nurturing servant leaders in religious education - Scholarly ...
nurturing servant leaders in religious education - Scholarly ...
nurturing servant leaders in religious education - Scholarly ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
to and flow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to Leo’s, nourish<strong>in</strong>g it and strengthen<strong>in</strong>g it. It seemed that, <strong>in</strong><br />
time. . .only one would rema<strong>in</strong>: Leo. He must grow, I must disappear. (p. 24).<br />
This quote seemed to present a quandary <strong>in</strong> light of Greenleaf’s test of <strong>servant</strong><br />
<strong>leaders</strong>hip. If the test of <strong>servant</strong> <strong>leaders</strong>hip is that those helped grow as persons,<br />
becom<strong>in</strong>g more autonomous, wiser, freer, and healthier, does the narrator’s desire to<br />
“disappear” negate this test? Must those grow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the garden unquestion<strong>in</strong>gly take<br />
upon themselves the <strong>servant</strong> characteristics they see displayed <strong>in</strong> others? Is that the<br />
lesson Greenleaf div<strong>in</strong>ed that caused him to declare “the <strong>servant</strong>-leader is <strong>servant</strong><br />
first—as Leo was portrayed”? (2002, p. 23). Taken <strong>in</strong> light of the present study and<br />
connectedness to the greater themes of love and <strong>nurtur<strong>in</strong>g</strong> of the human spirit, the<br />
narrator’s desire to disappear may be the very key to the presence of Leo’s true<br />
<strong>servant</strong> <strong>leaders</strong>hip. The narrator <strong>in</strong> Hesse’s novel seemed to have made the essential<br />
<strong>servant</strong> leader shift of putt<strong>in</strong>g others before the self here. The only way to help Leo<br />
grow is to serve him with love, to have Leo’s needs put before his own. This <strong>in</strong> no<br />
way <strong>in</strong>dicated the need for bl<strong>in</strong>d or uncreative service, but placed the ego aside <strong>in</strong><br />
light of a higher goal, a quality that makes <strong>servant</strong> <strong>leaders</strong>hip unique (Sendjaya and<br />
Sarros, 2002; Parameshwar, 2005).<br />
Until the transformation of the narrator, Leo’s <strong>servant</strong> <strong>leaders</strong>hip appeared good as it<br />
related to the example he sets to others, but was not proven. Not until the f<strong>in</strong>al change<br />
of m<strong>in</strong>dset did the lesson of <strong>servant</strong> <strong>leaders</strong>hip really seem to be confirmed. Likewise,<br />
the admonitions of Jesus Christ that <strong>leaders</strong> be <strong>servant</strong>s were necessarily founded <strong>in</strong><br />
his example of service, but the evidence of Christ’s true <strong>servant</strong> <strong>leaders</strong>hip may be<br />
found rather <strong>in</strong> the lives of the disciples and others who have consequently taken and<br />
lived the admonition.<br />
29