MLK, Sims: A New Norm of Greatness
“Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”—Martin Luther King Jr., “Drum Major Instinct,” sermon, Atlanta, February 4, 1968.
Martin Luther King gives us the short version of servant ministry, which Bishop Bennett Sims described in his 1997 landmark book, Servanthood, Leadership for the Third Millennium. Our worthiness has nothing to do with our IQ.
Being a servant leader differs entirely from being the smartest, working to become the greatest, needing to control, or needing the admiration of others because of your abilities.
Servant leaders make room for and empower others, work to build up others, not to polish the system or the leader’s self-importance. A servant leader does not see production as the first purpose of any family system, endeavor, church, or business. Human enhancement, not human employment, is the primary aim of organizations led by servant leaders.
Meaning and joy in work come from power with, not power over.
Sims describes collaboration with others as the “meat and potatoes” of human nourishment, while competition is the “salt and pepper.”
Sims believes our society has been living on “spices.”
