most effective leaders are servants.
No body demonstrates this better than Jesus on the night prior to his crucifixion. (In many cultures the words of a dying person are respected – in this case the disciples too realized later that this was a great commission!)
Jesus did the unthinkable – the custom of foot washing, Jesus assumed the role of a servant by washing his disciples’ feet. The master became the servant.

7. Jesus as a Servant Leader (Continued)
What made Jesus do this?
He was secure in himself
He knew who he was and where he was going (it didn’t make him any lesser!) (v 1)
Because He loved them (v 1)
He wanted to set an example (growth/influence) (v 15)
Vs Jesus demonstrates the upside-down values of God’s Kingdom: The greatest leader is the lowest servant.
Real Servant Leadership follows this radical directive. He didn’t ask them to do “what” he had done. He commanded them to do “as” he has done. In other words they were not to be full-time foot washers, but rather full time servers of men and women. (Leaders who are servants (at heart) of men and women!!!!)

8. Jesus as a Servant Leader (Continued)
Who being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:6-7 NIV
Jesus “in the very nature of God”, which means he was fully and completely God. Deity was his nature ad his being
He made himself nothing, literary emptied himself of certain things and he took to himself other things
He took the nature of a servant, meaning he was as fully and completely a servant by nature as he was God by nature
The servant nature was a human nature, injected into the bloodstream of humanity, as it were, so that it could become accessible and available to us in Christ.
Then Jesus took that servant nature, and exposed it to all the stresses and circumstances of human life.
Adapted from Marshall, Tom’s book: Understanding Leadership

9. Session 3 Why Servant Leadership? (Mathew 20:20-24)
Because Jesus, our master left this commandment with us, as His disciples (Christians, Christ-like) we need to follow Him.
To avoid us doing the opposite of what God wants to be. As Christian Leaders we are not to LORD over one another and exercise authority but to serve one another.
Jesus makes a very profound statement when he says in verse 26 “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave…”
Matthew 20:28 – Jesus Presented A Powerful Model of What He Taught “……just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
He brought in a Principle of: The Way of Going Up, comes by Going Down.
Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert in the Ken Blanchard Series “Serving Leader”, calls this Upend the Pyramid –You qualify to be first by putting other people first.

10. Why Servant Leadership? (Continued)
“When a leader keeps personal ego in check – and builds the confidence and self esteem of others – its then possible for the team to work together.” Jennings, Ken and John Stahl-Wert Serving Leader. San Francisco: Berrett – Koehler Publishers.
Jesus’ example of service (Matthew 20:29-34)
Service to the blind beggars (regarded as lowest in the society)
The crowd rebuked them (Natural Lording over tendencies, leader first!)
They said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened." (personal need )
Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes (Service/Servant Leadership)
They regained their sight and followed Him (Transformational )

11. Serving Leader - Upend the Pyramid 2/3
The People being Served
Team
Transformed &
empowered
people
Transformed &
empowered
people
Servant Leader
Adapted (with modification) from Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert in the Ken Blanchard Series “Serving Leader”,

12. Serve God (As a disciple)
Session 4 How we can be Servant Leaders (Four Essential Decisions Necessary To Move Towards Servant Leadership)
First Step
Serve God (As a disciple)
(Committed to Serve/Be devoted to a person of God)
Luke 14:26-27; 33
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and Children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he can not be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me can not be my disciple.”
33 “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has can not be my disciple.

13. How we can be Servant Leaders (Four Essential Decisions Necessary To Move Towards Servant Leadership)
Second Step
Serve God’s Kingdom
Serve God’s Kingdom
(Be Driven by a Passion)
Matthew 6:33
33 But Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things
Will be given to you as well.

14. Obey Him in Your Service
How we can be Servant Leaders (Four Essential Decisions Necessary To Move Towards Servant Leadership)
Third Step
Obey Him in Your Service
(Obedience is better than sacrifice)
Obey Him in Your Service
(Directed by a Principle)
Matthew 20:25-28
25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles
Lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever want to become great among you must be your
Servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – 28 just as the Son of Man
did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.”

