I’ve watched videos of people wanting to summit Mount Everest. These explorers attempting to summit such an extreme attitude relied on sherpas to carry the weight of the equipment they needed to make these ascents. Sherpas offered advice, prepared the trail, and carried the ladders needed to span openings in the ice. While the explorers hired a team of sherpas to gain the fame of a successful ascent, it could not be done without the aid and experience a sherpa had to offer.
The day of the big-name, summit-standing leader in the Church is waning. The summit has always belonged to the Lord, not to us.
Some of these leaders who have gained significant stature and influence, and who have remained open and pliable in God’s hands, will undergo a personal transformation. They will give up their position to assume a place within the ranks of the spiritual sherpas that helped them make their summit. Some of the most insightful and useful spiritual sherpas in the coming days will be those whom the Spirit has challenged to leave the summit of ministry success to become a sherpa to others. It was a serving attitude that Paul demonstrated to others that kept him safe in each ascent, “For I am the least of all the apostles” (I Corinthians 15:9).
Isn’t that the essence “making disciples of all nations?” The biblical paradigm of leadership is rooted in the servant-leader relationship. The illustration of the Sherpa/ Climber relationship emphasizes the mandate of Matthew 28.