Ego-centric leaders

I'm out here leading worship at Saddleback church in California, USA. It's fantastic to be a part of the services and see all that God is doing. We caught some time with Pastor Rick Warren; it's inspiring to hear his vision for mission and outreach. It's unbelievable the doors God has opened up for him and the favour and influence he now has. One observation he shared that fascinated me was the worldwide problem of 'ego-centric' leaders: essentially leaders who are power hungry, building empires for themselves whatever the cost on the lives of others. In every sphere of influence, politics, education, economics, the Church - leaders who lead out of selfishness, to take rather than give, end up causing pain and destruction. We've all seen it and sadly many of us have been on the receiving end of it. God is calling us to something different. He is looking for servant not stars. ? If Jesus, the Son of God came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45) then how much more should we see our role as that of servants? It begs the question, how are we as worship leaders serving those around us? Perhaps a key in servant leadership is this aspect of releasing others. In our culture today many want to have any responsibility lifted off their shoulders. We want others to make the decision, to tell us what to do with our lives - we can then get on and live it out. Whenever we place all our hope in man, we will end up disappointed and hurt. God has blessed us with leaders to inspire, encourage, train, equip and mentor – but our ultimate master, leader and King is Jesus. He alone is enough. We see this demonstrated powerfully with the people of Israel in the book of 1 Samuel 8. God’s chosen people, with whom he had made a unique covenant, start moaning and calling out for the prophet Samuel to appoint a king in Israel who will rule and reign over them. They've seen the other nations with dynamic and powerful kings, and now they want theirs. Someone to look to. Someone to take responsibility. They didn’t want to be a people of faith, who learnt to trust and obey. They wanted something instant and obvious. What they didn't realise is that in doing so, they were rejecting God. He had been their King, but now for the people of Israel this wasn’t enough, they wanted an earthly king to lead them. This rejection of God had huge consequences for the Israelites. So what does this mean for us as worship leaders? Firstly we mustn’t make the same mistake and look to others, before we look to the leading of God. We are a people of faith. Secondly we should always be looking to release new leaders. Not just consolidating our own position of leadership but taking risks on investing and equipping young leaders. This takes time and energy, but for the sake of God’s Kingdom is vital. We also need to release people to take responsibility for their own worship. A danger in our consumer culture is that people can attend church with the attitude of ‘what am I going to get out of the service tonight?’ A bit like the people of Israel they turn up saying, ‘we want a king.’ ‘We want someone who will play the songs we like and give us a great time.’ We then exhaust ourselves trying to meet these expectations and demands. Great worship leaders will find ways of gently encouraging a congregation to bring their own offering of worship. To come with a heart that will give. They cultivate congregations that will participate rather than become spectators. This can be done through teaching, through modeling, but perhaps ultimately by acting as servants. When we see our roles as that of serving and releasing others to engage in worship, then we will see God’s people empowered and that is one exciting prospect!