Follow first, lead second …

There’s a corrupt addiction to “leadership” in the church that’s unhealthy and drives many pastors to focus not on making disciples but on making new leaders.

That’s not what scripture instructs us to do.

Not everyone is a leader, and that’s okay! One young lady was at first hesitant to admit she’s not a leader. Les and Leslie Parrott tell her story in their book, “The Complete Guide to Marriage Mentoring”:

A young woman wanted to go to college but her heart sank when she read the question on the application that asked, “Are you a leader?” Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, “No,” and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: “Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower.”

The Parrott’s use the story to explain:

“There are times for all of us to lead in various roles and ways in our lives, but sometimes we become so focused on leadership that we forget our first responsibility is to be followers of Jesus Christ. The first command that He gave to His disciples was to follow Him, and the same is true for us. There is no way to be a successful, victorious Christian without first walking in the footsteps of Jesus.”

Regardless of all the junk taught about leadership today, here’s something you’ll never hear at all the leadership conferences: The quality of your leadership will never surpass the quality of your followership.

If as much time and resources were spent on focusing on our followership of Christ as are poured into leadership conferences and propaganda, we wouldn’t have to worry about our leadership because it would flow more naturally from our followership.

Want to be a faithful, fruitful leader in God’s kingdom? First focus on your own followership of Christ, then look at your leadership.

Scotty