Follow Jesus鈥� leadership model, Okanya tells seminary grads
Published: May 9, 2024
By Annette Brill Bergstresser
ELKHART, Indiana (Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) 鈥� During Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary鈥檚 (bg真人) April 27 Commencement Service, Nelson Okanya, DIS, urged the Class of 2024 to adopt Jesus鈥� model of 鈥渟erving leadership.鈥�
The commencement speaker addressed an audience of approximately 180 people at the service 鈥� including 15 of the 22 members of the graduating class. The event was held in the Elkhart, Indiana, seminary鈥檚 Chapel of the Sermon on the Mount and was also livestreamed.
Focusing on John 13:3-17 鈥� the story of Jesus washing his disciples鈥� feet and his accompanying conversation with Simon Peter 鈥� Okanya asked, 鈥淗ow does the serving leader lead?鈥�
鈥淭he accusation is that if you鈥檙e a serving leader, you鈥檙e a doormat and people can just walk over you,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 see that in this text, though. We see Jesus doing something very different. He leads while serving Peter; he serves while leading Peter. He does not get out of the [leadership] role.鈥�
In his address, Okanya 鈥� who is from Nairobi, Kenya, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania 鈥� drew from Scripture, biblical scholarship, leadership theory and his personal experiences as a consultant to pastoral, business, civic, military and government leaders in Africa, Asia and the United States. He is President of World Serving Leaders, the nonprofit division of the in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Chair of the , a global network facilitated by Mennonite World Conference.
In exploring how leaders can lead change to benefit their communities, Okanya contrasted leadership motivated by self-interest with leadership that serves others. He noted that during the Passover, when the Jewish people remembered their liberation from slavery, Jesus invited his disciples into an intimate space and did what would have seemed unthinkable: he washed their feet.
鈥淛esus draws his people into a new reality, an alternative narrative that turns leadership upside down,鈥� Okanya said. 鈥淎s I travel around the world, I鈥檝e seen people who get into positions of leadership say, 鈥業t鈥檚 our time to eat.鈥� But no, it鈥檚 your time to serve 鈥� with service that is motivated by love. Jesus loved his own, and knowing his love for the people he served, he laid down his life for them. No self-interest but humble service shaped his practice of leadership.鈥�
Okanya described how underlying assumptions that are present in each culture shape how people perceive and understand their contexts and remember history 鈥� both individually and collectively. These assumptions also influence which leadership frameworks people will accept, he said. To lead change, leaders need to understand the underlying assumptions of the culture in which they鈥檙e serving. In setting the example of washing his disciples鈥� feet, Jesus knew he was challenging cultural practices and assumptions 鈥� reversing the practice of leadership from 鈥渂eing served鈥� to 鈥渟erving,鈥� Okanya noted.
He gave an example of how assumptions and narratives grounded in colonial history 鈥渢hat reject Africa itself鈥� have shaped conflicts and leadership frameworks in African nation-states. He quoted Ugandan priest Emmanuel Katongole, who wrote in The Sacrifice of Africa: A Political Theology for Africa (Eerdmans, 2010) that a new future in Africa 鈥渞equires much more than strategy and skills 鈥� it requires a different story that assumes the sacred value and dignity of Africa and Africans, and is thus able to shape practices and policies, or new forms of politics, that reflect this sacredness and dignity鈥� (21).
This type of new story, one 鈥渢hat forms and shapes people鈥檚 memories and how people think and perceive reality,鈥� is what Jesus models in John 13, Okanya said.
鈥淗ow are you going to approach leadership?鈥� he asked the graduates. 鈥淛esus showed us a model. It is a costly model, and we鈥檝e seen leaders who have followed it 鈥� Dr. Martin Luther King, Father Romero in El Salvador. But you鈥檙e not alone. Jesus is with us.鈥�
After the graduates received their degrees and certificates, Rachel Miller Jacobs, DMin, Associate Professor of Congregational Formation, gave a prayer of blessing for the graduating class. She spoke each graduate鈥檚 name, entrusting them to God鈥檚 care.
鈥淏less them so thoroughly that they can never go where your blessing is not, so that when their sense of themselves as leaders feels tentative or uncertain, you will draw them near to the One who rightly claimed the authority you gave,鈥� she prayed, 鈥渁nd when they are tempted by authoritarianism, no matter how subtle, you will draw them near to the One who stooped to serve. Bless and strengthen them for the paradoxical leadership this world so desperately needs.鈥�
Following the service, a reception was held in the bg真人 courtyard and Waltner Hall Lounge for the seminary community, the graduates and their guests.
The 2024 graduating class
Of the 22 graduates honored during the commencement service, four earned a Master of Arts in Christian Formation; six earned a Master of Arts: Theology and Global Anabaptism; one earned a Master of Arts: Theology and Peace Studies; six earned a Master of Divinity; and four earned a Graduate Certificate in Theological Studies. One graduate was the first to earn a Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction; the program began in 2022. Five of the graduates who received the MA: Theology and Global Anabaptism made up the second cohort of Ethiopian students to complete the program entirely from Ethiopia through a partnership between bg真人 and Meserete Kristos Seminary in Bishoftu/Debre Zeit that began in 2019.
The graduating class comprised 13 women and nine men from four countries 鈥� Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania and the United States 鈥� and seven U.S. states. Sixteen of the graduates completed part or all of their seminary studies at a distance.
Nine of the graduates are serving in pastoral ministry roles; five are pursuing or seeking to pursue further graduate studies; four are serving in a church organization or institution; four are serving in mission or evangelism; three are serving in education; two are offering spiritual direction; and two are seeking work in a ministry, education or nonprofit setting. One each is seeking chaplaincy certification; creating resources for worship and faith formation; serving in an Optional Practical Training assignment; working with anti-racism organizing and education; working in farming and land trust management; or working in the medical field.
Eleven of the graduates are affiliated with Mennonite Church USA; six with the Meserete Kristos Church (Ethiopian Mennonite Church); and one each with the Baptist Church, Brethren in Christ U.S., Christian Reformed Church, Evana Network, LMC 鈥� A Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches, Mennonite Brethren Church of Congo, United Church of Christ and a nondenominational church. (Some graduates are connected with multiple denominations.)
Anabaptist-Mennonite colleges and universities with graduates in bg真人鈥檚 Class of 2024 include Bluffton (Ohio) University; Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Goshen (Indiana) College; Hesston (Kansas) College; Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas; and Meserete Kristos Seminary in Bishoftu/Debre Zeit, Ethiopia.
A recording of the Commencement Service is available at ambs.edu/graduation.
Located in Elkhart, Indiana, on ancestral land of the Potawatomi and Miami peoples, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary is a learning community with an Anabaptist vision, offering theological education for learners both on campus and at a distance as well as a wide array of lifelong learning programs 鈥� all with the goal of educating followers of Jesus Christ to be leaders for God鈥檚 reconciling mission in the world. ambs.edu
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