It is often said that better leaders are needed in our churches, non-profits, and other ministries. This is why the Church is not growing and moving forward as it should.
I get this complaint. It has been around for centuries! As a result, the Church offers education, discipleship, and a whole bevy of options for leadership training. The Church as a whole is trying to address this need.
In addition, I offer that there are too many examples of poor leadership. People who use their power to manipulate and control. People who don't lead to build the Kingdom, but instead lead to promote their own welfare and kingdom. These examples of poor leadership should be rejected and dealt with to bring about repentance and transformation. Thankfully, I believe these examples of poor leadership make up a small minority of instances in the Church. Most folks in leadership are truly interested in seeing the gospel run freely through the local church and into the community.
With that in mind, I offer an observation.
What if our greatest need is not better leaders, but better followers?
It should be obvious that being a good follower does not come natural to most of us. I know it does not come naturally to me! Particularly in the West, we see ourselves as individuals who should be respected because of our inherent importance. For many of us, this means that we really don't like being told or even shown what to do, because we prefer to figure out our own way. We want to be consulted and informed about everything, and we believe we have the final veto power on decisions made by those in leadership.
What does this look like in the church?
The truism that people ultimately vote with their feet and their pocketbooks. Since we have the right to veto any leadership initiative, we do so by pulling back from involvement and giving our financial support. Unfortunately, it also means that many actively try to undermine authentic leadership. This leads to all kinds of issues and problems!
What would better followers look like?
Followers who will let the leaders lead.
Followers who offer perspective, but support the leader's/leadership's decisions.
Followers who pray for God to lead the leaders and for grace to support the leaders.
Followers who pray and ask for God's favor for others, period.
Followers who reject gossip and talking behind the leader's back.
Followers who dig in and do without complaint.
Followers who encourage.
Followers who know the hardship and responsibility of leadership.
Followers who teach others to be good followers.
I believe most churches would do well if somehow we could teach people how to be good followers. Western individualism and human pride have made it difficult to be a good follower.
One last observation, I have never seen a church split because there were no leaders. Competing leadership visions, yes. Poor leadership, definitely. Lack of humility, always. Refusal to be a good follower, yes. Maybe we need "followership training" in today's day and age just as much as we need "leadership training."
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