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When we look at life, we can see that everyone follows. The most powerful CEOs do not act solely as leaders. Everyone in life is either following an ideal or a person. The senior pastor needs to understand that leading the congregation requires the pastor to follow Christ and His teachings.  The CEO needs to understand that he or she is following what he or she counts valuable and worth living for.  This is why it is important for members of a church, as well as, employees in a company to know and understand primarily what the positional leader is following. The reason for this is because the titular leader will lead those who choose to follow toward what the leader is following.  If what the leader is following is money and fame, the followers may simply be the means for the leader to reach these lofty heights. If the pastor is seeking recognition and success, the church members may be the pawns needed to do the work so that the church grows. Both of these scenarios indicate the importance of understanding that we all follow.

In order for a person to become a follower, that person must make a choice. The follower must choose to follow the person in charge. If choice is eliminated then the person following is no longer a legitimate follower but a slave. Coercion and intimidation do not create followers, only subjugates. Followers have a choice whom they follow. In this way it may be said the followers actually determine the leader.

Therefore, whether you are in the position of leader or the position of follower, we all operate according to the condition of a follower. If I discover the leader I have chosen to follow does not follow what I value, then my choice may be to follow another. If I am the leader/pastor, I realize that I am actually following the desires of a person or an ideal that God has placed before me.  My desire is to follow Christ. This is my condition. As a follower of Christ, it is presumptuous for me to think of myself as a leader. My place is to humbly recognize my place as a follower. Then, as a follower, if the Lord providentially gives me responsibility over others, they may call me leader, but in my mind I am a humble follower.

(I am grateful to the work of Dr. Gene Dixon for contributing to this article.)

 

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