nurturing servant leaders in religious education - Scholarly ...

external nurturing. Gardens provide a microcosm where life’s essential processes of
growing, nurturing, and development may be observed. It is there also that balance
and interconnectedness of the multitudinous relationships ensure an optimal
environment for growth.
The garden is a common thread through countless contexts. As the thesis is introduced
above, many of the contextual components i.e. servant leadership, Aotearoa/New
Zealand, the Church Educational System, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints, have deep connections, physically, spiritually, theoretically and/or doctrinally
to gardens.
Greenleaf and the garden
Greenleaf, so aptly named, in his description of the servant-leader used frequent
language alluding to nature, and the growth of people in a garden-like setting. For
example, a major flaw Greenleaf saw in modern leadership approaches was that
because instant perfection was not achieved in some organisations, there was a
tendency,
to destroy them completely so that fresh, new, perfect ones can grow. Not much
thought seems to be given to the problem of where the new seed will come from
or who the gardener to tend them will be” (Greenleaf, 2002, p. 22).
Greenleaf also stated that all those who are touched by servant-leadership “grow
taller” (ibid, p. 24). His research covered extensive writings in the religious field.
Greenleaf’s religious writings are found in works of collected essays such as Seeker
and servant: Reflections on religious leadership (Greenleaf, 1996b). In this work,
again, the garden theme is present, highlighted in the theorist’s description of the
potential of seminaries to act as a rich growing ground for critical thought in society.
He expostulated “critical thought is a fulfilment of the root meaning of seminary:
seminalis, or seed. It is reflective thought that produces seminal ideas-ideas that
become new visions in both ministers as persons and churches as institutions”
(Greenleaf, 1996b, p. 214). To this theme, Greenleaf further explained, using garden
imagery in referring to the human spirit,
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