At some point western Christian evangelicalism got highjacked by leadership culture. Every sermon, book, and conference became about how to be a better leader. Pastors began to focus much of their attention on leadership development strategies while telling every person in their congregations that they were called to be leaders. All that leadership rhetoric had some unintended consequences.
Constantly telling everyone that they are leaders is one of the fastest ways to make sure that nobody follows. That is a problem because Christianity is based on followership not leadership.
“Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23 NIV)
Jesus did not say, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must elevate themselves lay down their cross and lead me.” A disciple is a follower of Jesus. It is no wonder that the “leadership movement” sparked the “discipleship crisis.” Today’s churches are in a panic about how to disciple people. They treat discipleship like it is some grand mystery that another program, product, or process will solve. The problem is not that discipleship is complicated or difficult to comprehend. The problem is that people have been told to lead instead of follow.
Consider how we pray. Is our time in prayer spent seeking what God wants or telling God what we want? Do we ask God what He wants us to do or just ask Him to bless what we already decided to do? Do we sit at the Master’s feet in quiet meditation or hurriedly throw our demands at Him and end with our magic words “in Jesus’ name I pray?” At the most basic level, this is a lordship issue. Who is in charge? Who is leading? Are we taking the Lord’s name in vain or faithfully submitting to the name above all names?
The incessant rhetoric of “be a leader, be a leader, be a leader” undermines the whole foundation of Christianity. Convincing people that they are leaders when they are not called or equipped to be leaders is cruel. There are people that God calls to lead. He gives these people leadership gifts…spiritual gifts and distinct personality traits. Leaders are not difficult to spot. They are the ones that have people following them.
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV)
There are God-ordained leaders. Their chief job is to follow Jesus so that those who follow them are following Jesus as well.
“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV)
I acknowledge that our culture has generally accepted the notion that everyone is a leader. The argument is made that at some level every person is leading themselves or others. I am not totally convinced of that, but I do know that I am a leader. I am wired for leadership, have spiritual gifts for leadership, and have positions of leadership. My greatest challenge as a leader is to only lead when necessary.
Good leaders enjoy following others. Letting someone else take the reins and lead the way is fantastic. Life explodes with greater beauty when we experience new things in new ways. I like to lead and I love to follow. Following Jesus and others is a blessing. Delegating leadership as the Holy Spirit directs is a joy. When I focus on following, I am free to only lead when necessary.
