In the early church it was all about following Jesus. Today the church is consumed with leadership training,leadership seminars,leadership books and talking heads talking about leadership. But not one time in the ministry of Jesus did he call his disciples to be great leaders. Not once did he submit a list of 21 leadership traits that qualified them to be his next generation leaders. As a matter of fact most of the disciples would not pass the leadership expectations that we find in the leadership training manuals of today.However, they excelled at following the example of Jesus while he was with them. Jesus never said follow me and I will make you great leaders. Instead, he said follow me and I will make you followers of my Father in heaven. John 13:15
When was the last time you heard a pastor or another religious leader call for more followship training? How many books have you read on being a great follower? Do you know of any followship institutes? Or is there a school of followship at a university near you?
The early church followed Jesus. Where he went they went. How did they know where he was going? They stayed close to him when he was going somewhere. They looked for the signs that marked his presence. Things like miracles,signs,wonders,healings,deliverance,etc. Or more obscure signs like people asking questions about life. Leadership training won’t prepare you to answer those questions. Only being with Jesus prepares you to answer the hard questions of life.
So how do we follow him today? We look where he is demonstrating his love. He is at work every day in everyones life trying to convince them of his love for them and he often asks us to join him in his work. The more we follow him the more accurate we become at pouring out his love to others.
Jesus is the greatest follower ever. He did all that the Father asked him to say and do. He is our example of a perfect follower.He is worthy of us becoming great followers. John 5:19,6:38,7:16,8:28,12:49-50,14:31
(I do think leadership training is important but not at the expense of learning to follow Jesus)
