Religious educators: Promoting servant leadership

Authors

Shane D. Lavery, University of Notre Dame AustraliaFollow

Publication Details

Lavery, S. D. (2009). Religious educators: Promoting servant leadership. Religious Education Journal of Australia, 25 (1), 31-36.

Abstract

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it proposes that servant leadership is a suitable model of leadership for religious educators. Second, it suggests reasons why religious educators should exercise servant leadership.

The paper briefly considers the history of leadership development, per se. The concept of servant leadership is then explored with particular reference to four Gospel texts: Mk 10:42-45, Mt 23:8-12, Lk 22:24-27; and Jn 13:12-17. Three reasons are then presented as to why religious educators should choose to exercise and model servant leadership for their students. These are: servant leadership is the way Jesus exercised leadership; servant leadership provides religious educators with an excellent set of principles and values to structure and extend their teaching style; and, servant leadership is an appropriate form of leadership to develop in young people.

Keywords

Peer-reviewed, Religious educators, leadership, servant leadership, Gospel tradition, Catholic schools, service