About the Author

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.

Reviews

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