Servant Leaders
“If you want to be a leader, you have to be a servant first”
A couple days ago we were able to get reunited as a squad again and we had something called LDW (Leadership Development Weekend). And 4 of us were able to share to the squad a little bit of what God has been putting in our hearts to share with others. In my case was about servant leaders.
I decided to make a list with things that as a leader I have been learning and have been helping me through the process and also things that I’m still working on.
Today I want to share it with you all too! 🙂
Matthew 23:11: “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.”
There’s some people that were born with leadership in their foreheads! You can easily recognize them. In my case I didn’t born like that but I have been learning how to develop some of those skills.
If you think about, what a leader needs to be a leader is someone who follows him. And we all have followers. It can be at church, at work, at college and even at home (my brother, my mom, my grandpa). That being said we can say that we are all leaders.
But, what is a servant leader?
For me Jesus is the best example of a servant leader. Matthew 20:26-28 says “26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants 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 to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus came to give of himself. And the call upon every christian is to give of self not only in service to Jesus and the kingdom of God but to our fellow an including those outside and INSIDE of the church. So many times we fail on that and we just serve people outside of the church and no our brothers and sisters inside of the church.
Phillippians 2 says : 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
– Great leaders lead from the inside out. Jesus focused on personal leadership first. You need to know yourself well to lead yourself and others well. You need to have self-control. As I said leadership is truly an inside job. Your leadership skills will only take you as far as your character will allow. And the more you work on your heart and your character, the more others will want to follow you.
– Great leaders are great servants. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples even during his most trying and hard time. LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT OTHERS NOT ABOUT YOU.
– Great leaders balance CONVICTION with COMPASSION. Jesus held strong convictions and values while still showing tremendous compassion to others, even those who sometimes did not share the same convictions.
– Initiative: If you have some tasks you can say “This is what I have to do” or you can say “This is what I have to do but also I can do this to help too”
– Motivation: I love Paul in the bible. Because Paul’s idea of service was the same for Jesus sake. To pour his life out to the last drop for others. And whether he received the praise or blame made no difference. His motivation behind was his love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity we will be quickly defeated and brokenhearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.
-Backup yourself: You will make mistakes. You won’t never have all the answers. It’s ok to not be ok. Don’t be so hard with yourself.
-Teachable heart: If you get offended by simple things that actually can help you grow you are not teachable. You must decrease so He can increase.
-Be yourself: You have to be yourself not someone else. Be a good Andre (in my case). Don’t try to imitate others. Learn from others but don’t try to be someone or something you are not.
-Standards: Not everyone is on the same level. You have to be patient and help others to go step by step. People cannot jump to reach your standards they have to grow everyday on it. But you have to help them, encourage and empower them to do it and get there.
-Choose and love your people: Sometimes it is hard because in our lives, teams, work we have hard people, but there’s where you can see your motivation behind too. So, choose them even when it’s hard, even when your nature says “I don’t care anymore, i’m done with you”. The best example for me it’s Paul again. We find a reference in Timothy where describes who he was. It says: “Blasphemer, persecutor and an insolent man”. He knew where he came from. In other words no matter how badly others may have treated Paul, he knew they could never have treated him as he did with Jesus. “The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples feet.” Something that sometimes is unimportant in human estimation, count as everything to God.
-Arrogance and leadership are completely different: Arrogance will say: “I’m always right, you are always wrong. You need me more than what I need you.” We have to be careful with this. Your heart has to come with compassion not arrogance.
-Take care of yourself: Fill up your cup. Busy for God doesn’t mean you are close to God. So many times as leaders we carry a lot of weight that we don’t realize until we are done with it. But to avoid this our prayer boiler room has to be HOT!!
-Give just what you can give away. Don’t ask something you don’t offer: Example: Don’t ask people to be on time if you are always late.
-Leadership is sacrifice: If you are not ready to sacrifice, you are not ready to lead.
-Be fun: Be fun it’s a big part of we are but sometimes that get lost because we get so intense. Be FUN!! But don’t be IMMATURE. It’s completely different. Don’t forget people is following you.
And last but not least :
-BE A CHRISTIAN:
Be everyday like Christ. If you are like Christ on the inside but doesn’t look like it in the outside; there’s something that you have to change.
If you want to be a leader you have to be a servant first.
Thank you everyone for your love and support!
Month 10 here we go!!! 🙂
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