Serving Bread

I had a conversation with a colleague recently about the difference between leading people and advocating for people. As one who works in a cross-cultural ministry, I am constantly trying to figure out how to lead effectively within this context. I am aware that the call of the missionary is to invest the energy to serve and to build trust to equip people to hear and obey God.

Within a cross-cultural ministry like mine, advocating for people is important. In fact, ministry in general invites us into some levels of advocacy. I think of Paul’s ministry which may not have taken off had it not been for Baranabas publicly supporting him and believing that Paul is actually a transformed person who has God’s call on his life. So is advocacy enough to presume authority?

In my student work, I find myself advocating for certain students to step into leadership or advocating for a community that I’ve seen be faithful with a little, believing that they can now be faithful with more. But to be an advocate for someone doesn’t necessarily translate into authority or leadership of that person or community. Because I firmly believe that trust building is the foundation of cross-cultural leadership, advocacy is a step toward that process but not enough in of itself. Just because I’m an advocate does not mean that I have built trust.

I wonder if times we think that people should trust us because we have advocated for them and because our heart breaks for them. Those are important steps to build trust, but fundamentally, trust is earned when trust is earned. In other words, each person is unique and requires a different level and invested time to build trust. To assume that I earn trust because I love, advocate and even that I have laid down life for another would be foolish. Servant leadership requires that I work hard at building trust until that person trusts me.

Advocacy is a good thing but it’s not necessarily a synonym for leadership.