nurturing servant leaders in religious education - Scholarly ...

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The life of Jesus Christ was by far the most important factor that influenced the way directors and volunteer teachers perceived servant leadership. Jesus Christ’s life was held by participants as the number one exemplar of the servant leadership style. When asked what came to mind when the phrase servant leadership was mentioned, four participants indicated that Jesus Christ came to their mind first with the term, I think of Jesus Christ (VT10). I think of the Saviour washing the Apostle’s feet (VT4). Immediately it’s the Saviour (DC). Jesus Christ is someone that comes to mind when we talk about servant leadership (DB). Ensuing interviews and focus groups upheld that participants perceived the life of Jesus Christ as a model of the perfect servant leader with nine volunteer teachers and three directors mentioning Christ by name. The life of Jesus Christ was central to the understanding and explication of servant leadership for participants, and for leadership in general. One participant explained servant leadership this way, without that word servant, you can get into a lot of trouble as to what kind of leader you want to be. But having that word servant before it helps us to stay focused on Christ, and to teach as He teaches, and to make that extra effort for those who are struggling (VT8). Other participant answers about servant leadership association showed an overall vagueness. This was not unexpected. While participants made the association with the life of Jesus Christ, they also felt that the principles of servant leadership were generally applicable with living a good Christian life, everyone can be a servant leader, everybody needs to learn how to serve, everyone needs to learn how to lead because we all are servant leaders. It just depends on to what degree you become a servant leader…if you are to become a good and Christ-like Christian, and to be a valued person who participates in the community, of whatever it is, in our families, or whatever, we always have to learn how to serve, and how to lead. They’re just good attributes of a person, aren’t they? (DA). 61
Family The importance of the family was a trend seen throughout the interview and focus group sessions. The importance of families cannot be overstated in Church doctrine, and the trend in the findings will be detailed further below. Answers showed that the CES was seen as a tool to assist families and further stress their importance. Much of servant leadership understanding stemmed from personal, familial relationships where foundational teaching and learning take place. Families provided clear examples for both directors and volunteer teachers of how and where servant leadership should be practiced, and were frequently drawn upon to help explicate servant leadership understanding. The importance of families in relation to CES servant leadership is shown in the following participant quotations, Every parent, every father and mother is a servant leader. And I think if we can develop these principles, in the home, that being the core training centre for servant leaders…then it’s a responsibility that all of us have…CES is a training resource to help these families, fathers, mothers, individuals, to be, with the added word, true servant leaders (DC). part of the Plan is to have children and that. Motherhood and fatherhood, you know, having children is quite hard, a big responsibility. And so that’s why we have Church. It’s a resource for us to help these parents teach Heavenly Father’s children properly, so that they can also do that to their children in the future. And so, being in the CES, is just, for me, a part of a responsibility (VT8). The husband and wife relationship was also held by all three directors to be a living application of servant leadership characteristics and principles. Directors especially identified in the marital relationship a need, and an end for the type of servant-first mindset called for in servant leadership. Findings upheld the Church doctrine that the family is the fundamental unit of society, and a prime experimental ground for nurturing the human spirit (Intellectual Reserve, 1995). Definitely a husband/wife relationship. Servant leaders like give and take. The marriage relationship, I feel, is probably the most difficult relationship, because there’s very few relationships on earth where you are so intimately involved, totally. And, while it’s the most difficult, it’s the most, the greatest too as well, because you really do learn, and need to learn how to serve and lead (DA). 62
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NURTURING SERVANT LEADERS IN RELIGI
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Table of Contents Table of Contents
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CES and teaching tools.............
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List of Tables Table 1 2004-2005 CE
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vii
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opportunity to finish this degree c
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(seasons), Church Educational Syste
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thesis represents a personal journe
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leadership in which the servant lea
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viewed as a key element in the prod
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Part of the inadequacy of our many
Page 23 and 24: who have planted the good word of G
Page 25 and 26: Chapter V presents the findings of
Page 27 and 28: Early missionaries found success am
Page 29 and 30: together to give them his last coun
Page 31 and 32: established an expanded institute p
Page 33 and 34: of data gathering there were 1758 s
Page 35 and 36: also helps teachers learn how to mi
Page 37 and 38: Chapter III: Literature Review The
Page 39 and 40: Ye know that they which are account
Page 41 and 42: Servant Leadership, now in its sixt
Page 43 and 44: More grounding necessary Issues sur
Page 45 and 46: uilt sufficiently on studies conduc
Page 47 and 48: Exploring paradox Servant leadershi
Page 49 and 50: the actions of a servant-first scho
Page 51 and 52: Unfortunately, with increasing mate
Page 53 and 54: Significance of the study The curre
Page 55 and 56: Chapter IV: Methodology The objecti
Page 57 and 58: context plays an important role in
Page 59 and 60: Chosen participants fell into two g
Page 61 and 62: have at times been divided in analy
Page 63 and 64: Focus groups Focus groups were cond
Page 65 and 66: Data analysis Data for this project
Page 67 and 68: Figure 1 Garden Elements Admirers S
Page 69 and 70: particular selection method was to
Page 71 and 72: Overall, the list shows a trend tow
Page 73: all. By being able to teach it, I
Page 77 and 78: One of my favourite people in one o
Page 79 and 80: highlights one director’s belief
Page 81 and 82: CES and the relationship with self
Page 83 and 84: teach when I was out on the mission
Page 85 and 86: CES and confidence Four volunteer t
Page 87 and 88: CES and integrity When asked what i
Page 89 and 90: share that night she remembered and
Page 91 and 92: While the differences of people wer
Page 93 and 94: cultures to some degree and were ab
Page 95 and 96: of service in the garden from the f
Page 97 and 98: From participant answers, it would
Page 99 and 100: evelation. As members of the Church
Page 101 and 102: whole person. In speaking of the wh
Page 103 and 104: CES was a way in which the purposes
Page 105 and 106: wisdom is portrayed as “antitheti
Page 107 and 108: new opportunities to learn, to enga
Page 109 and 110: Chapter VII: Application of Finding
Page 111 and 112: Participants also indicated that th
Page 113 and 114: the significance of what was said,
Page 115 and 116: Chapter VIII: Conclusions and Recom
Page 117 and 118: Study strengths and weaknesses This
Page 119 and 120: Looking ahead: A personal reflectio
Page 121 and 122: Clark, J. R., Jr. (1992). The chart
Page 123 and 124: Intellectual Reserve. (1994). Teach
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112 Rieser, C. (1995). Claiming ser
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Appendices Appendix A-Structure of
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Appendix C-Participant Information
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Mobile: 021-1822-371 Email: Lesley_
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Zealand context, at least one year
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Appendix E-Director Consent Form Co
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Appendix G- Translated Information
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126 ‘E anga fēfē ha‘aku kau k
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Áho: Approved by the Auckland Univ
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Leadership.” What do you feel are
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