I Am A Follower by Leonard Sweet turned my leadership thoughts upside down (or is that right-side up?). I would strongly encourage you to read this book, especially if you are in church “leadership.”
It wasn’t easy to do, but here are 15 great quotes from I Am A Follower —
“The Greek noun perichoresis was the early church’s favorite word to describe the interrelationship of the holy Trinity. When the prefix peri (around) is linked with the root of the verb choreuein (to dance), a compelling metaphor is formed or ‘choreographed’ to describe the ‘one nature in three Persons’ of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Literally they ‘dance around.’ The choreia or dance of God is the choreography of the cosmos, the interrelationship of Creator, creation, and life itself, the holy creativity of the All in All.”
“Following is the most underrated form of leadership in existence.”
“The cry for leadership is deafening amid our social disintegration, our moral disorientation. We have come to believe that we have a leadership crisis while all along we have been in a drought of discipleship. The Jesus paradox is that only Christians lead by following.”
“The church has become what [Dwight] Eisenhower predicted: a place where everyone is trying to get everyone else to do what they want done but don’t want to do themselves.”
“Leadership is a function. Followership is an identity. … Leadership is a functional position of power and authority. Followership is a relational posture of love and trust. … Being a follower is less about showing how much you know than showing humble gratitude for how much there is to be known.”
“Have we made Christianity more a moment of decision than a momentum for life? Both are important, but have we spent more time on how you become a Christian than on what it means to live as a Christian? Both are important, but have we made holiness more about a destination than a direction?”
“But to think we can capture and tame Truth is a delusional trap. In fact, the desire for command and control above our desire to please God dams up the rivers of Living Water.”
“Christ does not ask of His followers great success or great fame or great distinction. Christ expects of His followers what He expected of Himself: simply ‘to do the will of Him Who sent Me.’”
“Never in the history of humanity has knowledge been more accessible and of such quality. But when our thirst for information, expertise, and control begins to outrun our thirst for Christ, we can easily trade the waters of the Spirit for a soda-pop substitute. When we place our faith in fillers instead of allowing the Spirit to fill us, we end up selling out not only Christ but ourselves.”
“Leadership culture is strength based. Followership culture is weakness based. …We bless others naturally through our strengths. But we bless others supernaturally through our weaknesses.”
“The disciples were instructed to feed the sheep, not lead them. Christ will lead them. Jesus is the Shepherd. We are the sheep. All of us.”
“Near the end of John’s gospel we find Jesus’ poignant words: ‘As You have sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.’ Did you catch that sneaky as? Jesus’ commissioning of His disciples was simply an echo of His own commissioning.”
“The relationship between leader and follower is this: leaders are over, followers are among. We are all Jesus followers.”
“The leadership paradigm creates folk heroes. Followership creates heroes who are folk.”
“Jesus told His disciples that the sheep always know the Master’s voice. To follow Jesus is not to demand road signs but to respond to the Voice of the Spirit along the way.”
Oswald Chambers challenges my thinking about the Christian walk like few other authors can. His insights are always so profound, and yet at the same time awaken me to the realization that I am the one who makes the Christian walk something complex. In Conformed To His Image, I was yet again challenged to simply follow Jesus.
Craig T. Owens 