Lead or Follow?

What is leadership? Why is it important? Is it more important to be a good leader or a good follower?

These are questions that have come up recently in my mind. This morning, the small group leaders had a very fruitful discussion about how to be an effective small group leader and facilitate an environment where people can grow in their relationship with Christ. Tom Corcoran said one thing I found worth remembering (before I get hate mail, let me rephrase-Tom said more than one thing worth remembering): "Everything rises and falls on leadership."

That's a tall order and may cause some of us to swallow hard. I want that NOT to be true. I don't want my failure as a leader to be a stumbling block for anyone. At the same time, there is truth in this statement, real truth. As Tom also pointed out this morning (see, I told you he said more than one thing worth remembering), God works through leaders. We see it throughout Scripture-Moses, David, Samuel, the apostles, John the Baptist, Mary (yes, I see her as a leader; though we don't have a lot of text about her dealings with other women, she was with them, even at her Son's death, and surely she led by word and example). The picture above shows a statue of the early Church leader Paul, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

Leaders are vital. God selects them for a reason. Where would the Israelites have been without Moses? What Church would even exist without Peter and the apostles? Christ ascended into heaven. Our ultimate Leader left this world for a reason. Though I don't fully understand why He left, we know He did. We know He established leaders in His place and He told them to be leaders-to go out into the world and to baptize people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and to teach them all that He taught to these selected leaders. 

At the same time, I recognize that there is real merit in being a godly follower of the right leadership. I know one very good minister who struggles with being a leader and wonders if there is too much emphasis placed on leadership. Now, I think she might just underestimate her ability as a leader. She's actually a very powerful leader (maybe in a quieter way than others, but that can be more effective than us blowhards talking all the time). 

I guess the answer is that we are supposed to be both. We are supposed to follow Christ and those that are in rightful authority under Him. However, at some point, we have to accept that others are watching us and listening to us. Even if we feel unworthy of leading, eventually we are thrust in to some area of leadership simply by virtue of adulthood, parenthood, or career. 

Will we be good leaders or careless ones? 

Will we be self-serving or Son-serving?