Follow to Lead, Lead to Follow

Photo by Pearl

Leadership is big business in our country. An estimated $87 billion is spent every year on leadership development. Individuals consume countless hours of podcasts, blogs, and books detailing ways to become more effective leaders. In school, we were taught life skills and given leadership opportunities to develop beyond the academic curriculum. In our military careers, leadership was idealized and lectured ad nauseam. In business, everyone seems to be charting paths into executive leadership and has myriad opinions about which new methods and theories work best. Even in the church, we often hear an emphasis on the need to raise up the next generation of leaders. 

In many ways, the growth of the leadership-development industrial complex has done much good in our world. From businesses to churches to every level of our institutions, leadership is talked about and sought after. Its inclusion in all these facets of our lives has been vital to our own development. It’s just that we’ve seen all too often how this system hasn’t produced the kind of leadership most needed in our world. The world around us is in desperate need of good, healthy, and effective leadership. And there is a real sense in many of the places we inhabit that our leaders are just not measuring up. 

One problem is, perhaps, we, the people (in the broadest sense). Leaders are held to impossibly high and often arbitrary standards resulting in a predictable pattern. First, the leader is often idolized and worshipped. Next, the very real pressures of leadership crack the façade, resulting in burnout, an overt moral failure, or both. Finally (and sadly), the now-broken and exhausted leader is villainized and discarded before new grist is thrown into the mill.

So, how do we cultivate healthy, effective leadership in our own lives, let alone in our world?

To get at that question, we first have to make an important distinction. There are two senses in play when we talk about leadership. There is the first, broadest, and most general sense in which every person is a leader. Human beings were made to exercise "dominion" and "to rule" (in the words of Genesis 1:26-28). This notion is the central leadership function, intrinsic to what it means to be human. Even if the dominion we exercise is very limited in scope (say a baby using her voice to get what she wants), it is dominion nonetheless. And let's be honest, babies prove that you don't need hours of podcasts to lead others into doing things…for better or worse.

But there is a second sense in which we use the term leadership that is more specific. There are those of us who are uniquely called, equipped, and gifted to be in positions of leadership in churches, businesses, and other organizations. In this sense, we often miss how a Kingdom-centered approach is not only the most ethical, but also the most effective form of leadership that exists.

Our core premise is this: in order to lead, we must know how to follow. Too often, we are so focused on “leadership” that we bypass Jesus’ most fundamental invitation, “Follow me.” This simple call seems at odds with the images of “leaders” and “followers” all around us. On the one hand, we expect our “leaders” to be near perfect, wielding their 10-year strategic plans with perfect hair, teeth, and an aura of invincibility. On the other hand, most of us are relegated to the role of “follower,” destined to schlep aimlessly with the nameless crowd, entrusting more of our lives into the hands of those appointed over us (not to mention the faceless technological powers we assume will make life work best). Either perspective is disconnected from the reality of how God made human beings: those who follow to lead and lead to follow.

So why do we say follow to lead and lead to follow? If I’m a leader, why should I surrender my perception of control and follow? If I’m a follower, how am I qualified to step out and lead? 

At its root, this notion is a key implication of Jesus’ statement regarding the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). We are created above all for relationship with God through Christ giving us necessary traits for effective and healthy leadership: it gives us our true identity from which to lead (Isaiah 43:1); it gives us the word and the spirit to know truth (John 14:6, 1 Corinthians 2:10-12); it teaches us to discern and align with God’s will (Romans 12:2); and it gives us the specific call to leadership and proper authority in our lives (Colossians 2:9-10). 

Contrary to common models of leadership, following to lead isn't about going up the mountain for our vision, purpose, and authority and then coming back down into our daily mission in whatever way seems best to us. As Jesus tells his disciples, 

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:25–28, NIV).

Through abiding relationship with Christ, we are given a mission with responsibilities that require our leadership. However, that leadership is not like the world. We do not lord over others to serve our own interests. Nor do we abdicate our role and authority. Instead, we lead by following Christ. We follow because this is what the ultimate leader modeled for us: “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of a cross” (Philippians 2:8). We follow because all authority belongs to Christ and He is the head over every ruler (Colossians 2:9). We follow because we then discover what healthy leadership looks like, enabling us better to serve those under our charge. And when we serve others through our leadership, we facilitate their ability to fulfill their roles in support of our common mission.

At a very personal level, this revelation was revolutionary to my leadership philosophy. From my time being formed as a leader in High School to my years in the Army, I subscribed to a paradigm that required excellence from me as a leader. This perspective was so deeply rooted in my heart and mind that when I stepped into church leadership, I preached a message about relying on God's leading but lived a leadership style relying mostly on myself. In part due to my neurotic personality, I believed that if I weren't perfect (or as close to it as I could get) then my failures as a leader were…well…my failures. That is to say, I took responsibility for every mistake, every slip-up, and every missed objective. If our church didn't grow or the music was sluggish or the attendance was down one Sunday, I figured I was the problem. Or, at the very least, I was responsible for finding the solution. Maybe there was a book, podcast, or conference out there to help. Maybe there was some technique, tactic, or model that I hadn't yet tried. I buried myself under the crushing burden of trying to be a good leader. The problem with that was that I never could try hard enough to be good enough. 

(There’s an important sidenote here too: this posture of leadership responsibility may seem noble. While it’s true that many of us do need to take responsibility, there is a real sense in which one cannot take responsibility for the failures without also taking responsibility for the successes. My self-imposed burden is just a churched-up version of that grand old sin—pride.)

Then one day, I realized something had shifted. There was no blinding light, no parting of the heavens, just a simple recognition that these words of Jesus had bearing for my leadership as well as my discipleship: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30, ESV).

Better still, I realized my leadership was an integral part of my discipleship. In order to lead well, I actually just needed to follow well. As Dallas Willard said, “The main thing that you bring the church is the person that you become, and that’s what everybody will see; that’s what will get reproduced; that’s what people will believe. Arrange your life so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy and confidence in your everyday life with God.” 

To become an effective and fruit-bearing leader, we must learn how to follow. This "following" is not a one-off seminar or decision at the beginning of our journey from which we later graduate. It is a daily decision to submit our wills and our lives to the King and allow our leadership to flow from our following of Him. 

But this isn’t just good theology; this is good practice in any environment. When we orient toward something higher—God and his Kingdom being the highest conceptual cause—we’re able to help people step outside themselves in service to something greater. Following forms us, developing the character and capability needed for the mission. In order to achieve any vision and find fruit in any mission, leaders must be capable of inspiring others in this joint venture, unleashing them to their fullest potential with the gifts God has given them. So, we say: follow first, follow always, and follow your leaders as they follow Christ.

Stephen Hopkins is a church planter and leadership coach in Kingsport, TN.

Mike Van Sickle is a bi-vocational Teaching Pastor in Neenah, WI.