servant leadership good or bad welcome to grace and truth my name is owen strann and i will be your

host please subscribe to this podcast on all relevant platforms there's been a lively discussion about that term, servant

leadership in the last 10 years or so in the evangelical church. There was a real push for what

is called servant leadership some years ago with an emphasis on Christian leaders being like Jesus

and washing feet and being kind and gracious. And there's a way that servant leadership came

to be practiced that I'm going to identify in this episode of grace and truth as bad servant

leadership. You ready? How's that for a very nuanced term? Bad servant leadership. I use the term not

to be obnoxious, but simply to be clear, to try to be clear. In bad servant

leadership, a husband in the home who is head of his wife and head of his home by extension, and a

leader in the church who is genuinely given authority by God to lead, these figures end up basically

in the same kind of role. And here's the role they're in.

They're not in a role where they exercise real authority, where they genuinely lead.

They're not really a leader.

What they end up being unintentionally in many cases, no doubt, is a poll taker.

What I mean by this is there are lots of different opinions in the home

or the organization. And because there is a desire to be servant-hearted and like Jesus in that

respect, again, that's a good desire. What can end up happening is that a given man in these

kind of leadership roles ends up basically taking polls and saying,

honey, what would you like me to do?

Oh, okay, well, this is the way I'm supposed to lead.

I'm supposed to lead like Jesus, lay my life down.

So basically that means, yes, I'm the leader, but in practical terms, whatever you want, that's what we're going to do.

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