Servant Leadership
Mick Daly (Elder, Purpose Leader: Leader Development)
March 2007

Last month I said there are many kinds of leadership, but Servant Leadership is the one I want to talk about and encourage. How do you and I ‘encourage’ this kind of leadership?

The only way is to do it, live it, and model it. Just like your kids, people will do what you do, not what you say. I wrote about this in December: servant leadership begins at home … with your kids. You can read past articles here.

One person who, in following Jesus, really lived ‘servant leadership’ was Joseph the Levite from Cyprus, aka Barnabas. This nickname meant “Son of Encouragement”, and it fully described who he was, and what God had called him to be and to do.

I’ve included this admonition in each of my articles: "Do what you love in the service of people who love what you do." This was how Barnabas lived his life.

Barnabas did what he loved (to do). Why? Because this allowed him to use his God-given gifts, his strengths, talents, and abilities; he just felt ‘good’ when he lived this way. Have you had that experience, when it just feels right?! In Acts 11:24, we read that Barnabas was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”  So was Barnabas a great evangelist? No! The fruit of his work was ‘a great number’ of saved souls, mostly because of who he was, not what he was.  

In the many roles God called him to, Barnabas was a ‘giver’ (Acts 4:37), an ‘ambassador’ (Acts 11:23), a ‘sponsor’ (of Saul in Acts 9:27), a ‘recruiter’ (Acts 11:26), a ‘teacher’ and a ‘prophet’  (Acts 13:1), a ‘missionary’ (Acts 13:2), a ‘mentor’ (Acts 11-15), and an ‘apostle’ (Acts 14:23). Never an evangelist! He also made mistakes (Galatians 2:13), but what made him so successful was doing everything out of a positive, self-less, caring spirit, encouraging people to become all that God had made them to be, and comforting them when life got tough. He was great at giving people a second chance – just like God and Christ.

The same word for encouragement, para kaleo, is used in the New Testament to describe God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit; it has the sense of being ‘called to come alongside’ the person in need of comfort and encouragement. Who can you encourage? What do you love to do?

Barnabas did what he loved in the service of people. I sometimes do what I love to do, but do it out of selfishness; I love to run and hike, to read books; I love the limelight. But I also love to encourage and help people develop their potential – that’s what I admire about Barnabas.

He could see people’s God-given potential and urged them to pursue it, helping them to grow. We know this is true of Saul, who, under Barnabas’ mentoring, became Paul, the greatest leader in the 1st century church who wrote almost half the New Testament. We know it’s true of John Mark, who eventually wrote the gospel of Mark. I have no doubt Barnabas served  countless others as he worked effortlessly in his strengths, especially his gift of encouragement.

Interestingly, the term “Christian” was first used at the church in Antioch (Acts 11:26), where Barnabas was sent, became a leader, and later took Saul to help him. When Jesus said “even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45), Barnabas took him at his word and chose to live by that same standard, serving others in Christ’s name. What do you love to do that serves others?

Barnabas did what he loved in the service of people who loved what he did. They loved what he did, because of who he was (true to how God made him) and what he did for them (out of his gifts). Have you (had) a Barnabas in your life? How valuable are/were they to you? What kind of difference did their encouragement, their challenging, their comforting make? What do you love to do for others that they love?

Barnabas was an archetypal ‘servant leader’. God called him to be a leader in many ways, but he was effective not because of his position or status, but because of his servant attitude, because he was a true follower of Jesus, who came alongside those in need, and those with potential.

So here’s the $6m question: “what can you do that you love in the service of people who love what you do?" As you ponder this question, remember all the different roles Barnabas had, and remember that he did them all in such a way that encouragement became his first name. Can you become a Barnabas by exercising your encouragement muscles? Absolutely!

"Do what you love in the service of people who love what you do."

More next month ...                                          ~ Leadership ~