Olivia McCabe

I have been chewing on the importance of Servant Leadership for some time now. As someone who has frequently found myself in leadership positions throughout my life, and who has been a disciple of Jesus Christ since I was thirteen, I have witnessed firsthand the difference between leading with a servant heart and leading with a desire for power, prestige and money. I think it’s really important to say here that no one is immune to the temptations of the latter. Only Jesus himself was without blemish in this area. If we first acknowledge this, it becomes a lot easier to talk about in a way where we’re not pointing the finger at the other, without first looking to ourselves.

Leadership is one of twenty spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament, in particular in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Romans 12:8. It is one gift among many. It isn’t the top gift, it isn’t even the first mentioned, that accolade goes to Administration. Many can lead, but some are particularly called to lead and God enthuses them with the Holy Spirit to carry out this task.

Jesus models servant leadership for us, and this is epitomised in him washing the disciple’s feet in John 13: 1-17. I do believe that the vast majority of people who are called to leadership in the church, enter into that role with a servant heart. It’s what happens next that can cause us to fall into the trap of making it more about us than about God.

As such, it’s as much about the community surrounding the leader as it is about the leader themselves. Is that community putting the leader on a pedestal? Are they showering the leader with praise? Can they do no wrong? Is it permissible to question the leader without fear of being ostracised or punished in some way? The leader needs to stay grounded, but they can’t do this without the help of the people around them.

It’s also very easy to fall into the trap of false-modesty. I have often heard leaders being described as “such a humble guy,” when I knew that the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve struggled with this myself. When showered with praise that I am such a faithful person, doing amazing things for the Kingdom, I give praise to God, but a tiny little bit inside of me is basking in my own glory instead of giving it all to the true author of it all. On more than one occasion I’ve needed to go to my spiritual director and ask to be held accountable for fear that I might become a victim of my own success.

And this leads us to the question of accountability. As well as a grounding, questioning, open and honest community, a leader needs people who can hold them accountable, people who, in turn, have power over that person, who can bring consequences if that person lets their position of leadership go to their head. Those people also need to be servant leaders with others holding them accountable. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. If you put too much power into the hands of one person they then become vulnerable to being manipulated themselves as people around them cajole and vie for a slice of the power pie, and they start to manipulate others in turn, knowing that they can get away with it, that there will be no consequences to their actions.

I believe all of these factors were at play in what went wrong at Soul Survivor. Servant leadership was preached from the front but not always modelled in day the day to day life of the church. Mike Pilavachi was absolutely put on a pedestal, showered with unending praise, and surrounded by sycophantic people who thought he could do no wrong, or who overlooked the wrong he was doing because the good outweighed the bad. This created a culture where it was not permissible to question him without blowback on the questioner. It created a culture in which, despite championing humility and servanthood, submission and self deprecation became weapons to be used to control and manipulate.

What is most galling for me as I unpack all of this and see what it means for me, is that for years I supported that culture and played an active role in it. Matt Redman said that he wished he had walked away earlier, and he couldn’t understand why he kept coming back. Boy, can I relate to that. Despite the fact that I knew, deep down inside, that this was a toxic environment, that it wasn’t safe for me, that this wasn’t who Jesus was, or how he would want his church to operate, I would lick my wounds and return again, and again, and again. Why? I , like Matt, don’t know either. But I can understand how. I think it’s probably similar to the way someone in a situation of domestic violence keeps going back. You feel so immeshed in that world that it is hard to disentangle yourself from it. You have an intense fear that you will be shunned and left all alone in the world. You fear that God will never speak to you in such a powerful, deep and profound way again. Like a moth to the flame…

I come from a long line of pastors. Eight generations of people who have struggled to maintain a servant heart and who have walked this path before me. One in particular, my 3 x great grandfather, planted a number of chapels that flourished into churches over time. He was probably the equivalent of the mega church pastor today. But he had one rule, and that rule was that as soon as you reach a membership of three hundred, it’s time to plant another church. He knew that as soon as you got much bigger than that, the cult of celebrity would start to creep in, the pastor themselves would start to lose touch with their congregation, and the church would begin to be run more like a business than as a worshiping community of believers.

Is it time for God to dismantle the mega church? Are we afraid that this will stop church growth? Are we holding on too tight? Have we surrendered it all to Jesus? These are questions mulling around in my head right now. I’d love to know what you think about it. I’ll leave you with a quote from Matthew 20:26: “Whoever wishes to become great among you will be your servant.” We as a church need to come back to the cross, lay it all at Jesus’ feet and recommit ourselves to doing it all for his glory.