Good and Faithful Servant

Biblical Foundations for Servant Leadership

A voluntary servant, who submits themselves to a higher purpose, which is beyond their personal interests or the interests of others.

A leader who uses the power that is entrusted to them to serve others.

A servant who, out of love, serves others needs before their own.

A teacher who teaches their followers, in word and deed, how to become servant leaders themselves.

A servant leader is...

• Christ-centered
• Committed to others
• Courageous
• Consistently developing others
• Continually inviting feedback

Investing Your Talents

But the devil, having overthrown the man by getting him to hope for false glory, never rests from luring human beings by the same enticements and devising innumerable schemes for this purpose [...] it is also being selected for positions of distinction that causes people to exalt themselves beyond what is natural.

—St. Basil the Great

God Works the Wonders

"We are not saved by our gifts and talents. We are saved through our weakness, our brokenness, through our shame and our sin. The gospel is not that Christ united Himself with our wonderfulness:

'For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2Co 5:21)'"
Fr. Stephen Freeman

"We attend to Christ in our hearts. Christ in our hearts: this is the gift of Grace. From there, from the heart full of Grace, all sorts of various ministries and works will be manifest. But the works, even the works that we are naturally good at, are not the ‘talent.’ The talent is the Grace. It is the Grace that we must increase as we 'work with it,' as we attend to it, as we cooperate with it, as we co-labour with God."
Fr. Michael Gillis

“If you draw near to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation. Set your heart right and be steadfast, and do not strive anxiously in distress. Cleave to Him and do not fall away, that you may be honored at the end of your life. Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in exchange for your humiliation, be patient; because gold is tested in fire and acceptable men in the furnace of abasement.” - Sirach 2:1-5