The Heart of Servant Leadership
CRAIG GROESCHEL
Craig Groeschel leads the church with the largest attendance in America—Life. Church. A few years ago he asked me to speak in Oklahoma City at a gathering of key staff from twenty-six locations. The meeting started with music—and the whole place quickly came alive with the most incredible energy I had ever experienced. I was scheduled to speak next and I could see it was going to be a tough act to follow! I learned that day the extent to which Craig and his wonderful organization live and lead with compassion—which, as he contends in this essay, is the heart of servant leadership. —KB
RECENTLY I WAS driving home, running late for dinner, trying to make up some time on the back roads. I’d gotten to a stretch where there’s literally nothing but a bunch of cows in a field and an occasional farmhouse or barn. (I live in Oklahoma, in case you were wondering.) I was in a big hurry, cruising along a familiar route, when I came to a stop sign and saw an unexpected sight. Right there, in the middle of nowhere, a woman was just standing beside the road.
I immediately thought, “I need to help her—she must’ve had car trouble and gotten stranded.” But almost as soon as that thought came, it triggered a mini debate in my mind. Maybe you should help her, Craig, but you’re in a hurry. You’re already going to be late for dinner, and your family’s waiting for you. Besides, she doesn’t look upset. She’s probably there for a reason. Maybe she’s just out for a walk. Maybe someone’s meeting her there. She’s not trying to flag you down or anything.
Even with all of these justifications, I really felt I needed to help her.
I wrestled back and forth in this conversation with myself—for maybe a few seconds—then proceeded to drive right by without stopping. To this day, I still wonder what was going on with that lady. But even more than that, I wonder what was going on with me. I knew I should have helped her, but I just kept on driving. I still can’t shake the failure I feel in my heart for not stopping.
Every time I remember that late afternoon, that missed opportunity, it reminds me of something at the heart of Jesus’s ministry and at the very core of what servant leadership is all about: Compassion.
What is compassion to the servant leader? Compassion is not just a feeling; it’s an action. It’s allowing the emotion we feel to ignite the fire within to act—and to inspire others to act as well. To meet someone’s need. To offer our help. To set an example for others. To do what Jesus did. To love how Jesus loved. To lead as Jesus led.
The Bible usually uses the Greek word splagchnizomai (splahgkh-NEED-zum-eye) to describe the kind of compassion we see in Jesus’s life. Splagchnizomai means “to have deep sympathy”—literally a yearning in the bowels—to do something for someone else. Not surprisingly, every time we’re told in Scripture that Jesus felt splagchnizomai, His compassion was immediately followed by action.
After the death of John the Baptist, Jesus “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place” (Matt. 14:13), but the crowds followed Him. So what did He do? “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matt. 14:14). In Mark’s account of this same event, Jesus feels compassion “because they were like sheep without a shepherd” so He began teaching them (Mark 6:34). Moved by their need, He immediately began healing and teaching the people.
On another occasion, two blind men sitting beside the road called out to Jesus as He and His disciples were leaving Jericho (Matt. 20:29—33). The crowds following Jesus tried to shush the men. But Jesus was having none of it. Instead, He “had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed Him” (Matt. 20:34). He felt so deeply that He had to act.
True servant leadership means you are called to care—not to just feel sorry for someone or feel sympathy or empathy—but to do something. Why? Because to say you care, and then not act, is to not care at all. True servant leadership cares. And because it cares, it must act.
If we’re honest, even if we want to be models of servant leadership, we’re still prone to choose our own agendas over God’s. Just like my failure to stop for that woman on the side of the road, we get into mental arguments with ourselves where we justify all of our reasons not to act. We make excuses for ourselves when we really have no excuse for not loving others the way Jesus loves us.
Jesus did more than just model compassion in action. In Luke 10, an expert of the law came to Him and asked, “What do I need to do to be saved?” Jesus answered him, “Well, you tell me—what does the law say?” (I’m paraphrasing.) And the guy said, “Well, the law says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. And to love your neighbor as yourself.”
So Jesus said, “You’re right! Now go and do that.”
But the guy wasn’t finished. He had a hidden agenda. According to Scripture (Luke 10:29), “he wanted to justify himself.” So he responded, “Okay, I will, but I’ve got to ask you something else first. If I’m supposed to love my neighbor, I need to know which neighbor we’re talking about. Is it my next-door neighbor, or some random guy I meet on the street, or the woman I know who brings water from the well?” You or I might ask, “Are you talking about the people in the apartment next door? Or the single mom on my team at work? Or the barista who serves me my latte at Starbucks? That neighbor?”
Instead of answering him directly, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. (Chris Hodges shares this passage—Luke 10:30—37—in full in chapter 14.) It’s about a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho who was attacked by robbers.
In short, the Samaritan took action to help the man when others didn’t. Like Jesus, he felt something that compelled him to do something. He knew that compassion often interrupts our schedule. He knew that compassion chooses to act—that it bypasses whatever conversations are rolling around in our heads to justify our lack of activity. He didn’t seem to mind the inconvenience or the expense, but even if he did, he didn’t let it stand in the way of helping someone desperately in need. He knew that compassion—treating others like you would want to be treated—must include action.
I learned from my failure with the woman wandering at the intersection. Anytime that debate starts again in my mind—“You should stop and help.” “No, I don’t have time.” “Blah, blah, blah . . .”—I now replace it with something much simpler: “Shut up! Stop. Get out. Make a difference.”
God will move us with His type of compassion—splagchnizomai—if we will just let Him. If we want to lead like Jesus, we need to serve like Jesus. We need to understand that as followers of Jesus we are called to care. Every one of us can reflect the compassion and care of God. We’re called to care for those in need—no matter who they are, where we are, where we’re headed, or how late it might make us for dinner.
If you want to know the secret to servant leadership, it’s pretty simple: Compassion changes lives.
Craig Groeschel is the founding and senior pastor of Life.Church (www.life.church), known for the innovative use of technology in spreading the Gospel, which includes the free YouVersion Bible App. The church has brick and mortar locations in eight states as well as a burgeoning international partnership ministry of Network Churches. Craig speaks at conferences worldwide and has written several books, including The Christian Atheist, Fight, From This Day Forward, and his most recent release: #Struggles—Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World.