Slacker manager offrered a link to one such today*. Never, Ever Forget That You Are A Servant is an article from Business 2.0's My Golden Rule series.
Because of my impending career change, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I liked about ministry and what frustrated me. One of the main frustrations was a common violation of this very principle of servanthood.
Ministers are servants. Whether you're ordained (perhaps, especially if you're ordained) or not. Whether your ministry happens in a church or not. If you are in ministry you are a servant. If you are doing anything but serving the people in your congregation, you are failing at ministry. This applies as a general rule as well as to specific tasks. A good question to ask when seeking to address a ministry project or initiative is: am I serving my congregation (you can substitute another word if your minstry context is something other than a church) or the appropriate part of the congregation by doing this task or project in this way?
It may seem obvious. It does to me, in both business and church applications. So why is servanthood such a rare thing?
Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn't the shepherds feed their flock? You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fatlings, but you do not tend the flock.
*yesterday he suggested ignoring the donuts, also a good idea but very dangerous. I was scared to post it).
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