HWA YUNG is bishop emeritus of the Methodist Church in Malaysia. Among his many roles, he has served as a pastor and bishop within the Methodist Church, and as principal of Malaysia Theological Seminary. He has also been involved with various international ministries, including as chair for the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies' council of trustees and a member of the International Board of the Lausanne Movement.
This significant book written by a senior Christian leader from
Asia is urgently important for Christians everywhere but especially
for Western Christians. So much of Western Christianity (and
increasingly also elsewhere too) looks to secular models of
leadership from the worlds of business and the Academy for the
vision of what Christian leadership should be. The effect has been
to encourage self-seeking and ambition in many Christian leaders.
Hwa Yung shows convincingly that that is not what the Bible tells
us to do. Servanthood, the Bible says, is both the path to genuine
leadership and also the way it is exercised. Everywhere today in
Christian circles there are programs on training Christians for
leadership. But the New Testament never talks about how to train
Christian leaders. Rather everywhere, it talks about servanthood as
the fundamental characteristic of genuine Christian leadership. Hwa
Yung is right that great Christian leadership is not attained by
seeking it in itself. Rather it is the fruit of true servanthood
modelled after Jesus Christ. The global church desperately needs to
hear this message. Ronald J. Sider, PhD
Hwa Yung shows from Scriptures that servanthood is the genuine
pathway to spiritual authority, an authority given by the
transforming power of the Holy Spirit. He further argues that real
servanthood is only possible when we live in obedience to Christ
and are completely secure in our identity and personhood as a child
of God in the Father's love. This book is highly word-centered,
supported by many wonderful contemporary stories from different
cultural contexts, and filled with a compassionate spirit
throughout. It has a delightful combination of serious biblical
analysis, critical evaluation of current trends, and pastoral
exhortation on Christian servanthood, rather than leadership. I
found this book deeply moving and pray that God will use it to
bless many.Rev. Dr. Patrick Fung
In recent years the world of Christian publishing has been awash
with books on leadership development, many offering principles and
models gleaned from the business world, often promoting charisma
and celebrity status above character. This book, from a seasoned
leader in the Majority World, including reflections from a lifetime
of experience, cuts right across that emphasis, calling us to
recognize afresh the need to follow the model of Jesus Christ - a
model of servanthood, submission to his Father, with a clear sense
of identity, in our case, as children of God, which is
diametrically opposed to the leadership paradigm taught in many
circles today.Lindsay Brown
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