So many of us in the church are defeated when it comes to this issue. So many of us have a static view of community and leadership. We allow the church to become an end in itself. But the church exists to serve the whole world.

We often talk about church in terms of what happens on Sunday, and we sometimes let the image of Sunday church control our vision for the broader Church. The Church is all of us, all of the time, bringing the fullness of the Trinity to what we do every day.

Union with Christ is union with the Trinity: you begin to feel like a leader yourself. Triune love makes the other person great. Here, then, is something completely new in human organization. Management specialists would describe it as perfect leadership communicated through perfect delegation. It’s the power of perfect unity in the diversity of perfect specialization.

But Trinitarian servant leadership is much more than a new management theory.

It’s priesthood, conferred on us by Christ. Where does our priesthood come from? It comes from the Trinitarian God we worship. Somehow in Jesus Christ, the secret of our priesthood and the Trinity itself have been made open. We are beginning to understand that the God we worship is the Three in One. God is individual and social and personal and organizational. God is leadership and relationship and service. This is not only good news for us personally. 

This is good news for society, for humanity as a whole, for our groupings—our offices, our corporations, our governments, our philanthropic enterprises, and our churches.

Organizations that are built on this principle have enormous advantages over organizations that function on rebellion and tyranny. We don’t need to spend so much time fighting each other. In fact, we need to relax and let God usher in his Kingdom. He will make a hunger for himself. Repentance can lead to appropriate submission and service. Faith can lead to confidence in the authority God has given us.

Consider Jim. He was CEO of a hospital, but he still served ice cream at the annual ice cream social. During the day, senior staff members scooped gallons and gallons of ice cream for anyone who dropped by—staff, patients, guests, anyone.

The night shift couldn’t leave their stations, so Jim loaded everything onto a cart. He rolled it through three different wings and up ten floors. He was the CEO, but he worked all night so that everyone got a scoop of ice cream.

Jim modeled Trinitarian servant leadership by scooping ice cream, but he didn’t invent Trinitarian servant leadership. God did. Jesus is the incarnation of the Trinity. He showed us how to live when he took on the attitude of a servant, washing his disciples’ feet and submitting to the cross.

If you want people to see Christ through your actions, recognize that you are filled with the Trinity. Be a Trinitarian servant leader.

Editor's Note: This post is an excerpt from Howard Butt's article on servant leadership that appeared in the 2009 Winter issue of Laity Connections. You can read the full article and browse the rest of the issue online to find writing by Mark D. Roberts, a photospread of the Frio Canyon in the fall, and the summer 2010 Laity Lodge schedule.

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Jesus had perfect humility, but he was absolutely bedrock-sure of his leadership. Jesus exhibited both the spirit of a follower and the spirit of a leader. Jesus understood the Trinity—he was the incarnation of it! In Colossians 2:9, Paul says, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”

At Laity Lodge recently, Robert Mulholland connected this idea to Ephesians 3:19, where Paul prays that “you may be filled will all the fullness of God.” Jesus was filled with the whole Trinity, so that we can be filled with the whole Trinity.

Think about what this means for the way we approach leadership. Jesus did not come and die and rise again and pour the spirit of the full Trinity into us for all of it to go Pffffft! in the end.

No, this is everlasting power! When bosses try to make their employees great, a lot of the fear goes out of the workplace. For this reason the Kingdom of God will never be defeated.

The Trinity contains authority, submission . . . and unbreakable flexibility uniting the two.

Jesus was the one person who rightfully had authority and leadership. Yet, he walked among men as one who served. On their last night together, he washed the feet of his followers. The next day, he died on the cross for us all.

For us, it is the power of repentance and faith. Repentance means we say we’ve been wrong. It is an act of submission to God’s will and God’s way. Faith means we believe God is working in us. We can be confident, bold leaders because the Trinity gives us something better than rebellion and tyranny. It shapes us all up to be more like Christ—and more like the Trinity.

The Trinity is three persons in relationship, not one person in relationship with two others. The Trinity exists in relationship. Similarly, we find our identities within relationship. We have no leadership apart from relationships because we have no identity without relationships.

When talking about leadership, it is easy to think we’re talking about other leaders, bigger leaders, more influential leaders. But the challenge is not out there. It’s inside us.

To each of us, our Lord entrusts the same kind of authority he has received. Jesus’ love for his organization is so great that he identifies completely with its members. His leadership is not hoarded; he gives it away. He is not jealous of his prerogatives; he puts the other person in the spotlight.

Editor's Note: This post is an excerpt from Howard Butt's article on servant leadership that appeared in the 2009 Winter issue of Laity Connections. You can read the full article and browse the rest of the issue online to find writing by Mark D. Roberts, a photospread of the Frio Canyon in the fall, and the summer 2010 Laity Lodge schedule.

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During the American Revolution, a man dressed in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small stronghold. Their leader, from astride his horse, shouted instructions.

The man asked the supervisor why he wasn’t helping.

He answered, “Because, sir, I am a corporal!”

The stranger apologized, dismounted, and joined the exhausted soldiers at work. When the job was complete, he turned to the corporal and said, “Corporal, next time you need more men for a job, go to your commander-in-chief, and I will help you again.”

