Leadership Redefined to Followership

When Joe Stowell sent me his manuscript on leadership to read for an endorsement, I was not but a few pages in when I realized “this is my kind of book.” Why?

Some of you will know I have balked at the constant discussion of leadership in Christian circles, and I’m not the first to observe that often enough the definitions of leadership are taken from the business world and then those definitions are then used to find biblical examples. This gets things wrong immediately, for the NT example of leadership is Jesus and Jesus “led” by dying and he calls us not to be leaders but to be followers. Stowell’s entire “theory” of leadership in his Redefining Leadership is shaped by this simple idea: the leader is first and foremost a follower of Jesus.

He calls this the “transformational identity.” I agree. Are you willing, he asks, to let Jesus be your Lord? If so and only if so does Jesus’ leadership become a followership that redefines leadership. He makes three points — he’s a preacher through and through:

1. Follower-leaders count it an honor to follow Jesus.
2. Follower-leaders actively pursue Christ.
3. Follower-leaders are found “in the Way” with Jesus.

Stowell contends follower-leaders do not use “positional” but “moral” authority. Outcome based leaders rely on positional authority; character based leaders rely on moral authority.  I once heard a well-known leader say leadership is imposing your will on others. A character based leader does not impose will but reveals what it means to be a follower in his or her own followership-leadership relationship to another. Yes, he says, position matters but it must be used wisely as a follower.

One can discern how one is using one’s position by looking at these three temptations for leaders:

1. Using your power to bless yourself.
2. Using your power to draw attention to yourself.
3. Surrendering your power to the ways of Satan instead of waiting on God.