15. (Impacting People Around You)
How we can be Servant Leaders (Four Essential Decisions Necessary To Move Towards Servant Leadership)
Fourth Step
Serve His People
(Impacting People Around You)
Serve His People
(Doing the Process)
Ephesians 4:11-16
11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be
evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people
for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach
13unity in faith and in knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining
to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

16. How we can become Servant Leaders (Four Essential Decisions Necessary To Move Towards Servant Leadership)
1st Step
Serve God (As a disciple)
(Committed to Serve/Be devoted to a person of God)
Luke 14:26-27; 33
2nd Step
Serve God’s Kingdom
Serve God’s Kingdom
(Be Driven by a Passion)
Matthew 6:33
3rd Step
Obey Him in Your Service
Obey Him in Your Service
(Directed by a Principle)
Matthew 20:25-28
4th Step
Serve His People
Serve His People
(Doing the Process)
Ephesians 4:11-16

17. Characteristics of a Servant Leader (First 10 are Adapted from Larry Spears)
1. Listen
Intently to Others
With a Desire to Understand
Receptively to What Is Said and NOT Said
Encouraging Thoughtful Silence
To Your Own Voice
With Reflection On What Is Being Said
(What Is She Saying—Why Is She Saying it?—What Is Happening To Me While She Is Saying It?)
2. Empathize
Demonstrate Interest in and Affection for Others
Recognize and Accept (Never Reject) the Gifts and Talents of Others
Tolerate Imperfections (As God Does)
Assume the Good Intentions of Others

18. Characteristics of a Servant Leader (cont)
3. Healing
Address Broken Spirits and Emotional Hurts
Help Make Others Whole While Doing The Same For Yourself
4. Awareness
Be Self-aware and Cultivate A Sense of Inner Security
Foster Awareness In Others
Be “Sharply Awake”

19. Characteristics of a Servant Leader (cont)
5. Persuasion
Convince/Influence Other Rather Than Coerce/force.
Build Consensus Within Groups
Create A Climate of Influence
6. Conceptualization
Nurture People’s Ability to “Dream Great Dreams”
Think Beyond Day-to-day Realities
Be A Visionary
Seek to balance between conceptual thinking and day to day focused approach

20. Characteristics of a Servant Leader (cont)
7. Foresight
Foresee the Likely Outcome of a Situation
Understand - The Lessons From the Past; The Realities of the Present; The Likely Consequences of A Decision For the Future
Create a Climate of Anticipation
8. Stewardship
Hold Something In Trust For Another
Take Care of (Not Care-take) Others
Choose Service Over Self-interest
Be Accountable For Outcomes – Without Controlling
Share Responsibility For What the Organization Will Become
Feel Ownership In the Success of the Organization
Expect Others to be Stewards and Teach Them How

21. Characteristics of a Servant Leader (cont)
9. Commitment to the growth of people
Cultivate the Belief that People Have Intrinsic (inherent, essential) Value
Develop Commitment to and Model Efforts to foster the Personal, Professional, and Spiritual Growth of ALL in the Organization
10. Build Community
Recognize Your Organization as a Community and Build It.
Understand That Your Community Can Shape Human Lives and Change Perceptions (developing a culture)

22. Characteristics of a Servant Leader (cont) (Adapted from Nancy Horn, especially for the SL in a Christian Context)
11. Love (1 Corinthians 13)
Seeking the Highest Good for Its Object
A Fruit of the Spirit and Basis For
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness (Humility/Meekness)
Self-Control
12. Humility (Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”)
“…Give Preference to One Another in Honor”
Humble People…
Know That They Do Not Know everything
Take Themselves Only As Seriously As Needed
Have a Sense of Awe
Don’ t Fear Failure – Risk Possibilities
Put Others First

23. Conclusion:
To be a SERVANT – leader, those actions must serve God (1), God’s Kingdom (2), the Organization’s (in this case the Church) mission (4) and the organization’s members (5).
“Many of us who begin with a commitment to serve people, get weary in (and of ) the task. We often find it easier and more rewarding to just get things done ourselves, or to exercise authority and make things happen through command and control. If we begin with Luke 14 (Serving God) and work our way to Ephesians 4 (Serving His people), the probability of consistently functioning as a Servant Leader is much greater.”

24. Thank you for Listening
David J. Schwartz says :
“Its better to Win the War and lose the battle, than Win the Battle and lose the War.” (from the Book: The magic of Thinking Big)
ENDS
Thank you for Listening