Too late, an arrogant corporal realized: his new workman was the beloved General George Washington. He also understood why Washington inspired devotion. A true leader is first of all a servant.

Instead, we focus on success in our life and leadership. We want to be able to look back on our lives with a sense of accomplishment—and I think that includes a certain sense of spiritual accomplishment as well. We focus on leadership and accomplishments, but we forget about the Trinity that calls us to healthy relationships and service.

As a young Baylor student, I certainly had my dreams of success. My father stood before me, a prime example of business success. But I was experiencing a different kind of success through the youth revival movement at Baylor in those years. People were taking note of me.

When I entered the Grocery Company after college, I struggled to balance my two callings. Part of me wanted to serve my father in the Grocery Company. Part of me wanted to pursue a different path—preaching and leading youth revivals. This internal division began to manifest itself in external conflicts.

I bucked against my father, and I gradually began to be ashamed of the way I treated him. A turning point came in 1969, when I read The Conflict of Generations by Lewis Feuer. That book spoke to me about my relationship with my father, and I realized how I had unconsciously spent a good deal of time resisting my father’s advice and wishes. I began to learn about authority and submission, and I realized how often I had lived in rebellion against both Dad and God.

During the same time, I became aware of a similar situation developing between me and my own children. The very thing I saw in my relationship with Dad, I started seeing in my children and how they responded to me. And they were not unjustified in their rebellion against me. They were not just whistling Dixie. There was a lot in me that needed rebelling against. The very feelings that made me rebellious against Dad made me a tyrant with my children. From these beginnings, the idea of Trinitarian servant leadership slowly began to take shape in my thinking.

I was not supposed to rebel against my father. I was supposed to serve him. I was not supposed to act like a tyrant with my children. I was supposed to serve them.

Gradually, I realized that my relationships with my father and my children were a reflection of my relationship with God. I realized that I needed to trust God to run my life.

Now, I didn’t know what that meant exactly, but I knew that it felt like weakness.

Trinitarian servant leadership may feel weak, but it is not!

Editor's Note: This post is an excerpt from Howard Butt's article on servant leadership that appeared in the 2009 Winter issue of Laity Connections. You can read the full article and browse the rest of the issue online to find writing by Mark D. Roberts, a photospread of the Frio Canyon in the fall, and the summer 2010 Laity Lodge schedule.

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Recently, a commenter here on my blog asked, “What is incarnational evangelism?”

To start, it’s a mouthful. But it is also a phrase with real meaning.

An incarnational faith demonstrates Christ's life in all of our ordinary relationships.  It changes our relationships at work and in the family. It changes every encounter we have with others 24/7. 

Ultimately, this is the role of the church scattered throughout the world Monday through Saturday. We the church become Christ's continuing incarnation.  We are all called to manifest his quality of life wherever we are and whatever we are doing. 

When we believe this, when we live our lives by this, it changes us and the way we interact with others. Because our relationships change, so do the places where we have relationships—our work, our families, our churches, our communities.

I believe incarnational faith is built on relational theology. In the early days of Laity Lodge, relational theology was very controversial in evangelical circles. I remember serving on the board of a prominent evangelical publication when one of the editors confronted me about it. Not without hostility, he said, "Howard, what do you mean this 'relational theology'?" 

As I understand it, relational theology comes from the Trinitarian nature of God, from relationships within the Trinity, relationships of love. God himself is in relationship with himself. That’s what it means to say God is love. He desires transform all our human relationships through his Trinitarian nature.

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Minnie Louise Haskins was born May 12, 1875, to Louisa and Joseph Haskins, a grocer. One evening, while standing at her home’s upstairs balcony window and looking down the illuminated driveway to the gate, Minnie was inspired to write a poem she titled “God Knows.” After awhile, she put it away and forgot about it.

Minnie studied at the London School of Economics, earning degrees in Social Science, Sociology, and Philosophy. She joined the staff of LSE’s Social Science Department in 1920, became a tutor in 1934, retired in 1939, was reappointed and continued teaching until 1944. In the late 1920s, she published some of her poems privately, and a portion of “God Knows” ended up printed on a Christmas card. One card was sent to the Queen of England, who shared it with her husband, King George VI.

George had not expected to be king; his older brother Edward had been groomed for that role his whole life. But Edward gave up the throne, and George was thrust into world politics. Hitler was gobbling up Europe, and Britain stood at the brink of war. When George addressed the British Empire by radio at Christmas 1939, he quoted “God Knows.”

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

When George VI died in 1952, those words were engraved on brass plaques and fixed to the gates of his Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth was also buried there in 2002, and the poem was read at her state funeral.

A grocer’s daughter’s words, spoken in a nation’s darkest hour, were carved on the grave of a king.

Minnie didn’t hear the King’s broadcast and was astounded to learn her poem had been quoted. Afterward, it earned substantial royalties, which she donated to charity. She never married and is thought to have died in Sussex in 1957.

You may be a grocer, a teacher, a poet, or a nation’s leader. Whatever your situation, every day you tread into the unknown. What light will you use? Whose hand will you hold as you go out into the darkness?

