The Power of Servant-Leadership

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The Servant asReligious Leader

INTRODUCTION

Much of the literature on leadership deals with those who head great institutions or who leave a mark on history. Such persons can carry their large roles only because many lead effectively in smaller ways that support them. This essay is as much concerned with those who lead small molecular forces—whether as part of a large movement or as lone individuals—as with those whose names go down in history.

This is written, not as the ultimate treatise on religious leading (I doubt that that will ever be written), but rather to stimulate and contribute to dialogue about the critical issue of religious leading in our times. My perspective is that of a student of organization, not of a scholar or theologian. ...