THIS kind of leadership, I believe, is real servant leadership. Our Lord did not just teach it, he practised it in his day to day interactions with the apostles. The episode of the washing of the feet of the disciples, as recorded in John chapter 13, gives us graphic imagery of what the servant leader does. That episode symbolizes the whole essence of biblical leadership. At the end in fact, the Lord says to the disciples (and to us), John 13:12-17 ... Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then) your Lord and Master) have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example) that ye should do as I have done to you .. Verily) verily) I say unto you) The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things) happy are ye if ye do them.

What the Lord appears to be saying is that it is not enough to preach about servant leadership. It is more important to act out the lessons in our daily lives.

Even though people call us “Lord Bishop”, “Your Excellency” and many other such expletives, all of us in leadership positions, must realize that we are not called to lord it over the people. Rather, we are called to be servant-leaders. This is a humbling discovery; and it is most distasteful to the flesh. “What have I worked for all these years if, after becoming Governor, I cannot order people around as I wish?”, we may ask? But our Lord says that the proof of power is not in the deployment of force, but in further inclination to service.

This paradigm shift in the conception of power: relationships must be embraced in all our institutions in Nigeria if we want to truly experience the kind of growth that we are praying for. Those in leadership positions shall need to begin to live, not as lords, but as midwives. We are midwives of the plan of God for the respective institutions or geographical’ entities over which we have found ourselves.

Have you seen midwives at work? Even though they are in charge of the delivery process, they cannot afford an air of arrogance. A good midwife realises that the delivery process requires collaboration, and it is no time to display ego, for precious life is at stake. She I therefore tactfully coaches the woman in labour, until finally, the I bundle of joy arrives. Even though the midwife is master of the process, she must not brag about it. She must bend down and assist the woman in labour, enduring her ‘fart and shit’!

Same for us. It is through us that God seeks to birth the change that the world desperately needs and the progress that society craves for, and we must tactfully coach our followers, making ourselves available to guide and encourage, yet remaining sufficiently inspiring to maintain leadership of the flock.