Empowering Service Leaders

The opportunity to teach and influence university students is a privilege I have been given for some years. Some of these young adults may one day be the leaders in Hong Kong or some other part of the world.

Leadership is too often seen as having power. My view is that servant leadership is the way to go.

Telling the story about how the work of Christian Action began is a powerful way to demonstrate that with God far better leadership can be achieved.

My topic was servant leadership, and the lecture was an open invitation, which meant there were students from a wide variety of backgrounds in attendance. I saw in this group so much potential. It was important for them to hear about the lessons that I have found most important throughout my life and my time at Christian Action.

I told them that servant leadership requires sacrifice. The role of a servant leader is not without challenges, so I encouraged them to see that the challenges are worth it in light of the positive impact on society.

I took time during the message to share clips from CA's programmes, featuring orphans in Qinghai, refugees, and migrant workers. I believe the students were taking it all on board. I urged them to love their neighbours, and that they would gain greater compassion if they imagined themselves in the position of others.

During the Q&A, I was delighted to engage some of the journalism students on the issue of advocacy and how to balance between this and maintaining support. Overall, I felt that the ideas had taken root in their hearts, and for this, I am glad. I believe God will continue to raise up young leaders, as he did with me all those years ago, and as he is now doing with our Back to Serve adoptees. I hope to see the positive results of where these future servant leaders take us.