When you step into leadership, you might imagine grand declarations and divine callings, but the reality is far more grounded. Leadership isn’t about climbing mountains for victorious summit selfies—it’s about standing in a river that’s constantly flowing, changing, and challenging.
This river metaphor echoes Siddhartha’s experience of sitting beside flowing water, listening not just to its sound but to the chorus of voices it carried—joy, sorrow, pain, and love. As a servant leader, you’re called to become that listening post by the river, attuning yourself to the myriad voices of your community.
Jesus modeled this servant leadership repeatedly throughout his ministry. He didn’t seek a throne but took up a towel, washing feet, feeding thousands, healing the sick, and making room for the marginalized. Like geese flying in V-formation, effective leadership involves taking turns at the front, communicating needs, and supporting one another through the demanding work of guiding the community.
At First Plymouth, this rhythm of rotating leadership roles protects against burnout and ensures that no single voice overrides the many.
“Leadership, it turns out, is rarely about glory and almost never about power. It’s about sitting with a thousand voices—the angry ones, the grieving ones, the honking ones, the confused ones, the joyful ones—and hearing wholeness. Not attaching your ego to just one voice.”
This profound understanding transforms how you approach leadership, especially during uncertain times and transitions. You’re not called to know or solve everything, but to show up with humility, hold complexity without being consumed by it, and point toward the sacred even in the mess.
When you embrace this perspective, chaos becomes chorus and brokenness becomes beauty—not because everything is fixed, but because everything is held.
