Dekolonialisasi servant leadership: Karakter, kritik, dan rekonstruksi tata kelola eklesial dalam konteks indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30995/kur.v11i3.1500Keywords:
communal ecclesiology; decolonization; ecclesial governance; Indonesian indigenous wisdom; political theology; servant leadership; dekolonialisasi; ekklesiologi komunal; kearifan lokal Indonesia; tata kelola eklesial; teologi politikAbstract
The "servant leadership" discourse has achieved quasi-dogmatic status in contemporary Christian leadership, yet rarely undergoes critical interrogation of its epistemological assumptions and political implications. This article argues that the uncritical adoption of servant leadership in Indonesian church governance perpetuates colonial patterns through the depoliticization of biblical servanthood, the domestication of service rhetoric that conceals untransformed hierarchical power relations, and the reproduction of Western governance models as universal templates while marginalizing indigenous communal wisdom. Through critical analysis, this study identifies four constitutive characteristics of servant leadership discourse: individualization, moralization, leader-centrism, and ahistoricity. The reconstructive section develops an alternative paradigm of "Participatory-Communal Governance" that integrates early church practices (Acts 2:42-47; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27) with Indonesian indigenous wisdom—gotong royong, tepo seliro, and musyawarah-mufakat—proposing a distributed authority based on charismata, facilitative rotation, and communal deliberation.
Abstrak
Diskursus "servant leadership" telah mencapai status quasi-dogmatis dalam kepemimpinan Kristiani kontemporer, namun jarang mengalami interogasi kritis atas asumsi epistemologis dan implikasi politisnya. Artikel ini mengargumentasikan bahwa adopsi tanpa kritik terhadap servant leadership dalam tata kelola gereja Indonesia melanggengkan pola-pola kolonial melalui depolitisasi servanthood biblika, domestikasi retorika pelayanan yang menyembunyikan relasi kekuasaan hierarkis yang tidak tertransformasi, dan reproduksi model governansi Barat sebagai template universal dengan memarjinalkan kearifan komunal indigenous. Melalui analisis kritis, studi ini mengidentifikasi empat karakter konstitutif diskursus servant leadership: individualisasi, moralisasi, leader-sentrisme, dan ahistorisitas. Bagian rekonstruktif mengembangkan alternatif paradigma "Governansi Partisipatif-Komunal" yang mengintegrasikan praktik gereja mula-mula (Kis 2:42-47; 1 Kor 12:12-27) dengan kearifan indigenous Indonesia—gotong royong, tepo seliro, dan musyawarah-mufakat—mengusulkan distribusi otoritas berbasis charismata, rotasi fasilitatif, dan deliberasi komunal.
References
Augsburger, David W. Conflict Mediation Across Cultures: Pathways and Patterns. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992.
Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000.
Bevans, Stephen B. Models of Contextual Theology. Rev. ed. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2002.
Brueggemann, Walter. Finally Comes the Poet: Daring Speech for Proclamation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.
Burns, James MacGregor. Leadership. New York: Harper & Row, 1978.
Coleman, James S. Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990.
Crouch, Andy. Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008.
Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30th anniversary ed. New York: Continuum, 2000.
Gibbs, Eddie. Leadership Next: Changing Leaders in a Changing Culture. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2005.
Granovetter, Mark S. "The Strength of Weak Ties." American Journal of Sociology 78, no. 6 (1973): 1360-1380.
Greenleaf, Robert K. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. New York: Paulist Press, 1977.
Hoekema, Anthony A. Created in God's Image. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986.
Hofstede, Geert. Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
Kouzes, James M., and Barry Z. Posner. Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It. Rev. ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011.
Kraft, Charles H. Anthropology for Christian Witness. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1996.
Lederach, John Paul. Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies. Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997.
Lederach, John Paul. The Little Book of Conflict Transformation. Intercourse: Good Books, 2003.
Linn, Dennis, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn. Healing Life's Hurts: Healing Memories Through the Five Stages of Forgiveness. New York: Paulist Press, 2006.
Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989.
Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 8th ed. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2019.
Nouwen, Henri J.M. In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. New York: Crossroad, 1989.
Nouwen, Henri J.M. Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. New York: Image Books, 1986.
Nouwen, Henri J.M. The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society. New York: Image Books, 1979.
Putnam, Robert D., and David E. Campbell. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.
Robertson, Roland. Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. London: SAGE Publications, 1992.
Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. 4th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010.
Schreiter, Robert J. Constructing Local Theologies. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1985.
Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Rev. ed. New York: Doubleday, 2006.
Thomas, David C., and Kerr Inkson. Cultural Intelligence: Living and Working Globally. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009.
Ting-Toomey, Stella, and Leeva C. Chung. Understanding Intercultural Communication. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996.
Walker, Brian, and David Salt. Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. Washington: Island Press, 2006.
Yoder, John Howard. The Politics of Jesus: Vicit Agnus Noster. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994.
Yukl, Gary. Leadership in Organizations. 8th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013.
Yunus, Muhammad. Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. New York: PublicAffairs, 2007.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Jonathan Leobisa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
