Advocating Servant Leadership

It is my personal belief that leadership in the 21st Century should be all about serving. History has often left the impression that leadership is about having power. In fact, a great leader is a person who leads meaningfully with their whole heart, and who puts the people he or she serves first-in fact, a servant leader.

Last month, I had the opportunity to share a message on leadership at the Hong Kong Baptist University. I have done this for several years. The lecture, attended by 80 students from diverse backgrounds, aimed to provide insight and help them to craft their final projects for the course. After hearing my story, my hope is that the students were inspired and motivated to achieve their dreams and visions for the future.

My message focused on the value of servant leadership and what it means to put love at the forefront of your advocacy work. I reminded them that this journey is rarely easy. Being a strong leader entails a great deal of sacrifice and many challenges. However, those moments are often the very occasions that inspire us to build a just and caring society.

I also shared Christian Action’s humanitarian programmes in Hong Kong and Qinghai along with some powerful video testimonies from the people we’ve had the honour to serve over the years. To conclude my lecture, I told the story of my dream for Qinghai, urging the students to find love everywhere-especially in places where people need us most. After all, it’s when we serve in these places that we become more like Jesus.

My prayer is that the students will take my message to heart and find the strength to chase their visions and dreams. I look forward to seeing them grow into faithful servant leaders who will continue to make the world a more just and loving place.