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Andrew Carnegie was a fabulous little Scotsman. He started in poverty and built one of the world's greatest business empires. Once, someone asked him what he believed about the future of his businesses.

He said, "You can take from me all my plants. You can take from me all my money. You can take from me all my equipment. But if you leave me my men, I will build it all again." Carnegie's genius was that he knew an organization is not finances or techniques or equipment. It is human resources.

God's method is always a person. When God chose to speak to human history decisively, to get under the load of human weakness and sin, his method was a person, Jesus Christ, God in flesh and blood.

But the principle of incarnation was not just used during the lifetime of Jesus on earth. It is the principle by which the church operates today. The church is the body of Jesus Christ. God works through flesh and blood, men and women who are committed to his cause. This is the reason that the laity is called today to be God's people wherever they are, whatever they are doing.

One of the critics of Abraham Lincoln's administration of the Civil War once said, "Mr. Lincoln you must throw General McClellan overboard." Lincoln asked who he should put in General McClellan's place, and the critic said, "Anybody." Lincoln coolly replied, "Anybody will do for you. But I must have somebody."

Who is going to do the work of Jesus Christ in deed and in word? You might say that anybody can do it. No, my friend, God must have somebody.

And God intends that somebody be you and me.

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The basic need of any enterprise is human resources. Similarly, the first essential for any program or ministry is human resources. As G. Campbell Morgan put it, "God's method is a man." God's message was a man, Jesus Christ, God in flesh and blood.

The incarnation is the unique genius of the Christian revelation. But the principle of incarnation was not abandoned when the earthly ministry of our Lord was concluded. It is the eternal task of the church to reproduce the incarnation, to clothe the spirit of the living God in human flesh. The Holy Spirit must live in the human clay of the Christian's experience and life.

God works through human resources.

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Incarnational evangelism is sometimes called friendship evangelism. That's the phrase Young Life uses. Think about that for a minute.

Jesus said we are . . .

1. the light of the world
2. the salt of the earth
3. the yeast that makes the whole loaf rise
   

All three—light, salt, yeast—work by penetration, by permeation, by their influence spreading out. None of these call attention to themselves—they just silently transform, flavor, and lift their environment.

Think about your daily work. What are you doing to transform, flavor, or lift your workplace?

 

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Yandall Woodfin, a seminary professor friend, introduced me to biblical importance of pursuing beauty. In the New Testament, two different Greek words are used for "good." Agathos means "good" in a plain vanilla sense. Kalos means "beautiful in form or beautifully good, physically or morally good." Kalos beauty comes from harmony and right proportion. Kalos is pleasing, lovely, and admirable.

The King James version of the Bible (on which I was raised) makes no distinction between the two words. Both are translated as plain vanilla "good." But the original Greek of the Gospels uses kalos—emphasizing beauty as inherent in goodness—substantially more often than agathos. Why? I think the Bible teaches us to appreciate beauty. And to practice it.

Consider Matthew 5:16. Jesus says, "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your kalos [your beautiful deeds, my translation] and praise your Father in heaven." In most translations, the passage reads "good deeds," but that misses the writer's original emphasis on deeds that reflect God's beauty and the beauty of God's creation.

If deeds and actions can be beautiful, then beauty must be something more than a type of pleasant feeling. The Scriptures' use of kalos for righteous conduct connects beauty with the source of all righteousness, God himself. Beauty must be seen then as an aspect of God and God's creation. Beauty is the light of God shining from within the created world. The fact that one person sees beauty where another doesn't has to do with people's different capacities, not the nature of beauty itself.

Why does all this matter? Because if we want to be followers of Christ, we need to join Christ in his work. Through his incarnation, public ministry, passion, resurrection, and ascension, Christ initiated a cosmic renewal. His victory over death began the restoration of God's entire creation to a state even better than its original "goodness."

In fact, we are invited to be cocreators with Christ in this work, as part of his living body within the world. That means performing kalos, beautiful deeds . . . from anointing the Savior's feet with expensive perfume to building exquisite church sanctuaries; from shaping a beautiful clay pot at the Cody Center to helping widows, orphans, and prisoners; from constructing excellent architecture to putting together vital organizations; from decorating our homes attractively to creating a harmonious workplace.

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My assistant’s friend sent her this great quote from John White's book Parents in Pain.

Some of us have broken hearts over our children or grandchildren; some of us have furrowed brows; and some of us have come through the worst of the struggle. But I thought all of you would appreciate this encouraging word.

Catherine Marshall in her book Adventures in Prayer mentions that she wrote the precise requests she made for each of her children's futures on a piece of paper the shape of an egg, which she would then leave between the pages of her Bible. There was no magic in the method. The egg shape reminded her that prayers, like eggs, do not always hatch as soon as we lay them. If a sitting hen was to be preoccupied with the appearance of her eggs, unchanged and unchanging day after day, she would be very unhappy. We, in a similar way, tend to be unhappy if, having committed to God the requests which seem to be conformed to his will, we see no change. Prayers must mature before yielding their contents, and our impatience will do nothing to help.

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