There are many good books that can help church leaders reflect on their roles and responsibilities. Recent publications, regrettably, have needed to address the issue of abuse among church leaders, including the scandal of narcissism and the “bully pulpit.” The PCA produced a study committee report addressing abuse with particular attention to spiritual abuse inflicted by church leaders.
Even inside local churches, a relational strain can develop among elders. They may not share a vision for leading collaboratively, and sometimes pastors do not leave their call well.
What’s happening? While many factors contribute to strain in these situations, you can be sure what isn’t happening: humility. To be a bit simplistic, much of this dysfunction originates in the heart: failing to constantly battle pride and to cultivate other-centered servanthood, the indispensable qualifier for an officer of the church.
The Biblical Basis of Other-Centered Servanthood
What is the biblical source for other-centered servanthood?
Paul directs our attention to Jesus’ other-centeredness. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Jesus reminds us that he came to serve. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
Paul exhorts all believers to adorn the mindset and example of Jesus’ other-centered servanthood with these words:
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more important than yourself…Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:3-8).
Jesus emptied himself for others, taking the form of a servant. Christ-followers, and especially their leaders, are called and privileged to do the same.
Log-blindness
If the Bible repeatedly emphasizes the importance of other-centered servanthood, why do we find so many instances of the opposite among pastors and elders?
When I’ve had the unfortunate opportunity to inspect the ruins of wrecked marriages, friendships, sessions, and churches that have crashed and burned, I rarely find other-centered servanthood amidst the wreckage. Much pride, indeed, but seldom the kind of self-sacrificial love that beautified the life of Jesus.
Instead, I encounter people who, to use Jesus’ image in Matthew 7:3-5, easily detect others’ specks but not their own logs. These encounters include even well-meaning folks who inadvertently inflict harm on others due to their own “log-blindness.” They specialize in the faults of others, but keep skipping the class that examines their own faults. They assume they stand in the truth with little need of correction. As a rule, they have difficulty admitting wrongdoing, resist correction, need to be right all the time, and seldom question their motives.
Motives of a Servant
When Peter exhorts elders to shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight (1 Peter 5:2), he focuses on the motives for leading. When people look at their pastor, they should see someone who conducts himself “with humility toward one another” and whose life exemplifies what it means to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God” (1 Peter 5:5-6).
The verb “clothe” in verse 5 referred to a servant tying an apron around his waist. Elders lead with aprons on, eyes on the sheep, laying down their lives in sacrificial service in the pattern of the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ (John 10:11; 13:14).
Pastors are not called to a position as much as a mission. Their goal is to use the privileges and influence God has given them to help others grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. As Paul puts it, “For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15).
Servant-leaders do not spend their time thinking about what they personally want to accomplish. Rather, they primarily consider what the sheep need, endeavoring to use their authority to meet those needs. They enter session meetings as they would a barn, not a boardroom, ready to care for sheep. Their knowledge and gifts pale in comparison to the priority placed on their love for those they serve.
In case we need to be reminded, Paul says, “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).
In another place, he writes, “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
An other-centered servant thinks primarily of the Good Shepherd and his sheep. This isn’t a novel teaching. Even Augustine stated, “If you should ask me what are the ways of God, I would tell you that the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.”
Elders must focus on Christ, relishing his mercy, kindness, beauty, power, glory, humility, gentleness, self-sacrifice and authority. Only with this perspective can they love those they lead and rule with wisdom, truth, and grace.
Mike Sharrett is a retired PCA pastor who currently serves as interim pastor at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Williamsburg, Virginia.