"Is this English 101?", the student asked. The teacher in the doorway answered, "No, this is Music 101." I was that student, but what can you expect from a college freshman during his first day of classes? Another freshman looked at his registration card and saw that a class of his was in a building labeled AH. He looked at a campus map, found Arnold Hall, and made his way to that building. His entry into the lobby of the dormitory of upperclass women was more than a little embarrassing. (That was in 1959; it may not prove so embarrassing today). How was he to know AH stood for Armstrong Hall and not Arnold Hall, and that one was a classroom building and the other a dormitory for women?

That first day attending class on a college campus is still vivid in my mind. My first class at 8:00 a.m., was Biology, and there were about as many students in that one room as the entire school had here at Gap Mills where I spent the first 12 years in school. At the time I entered college I had no idea that I would spend the next 20 years of my life on college campuses and/or working for a university off campus. One period of less than three years was spent working as a county agricultural extension agent (an extension of a university), and the remaining time I was either working toward degrees or teaching. I had a lot of opportunity to observe formal education. To a lesser degree I have observed training outside college classrooms. I have observed businesses, churches, and various other organizations and agencies. Now after all these years I ask the question, "Where is Servanthood 101?".

That is not likely an often asked question, but is has been heavy on my mind during the past few days. Classes in leadership training are a dime a dozen, but where are classes in servanthood? I have observed over several decades a growing emphasis on leadership and a declining interest in serving. I don't mean "white collar service. Many people such as teachers are of great service to the Lord and to others, but all can not do that type service and leave the " blue collar" jobs unclaimed. We have grown into a society that is so self centered that servanthood is seldom given a thought. There is an endless list of things in schools, churches, little league, scouting groups and others where fund raisers are conducted by youth to raise money for the direct benefit of those young people. Our society also stresses the glory of being quarterback rather than playing on the line. There are always more who want to be the pitcher than those who want to play behind home plate as catcher. There seem to be more who want to be cheerleader than those who want to cheer.

The church above all institutions should set our standards in society. However, there seems to be more who want to preach a "sermon on the mount" than those who want to "wash feet". When was the last time you heard about a church seminar designed to teach and demonstrate humility and servanthood for the Christian who wants to serve God? Jesus said, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave." (Matt 20:26-27, NIV). While many Christians are well aware of the emphasis Jesus Christ put upon servanthood, our living testimony in American culture does not represent this very well. I know of many individuals who do an excellent job of serving others, but seldom do I see corporate emphasis on servanthood.

I don't see church congregations training people for servanthood. Most, whether they are aware or not are teaching "self-servanthood". What is taught by example has much more lasting and profound influence on our lives. I give here an example from an organization for which I have great admiration and respect, yet they are I believe, operating in some error that typifies what I have seen so often in organizations that work with our youth.

One of the greatest blessings of our family comes from the Christian school were Mark has attended for the past three years. The school does such an outstanding job in so many ways that I hesitate to use them to make my point. Much like other Christian schools, teachers give sacrificially to work for a low salary, the sponsoring church contributes much to fulfill the vision they have to help us (parents) teach our children and raise them using Christian principles. To help meet the expense of training, the school involves the students and parents in many fund raising activities. It is good that students and parents become involved in raising money for the school....but the danger lies in the fact that the child is always raising funds for his school. Thirteen years (K-12) of raising funds for my school may cause me to arrive into adulthood with an attitude that I must take care of all that attaches itself directly to me, but not necessarily be overly concerned about others.

The church has failed to se the standard in teaching servanthood to our children. Each year as Thanksgiving and Christmas come around we talk about bringing food to give to needy families. We have special dinners to serve some needy and we go to nursing homes and sing Christmas Carols. What happens from January 1 to November 15 the next year??? Have our acts of servanthood and generosity been mere tokens that are in tune with the season? Most of the fund raising that I have seen in churches by our youth is used to send them off to some recreation spot with the roller coasters, water slides, etc. Sometimes this is followed by praise we give them because they raised the money to spend on themselves.

When I was in Nicaragua in February with nine other men to build fence for the Verbo Church farm our group at one point was pulled off to the side and given a mini-lecture by one of the missionaries there. We were told that the natives of that country were servant oriented and that we would bring blessing to them if we allowed them to express that servanthood. Our group of men had been slow at letting the people there do things for us. I remember another experience in Nicaragua where a Bible study group took an entire day to go visit a widow. While spending the day they cleaned her house, did some minor repairs around the house and just generally acted as her servants for the day while enjoying the fellowship. In that same church teen aged girls cleaned the church building every week and boys cut the grass around the church building. Immediately following church service the teen girls served everyone a glass of juice. In our culture we would probably sell the juice and head for the next roller coaster.

As I was thinking of how little we actually do to train our children to focus on the needs of others and involved them in some of the "blue collar" works of service or raise funds to give to others, my mind kept recalling an account in Genesis. "As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other ‘Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves..." (Gen 11:2-4), emphasis added). Have we taken our children to "a plain in Shinar and settled there"?

Servanthood classes may not be listed in a college schedule or in your church bulletin because they would likely be uninviting for most people. However, it may well be that we need to spend more time with our Counselor, the Holy Spirit to seek ways to involve young people in projects that have the expressed purpose of serving others, especially serving those who are in no position to return the favor. The example we adults live before our youth, good or bad, will likely be the one they most readily copy.

Dennis Rowan - Psalm 23 Camp - Gap Mills, WV - April 1992