Leadership or Servanthood?, Hwa Yung. Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2021.

Summary: Contends that, contrary to our focus on developing or training leaders, Jesus was concerned with the formation of servants.

Almost everywhere you turn in Christian circles, (including the organization in which I work) you come across discussions of the urgency of developing leaders and various efforts to “train” leaders. Years ago I heard a lead pastor of a large megachurch speak of how people love being lead well. This pastor later was forced to step down from his position for moral irregularities. And this is a story we hear with nauseating regularity.

The author of this work challenges this focus on leadership. He notes the sparing use of the term in scripture (often negatively) and how the words used for those in roles of oversight largely were terms that might be translated “servant” or “slave,” often translated as “minister.” It is not that there were not people serving in leadership capacities, but that they understood their work in the light of Christ as servant.

The author contends that this is not “servant leadership,”: as has been popularized, because this still centers leadership. He would contend, rather for “leader servants” He notes the work of Jim Collins in Good to Great describing the Level 5 leader as a good description of the kind of leader servant of which he is speaking. In contrast, Christian leaders are often self-promoting, even while they lack spiritual and theological depth.

Yung discusses the matter of authority, differentiating moral, institutional, and spiritual authority. The latter comes, in the case of Jesus, out of his entire submission to the Father. Yung then develops the biblical case for submission as the basis of spiritual authority for leading servants, and how crucial this is for ministry with true spiritual power. This submission includes submission to scripture, to God’s voice in conscience, prayer, conviction, and prophetic word, as well as submission to those placed over us.

The joy of submission is to be utterly secure in the love of the Father. Yung spends a couple chapters on this. He highlights the protection and provision of those who call God “Abba, Father”: we may pray freely, boldly, and simply, we need not be anxious, we are heirs of the kingdom, and needn’t fear anything. This security also means we may uncover our deepest wounds, and experience over time the healing of our memories.

This security leads to an unself-consciousness that allows the leader to serve with humility: doing the lowly but needful things, appreciating the contributions of others, while being self-effacing. Other qualities that characterize humble leaders are compassion, faithfulness, and sacrifice. All of this arises through a process of transformation as we move from self-sufficiency to submission as God breaks and remakes us.

In the conclusion of the work, Yung asks if all are leaders, as servants. He allows for the distinctiveness of gifts, that some may serve as organizers or administrators. Not all have these gifts but all may aim for serving. Above all, in submission to Christ, all should seek to serve in his authority, enabling us to be effective wherever we are called.

This book comes as a breath of fresh air, challenging Western leadership models that have so often been patterned after worldly values. As a Malaysian, he comes as a voice from outside, raising important questions of how we read fleshy leadership into scripture rather than following the pattern of Jesus the submissive servant who comes with spiritual authority. He challenges us to the harder work of character transformation rather than picking up a few leadership skills.

There has been a great exodus from ministry, indeed from Western churches, in recent years. Perhaps with the need to raise up a new generation of servant-shepherds, it is time to re-think how they are first recognized and then prepared. Do we call those who have proven themselves in humble service to God’s people? Do we look for those whose lives are already marked by the spiritual authority of submission to the Father? Yung’s book comes at an important inflection point, a time where the old paradigms of leadership have failed.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.