June 2018

June 23 2018

Born Followers

Tim Tucker Faith and Life, Servant Leadership Servant Leadership 0

There is much debate as to whether leaders are born or made… can someone really be a born leader? From the perspective of spiritual leadership, I would argue every leader is developed through the school of hard knocks (and other processes) as God shapes and moulds our character in order that we become Christ-centred servant leaders. Consider Moses, David, Job, Mary, Peter and Stephen.

But maybe a more critical question for Christian leaders is not ‘are we born leaders?’, but ‘are we effective followers?’ The essential unifying quality of every Christ-centred servant leader is that they are first and foremost a follower. No-one ever uses the phrase “born-follower”. However, when we were born-again, we acknowledged our utter dependence upon Christ… and we should therefore recognise that our effectiveness in leadership will be directly proportional to our followership of Him. John Hayes writes, “Learning to follow seems to have become a lost art, and yet, Jesus talks far more about following than He does about leading”.

To be a great leader, you firstly need to be a great follower. This principle is defined by the phrase Grab a Towel and could be summed up by the Apostle Paul’s words, ‘Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ’ (1 Cor. 11:1). Paul became arguably the greatest Christian leader in history because he was the greatest follower in Christian history. Paul took Christ’s own words seriously: ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’ (Luke 9:23 ESV). We can only lead others because we are serving Christ, and in serving Christ we learn that the only true form of leadership is servanthood. As Jesus said, ‘Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 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 10:44-45).

Our commitment to followership also bears influence upon how we define success as servant leaders. Success for servant leaders does not equate to how many people are following us – in our organisation, churches or on Twitter. Rather, the indicator for success is how many people are following Christ as a result of our leadership. Stacy Rinehart concurs, “The heart of spiritual leadership, then, is serving people – looking out for what is best for them rather than using them as the means to a larger end. The question is not ‘Does the leader have followers?’ but rather, ‘Does the Lord have followers as a result of the leader’s influence?’” (Rinehart 1998:109).

In your aspiration to be a great leader are you firstly seeking to be a great follower?

References:

John Hayes 2006. Sub-merge: Living deep in a shallow world. p. 281
Stacy T Rinehart 1998. Upside Down. p, 109

June 9 2018

Taking serving seriously (by Andy Hawthorne)

Tim Tucker Guest post, Servant Leadership Andy Hawthorne, Grab a Towel, Jesus Christ, Servant Leadership, service, The Message 0

We live in the age of personal branding and self-promotion… where people are serious about making a name for themselves. How, as Christian leaders, do we avoid the temptation of pride and selfish ambition that can so easily ensnare us?

The following extract is from the book ‘Being the Message’ where Andy Hawthorne (International CEO of The Message Trust) advocates that, in order to avoid the danger of being a people-pleaser, we need to take serving seriously and focus on following the example of Christ…

Jesus was the perfect role model of living for an ‘audience of One.’ Surely, as the person who spoke the whole earth into being, it would have been reasonable for him to expect a bit of service and respect when he became flesh and visited the planet he had made! But instead, he constantly took on the role of a servant, even washing his disciples’ smelly feet as an example that we should follow, and teaching that will be blessed if we can be similarly servant-hearted. I want to experience the kind of blessing that comes from having that favour of God on my life. I believe that comes as we take the gospel seriously – but not ourselves.

Michael Baughen is a former Bishop of Chester, and as such would have all kinds of people address him as ‘Lord Bishop’ and other fancy titles. He admitted that he also quite liked dressing up in the outrageous bishops’ robes (which to be fair, are about as far from the Carpenter of Nazareth’s garb as you could possibly get). So in order to keep himself grounded, he would always keep a small piece of towel in his pocket to remind him that he was here to serve and not be served, and that he, as the leader, needed to constantly work out what it looked like to wash other disciples’ feet.

I get the feeling that the reason that Jesus was able to say of John the Baptist that ‘among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater’ (Matthew 11:11), was because he didn’t believe his hype that he was the new Elijah or the prophet they had all been waiting for. John’s life and ministry were defined by his conviction that ‘He [Jesus] must become greater, I must become less’ (John 3:30). Indeed, when it was time to give away two of his own disciples to Jesus’ ministry, namely Simon and Andrew, he did so unhesitatingly…

The Message is home to some incredibly talented and creative mission teams who often perform in front of large numbers of screaming young people. Even though the object of these gigs is always to create a clear platform for the gospel, there will still be a number of these young people who love to tell our bands for hours after how awesome they are, whilst desperately seeking selfies and autographs. This little bit of fame can actually be very bad for the soul, and unless the guys and girls are really rooted in Jesus, they can start slipping down the slope of pride. We simply can’t afford for this to happen. The Bible repeatedly says that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble – and I know for sure which one I want.

Reference:

Andy Hawthorne, Being the Message (2017), p. 60-62. Available from https://shop.message.org.uk/product/being-the-message/ or see https://amazon.com/author/timtucker

June 1 2018

Why Grab a Towel?

Tim Tucker Servant Leadership Grab a Towel, Jesus Christ, leadership, Servant Leadership, The Message, why 2

A common question I’ve been asked since releasing Grab a Towel is, ‘why did you write the book?’ Clearly asking why is always a great question before embarking on an enterprise or project. Simon Sinek has written a book called Start with Why, and argues that knowing why we do something engenders the passion necessary to motivate action and change.

So maybe it will help you to understand why I wrote Grab a Towel and encourage you to not only read the book, but consider how the concepts in the book should not remain words on a page, but motivate you towards action and change.

Why I’ve written the book can be summarised under three headings:

1. Provoke a conversation

In spite of the plethora of leadership books, courses, conferences and even graduate study programmes, there appears to be a dearth of exemplary leadership. In Grab a Towel I’ve grappled with the question, ‘what kind of leaders does God want us to be?’ This question provides a foundation for a second question, ‘what kind of leaders are worth following?’ Ultimately, Jesus Christ is the central character and hero of the book… providing an example for servant leaders to follow. Grab a Towel considers the model Jesus has given us and has been written with the intention to spark dialogue and interaction to enable his followers to develop a biblically based philosophy that can shape their approach to leadership.

2. Provide a critique

It doesn’t take depth of research to recognise that we are faced with huge leadership challenges in the 21st Century. Umar Haque says, ‘We need a new generation of leaders. And we need it now… Leadership – true leadership – is a lost art’. I agree!

I live, serve and work in South Africa, and the country is reeling from a regime of self-interest and corruption that has permeated the leadership structures in this country. Clearly, a critique of contemporary leadership is required. Grab a Towel provides a metaphor for servant leadership that enables us to question, and reject, the prevalent leadership culture that drives pragmatic leaders towards unethical practices due to an “ends justifies the means” approach to leadership. I wrote Grab a Towel to present a biblical alternative that may empower Christians to have the courage to stand as an example that there is another way.

3. Present a context

Finally, Grab a Towel is written within a specific context – my own journey of leading The Message Trust in South Africa. We are an organisation that seeks to identify leadership potential where others don’t see it… in former gang members and ex-offenders… and in young people seemingly trapped in tough neighbourhoods. Together with my team, we seek to provide an environment for emerging leaders to flourish in faith and in life. That is our context… and Grab a Towel presents the lessons I’ve been learning.

But what is your context? Leadership does not happen in a vacuum. Ultimately, I have written Grab a Towel to help you grapple with how you can become a Christ-centred servant leader within your environment… and, if the book in some ways helps you serve God better, then I’ve accomplished my why!

References:

Simon Sinek https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

Umar Haque https://hbr.org/2013/07/how-and-why-to-be-a-leader-not