Follow the leader: the myth of church leadership

At present, my wife works as a teacher in a daycare. In true kindergarten fashion, she chooses a line leader whenever she takes the younger children outdoors. Apparently, some are better at this than others. Some walk slowly, ensuring that those behind keep pace, while others run ahead without regard for whomever is following. To the latter, my wife says, “To be a good line leader, you need to make sure you’re being followed.”

I remember another conversation, this with my father. In a much different context, he expressed to me this exact sentiment. The common wisdom here is evident: In order to be a leader, you must have followers.

I agree – sort of.

Obviously, a person that no one follows is not a true leader, regardless of what title or name they go by. But by the same token, measuring leadership solely as a function of an individual’s followers is a complete misplacement of emphasis. Take, for example, Jesus: If we were to judge him on this one criterion, we would likely deem him a very inept leader. After all, by his own admission he came for the dropouts, losers, sinners, failures, and fools of this world – and restoration is at times a painfully slow process.

Furthermore, defining leadership thus engenders undue pressure to conform. In other words, if I’m not a pied piper of the masses, then I must being doing something wrong. Consequently, I will likely settle for a path less demanding and more palatable to the consumer. In short, leadership becomes a popularity contest. Clearly, this isn’t in keeping with biblical leadership.

And what about those who have no followers, per se? What of those pioneering spirits, trailblazers who venture off of the beaten path to discover new and better avenues? Certainly we would label such individuals as innovators, visionaries, and, consequently, leaders. Yet by definition, they did something no one else had done before, without the benefit of multitudes shadowing their every step. More likely, they bore the scorn and disregard of their peers for their unorthodox approach. Sometimes leadership is doing precisely what other people believe is crazy.

Once again, consider the example of Jesus. At times in his ministry he was a cultural icon, pressed all around by the period equivalent of today’s screaming fans and paparazzi. But when the fad wore thin, revealing Jesus’ less-than-glamorous purpose, his popularity plummeted: “At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, ‘Are you going to leave, too?’” (John 6:66-67 NLT).

Later, at the cross – the crux of his earthly ministry – Jesus was largely abandoned. Of the Twelve, John was the only one who remained; he was joined by a handful of Jesus’ female followers. At this crucial moment, the culmination of his earthly ministry, Jesus was practically alone. Does this make him an incompetent leader? Quite the contrary; he was willing to do what was necessary, even if no one came with him. When it comes to true leadership, resolve is a telling characteristic.

One reason we so readily associate “good leadership” with a mass following is ease; numbers offer us a straightforward, quantifiable benchmark of success. This permits us the luxury of simplifying an otherwise complex dynamic. But it goes much deeper than that, stemming from the depths of the human psyche: We want to belong. We want to be part of the in-crowd, part of something sought after. And when our leaders don’t provide that, we crucify them – sometimes literally.

We would be wise to remember what Jesus told his devotees: “The gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it” (Matthew 7:14 NLT, emphasis mine). Let us celebrate the growth of our ministries and welcome those who join us as companions on this journey of faith. Let us labor to fill our pews and chairs and cultivate vibrant, thriving churches. But let us also avoid the pitfall of believing that few and failure are synonymous.