To Serve or Be Served
At MGC New Life Christian Academy, every student is a leader in the making. The school’s vision is to develop learners who not only excel in academics and character, but also become “Christian leaders that will make a difference in the 21st century.” Throughout our 15 years of education, we are constantly reminded to uphold the school’s core values of faith, excellence, character, and leadership. But while some can proudly recite these words from memory, can we truly say that we, as New Lifers, exemplify these values and are being raised to be Christian leaders? A closer look reveals a troubling gap in how students perceive and treat leadership, exposing a culture that has come to accept it as normal.
When one thinks of a student leader, the people who come to mind are usually those in the public purview: Student Government officers, alongside leaders of organizations, such as Coral Reef Fellowship and Whales, and academic and sports varsities. But contrary to common perception, leadership extends beyond these roles, encompassing class officers and students who lead without needing a title to prove it. However, the leaders we hold to a higher standard are not always the ones who exemplify the character needed by such a role. While many New Lifers continue to lead with quiet integrity and faithfulness, there are also instances when student leaders are violators of school rules, from academic dishonesty to pranks to infractions like violations of the gadget policy, tardiness, or wearing an incomplete uniform. Other times, they may be tempted to pursue recognition rather than service. This is evident in the annual list of approved SG candidates, where the graduating batch consistently faces a shortage of candidates for level representative, while higher positions are typically filled. Other organizations face the struggle of finding a qualified student to take over the mantle of leadership, skipping over batches as a result. These patterns point to a deeper issue—that we as students have come to see leadership as a status symbol.
The culture students collectively mold commonly paints leadership as a position of power rather than a responsibility. When it comes to elections, be it for organizations or class positions, New Lifers tend to vote based on popularity or friendship without regard for the candidates’ capabilities. When charisma overtakes competency as the primary qualification for a student leader, capable students who fear judgment may hesitate to step up, in contrast to those who are more “shameless” in seeking recognition. This culpability also falls to the rest of the student body, many of whom disregard the lack of competence in candidates when they perceive a position to be trivial. Meanwhile, those who are qualified to take such roles tend to let it slide because they view leadership as added stress rather than a calling, perceiving certain roles to be undeserving of the effort. Thus, these gaps aren’t necessarily created by a lack of qualified leaders but rather by students’ unwillingness to step into these roles. The mechanism of voting and culture of leadership have paved the way for students to run before they’re truly ready. This results in leaders who perform rather than serve, teaching those watching to do the same.
At the national level, this pattern can also be observed, with many officials branding government initiatives for name recall in the next elections, turning duty into a power play—a symptom of government leaders who serve the people only when it benefits them and then all too eagerly disappear when accountability comes knocking. This manifests in the noticeable lack of consequences for government leaders who flee overseas, are absent during sessions, or lie under oath to evade responsibility—be it due to systemic failures to enforce accountability or to our own leniency as followers. When we tolerate, support, or ignore bad leadership, we normalize apathy toward misconduct and, in doing so, foster a systemic belief that servant leadership is meaningless.
Yet, if we strip away the politics, performance, and titles, leadership is simple. History’s best models of leaders were those who cared for the less fortunate or washed others’ feet without any ulterior motive. They led to serve, earning the role without actively seeking it. They saw accountability as a natural consequence of servant leadership, embracing criticism as an opportunity to serve their followers better. They modeled that true leadership means humility and sacrifice, bending a knee to lift others instead of elevating themselves to be seen. Their lived examples of leadership demonstrate how a heart for genuine service produces results that speak for themselves and earn the respect, devotion, and obedience of the people they lead. Because at the end of the day, leadership is a matter of the heart.
Beyond the grades achieved, leadership positions held, events headed, and resume entries collected in school, the truest measure of our potential as leaders once we step outside the campus is the character we carry with us, shaped by years of values formation in the roles we have been given. It is this character that will determine what difference we make as we forge our own spheres of influence. At the end of the day, New Lifers are not called to redefine leadership according to culture, but to return to the model of Jesus Christ, who declared in Mark 10:45 that He came “not to be served, but to serve.” This is the leadership we are invited to live out, not one that seeks position, applause, or recognition, but one that willingly stoops, sacrifices, and serves even when no one is watching.
Thus, as we welcome the second quarter of the 21st century, the challenge of leadership falls not just to those in authority, but to every class officer, varsity captain, and student who has ever been entrusted with responsibility. To every New Lifer, this is the challenge: lead like Jesus. Lead in the quiet, unseen moments. Lead when it is inconvenient. Lead not because of a title, but because of a transformed heart. The future does not just need more leaders; it needs servant leaders. And the question we must each answer is this: will we rise to lead the way Christ did, or will we settle for the kind of leadership that only serves ourselves? Because ultimately, the question isn’t about who the true leaders are, but about the kind of people we are shaping ourselves to be.
