I’m writing this from Washington, D.C., where thousands of credit union leaders have gathered for the America's Credit Unions Governmental Affairs Conference.
Every morning this week, I’ve also slipped into Mass.
And today’s Gospel stopped me.
Jesus warns the crowd about religious leaders who love the seats of honor. Who enjoy being greeted in the marketplace. Who like the titles. The recognition. The public affirmation.
And then He says something that cuts through time and space:
“The greatest among you must be your servant.”
It’s impossible not to hear that and think about us.
From Basement to Ballroom
The credit union movement was not born in ballrooms.
It began in church basements. In factories. In rural communities. Among immigrants and workers who were shut out of the traditional banking system.
Edward Filene, one of the early architects of our movement, reminded us to “Keep Purpose Constant.”
Purpose.
Not scale.
Not assets.
Not rankings.
Purpose.
And yet, sitting in a city filled with power conversations and policy meetings, I can’t help but notice how dramatically the tone has shifted over the last decade.
We now celebrate “mergers of equals” between billion-dollar institutions that are perfectly healthy on their own.
We use member capital to purchase community banks.
Growth is not inherently wrong.
Scale is not inherently sinful.
But extraction dressed up as progress? That’s something different.
When Success Starts to Look Like Status
The Gospel warns against hypocrisy — saying one thing while living another.
We speak of financial inclusion.
We speak of the underserved.
We speak of cooperative principles.
Yet many new charters struggle for oxygen while established institutions accumulate power.
Communities without access to safe financial services remain bank deserts. And consolidation continues at a pace that should at least give us pause.
The question isn’t whether credit unions can be large.
The question is whether, as we grow, we are still servants.
Are we still willing to do the unglamorous work?
To start new cooperatives instead of simply absorbing old ones?
To deploy capital where it is hardest, not where it is easiest?
To measure success by impact rather than applause?
Servanthood as Strategy
Jesus didn’t say the greatest among you must be the most efficient.
Or the most profitable.
Or the most celebrated.
He said the greatest must be the servant.
For credit unions, servanthood isn’t a sentimental idea. It’s our strategy.
It’s why we exist.
It’s why people pooled their resources in the first place — so that ordinary people could help one another access capital with dignity.
If we abandon that, no amount of lobbying wins or asset growth will save us.
A Conference, A Crossroads
The Governmental Affairs Conference matters. Advocacy matters. Policy matters.
But if we defend a model that slowly forgets its soul, what exactly are we preserving?
Filene’s challenge still stands:
Keep Purpose Constant.
Not convenient.
Not flexible.
Constant.
Maybe the real measure of our movement’s health isn’t how many institutions we merge, but how many new ones we are willing to start.
Maybe greatness for us doesn’t look like a black-tie gala.
Maybe it looks like a folding table in a church basement, helping someone open their very first account.
The Gospel this morning wasn’t about first-century religious leaders.
It was about every generation tempted by status.
Including ours.
If the greatest among us must be servants, then perhaps the future of the credit union movement depends less on how big we become — and more on how humbly we lead.