A Post-Colonial Response to Servant Leadership

Reclaiming Diakonia from Greenleaf

Abstract

Given the problematic nature of Robert Greenleaf’s servant leadership model and subsequent issues that arise from applying it to Christian contexts, what might a better model look like? From a decolonial perspective, servant leadership is overly focused on serving the needs of others to the neglect of power dynamics and contextual factors. In contrast, leadership informed by the emerging ecumenical consensus regarding diakonia provides a more holistic model that makes space for empowerment, social justice, and healing. The authors present the contours of a new leadership model rooted in diakonia, in which the orientation toward service to self, community, humanity, and the divine is understood through multiple facets: sage, emissary, companion, steward, and healer. Diakonia thus provides the theological foundation for an indigenously Christian paradigm of missional leadership.