Servants of the Servant: A Biblical Theology of Leadership

by Don N. Howell Jr.

Leadership is a subject that has gained impressive visibility in the past two decades. The number of books, monographs and articles, as well as seminars, devoted to the development of one's leadership skills has been almost exponential growth. This study is an attempt to forge a full-orbed theology of Christian leadership grounded in the teaching of Scripture. What emerges from tracing the theme of leadership through the biblical record is a servanthood pattern, one that is wholly distinct from prevailing secular models. Our exposition begins with the biblical language of the servant, the term of choice for those great leaders used of God to further his saving purposes in the world. Eleven Old Testament and five New Testament leaders are profiled. The portrait of Jesus Christ focuses on three motifs that governed his training of the twelve for kingdom ministry. The Pauline letters are mined for those convictions that governed Paul's practice of leadership, both of his mission team and of the faith communities that emerged from that mission. The treatment of each leader, from Joseph to Paul, begins with a series of preliminary questions and concludes with a mini-profile that correlates the biblical data with these questions. The final chapter offers a summary profile of the servant leader, one whose character, motives and agenda align with the divine purposes. Though designed as a textbook for upper level college and seminary courses on leadership, the book's readable format is ideal for churches and parachurch organizations in their leadership training programs. The author's prayer is that this work will serve as a catalyst to call God's people back to Scripture and thereby raise up a whole new generation of authentic servant-leaders.

Genres: Leadership, Theology, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Christian

314 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Don N. Howell Jr. has taught New Testament in the Seminary and School of Missions of Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina since 1995. Before that, Don and his wife, Melissa, served fifteen years with OMF International in church planting and theological education in Japan. Howell's earlier book, Servants of the Servant: A Biblical Theology of Leadership (Wipf & Stock, 2003) traces the theme of servant leadership through the biblical record. Dr. Howell has taught in many cross-cultural settings, including East Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, China, and Micronesia.

Reviews

[BJ Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a biographical survey of the Bible with a focus on leadership. It opens with two chapters giving a brief overview of leadership concepts in the Old and New Testaments. From there it walks through the lives of eleven major Old Testament characters. For the New Testament, there are three chapters on Jesus, five other biographical sketches of New Testament characters, and then two chapters on Paul. It closes out with a concluding chapter on the profile of a servant leader.

In all the book is really good on content but not on readability. This book is an academic work and doesn't have much appeal to a wider audience. This is a disappointment for me because with all the generic leadership books out there (whether Christian or secular), a solid book on leadership grounded on Biblical principles like this one, is a rare thing.

If nothing else, Howell needs to chill out with his extensive, obsessive use of references. For example, normally if I were to be writing something that comes from a large chunk of Romans chapter one, I would simply use one reference at the end of my thought containing all the verses I am referring to. Like this: (Rom 1:6-13). But Howell will interject (Rom 1:6) a ridiculous number (Rom 1:7) of references (Rom 1:8) within a single paragraph (Rom 1:9) or even a single sentence (Rom 1:10) making it practically impossible (Rom 1:11) to read (Rom 1:12) what he is writing (Rom 1:13). Such obsessive and annoying references are completely unnecessary and it only detracts from the content Howell is trying to convey. And he does this nearly once per page. Sigh.

[Daniel Warne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very solid survey of leaders in Scripture with really insightful questions accompanying each chapter. Very worth the read.

[Brett Ricley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A robust and in-depth overview of major OT and NT leaders as well as a rare examination of Jesus' Kingdom theology leadership. An essential read for anyone in Christian leadership. I personally benefitted from the authors diagnostic reflection questions at the beginning of each chapter and the Profile of a Servant Leader at the end of the book. Profound insights throughout. Highly recommend it!

[Douglas W · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, relatively comprehensive look at leadership through the Bible. A really well-done book. At times it was not very readable - kind of became a slog - but that is the only real reason to take away the fifth star in my rating. I intend to read it again sometime in the future.

[AJ Rankin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a leadership class in seminary. I really enjoyed learning more about biblical leadership through the character studies in this book.

[Holly Anne Smith Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a great anthology but I almost drowned in the details.

[David Hardin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked it. Deep helpful profiles of leaders in scripture.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good survey of biblical leadership profiles.