Imitate or Follow?

One of the most arresting discoveries God has led me into over these past few years is the lack of conversation in the New Testament about leadership. With all the emphasis in the western church on leadership, one would expect to find discussions about leadership on every page of the New Testament. But that is simply not the case. Apart from Jesus' defining leadership as slavery (not just serving), there is very little mention of "leaders" in the New Testament. (Leadership is simply one gift among others mentioned in Romans 12). In fact, as far as I know, Jesus alone specifically invited people to follow Him, and it appears that the early believers (healthy ones at least) did not think of themselves of followers of anyone except Jesus (the immature and carnal believers in Corinth being the glaring exception).

I could suggest many reasons why the NT doesn't emphasize leadership, but others have done a better job of that than I could ever do (check out Wayne Jacobsen's stuff at www.lifestream.org). I will say, though, that I strongly believe that the main problem with emphasizing leaders/leadership is that it subtly pulls people away from dependence upon the only One whom we are to follow. Anything that creates dependence upon me rather than Jesus is working contrary to the purposes of God and your needing to follow me creates that kind of dependence. (Yes, I know that many will disagree with me on this, but it's an uphill battle to win that argument.)

On the other hand, there is an emphasis in the New Testament upon living a life that is to be "imitated." Not only does the Apostle Paul plainly say this in 1 Corinthians 11:1 "Imitate me as I imitate Christ," his writings are filled with references to his life as an example ("You know how ... and check out 1 Corinthians 4:16-17!).

I think you can see how following my example or allowing the impact of how I live my life in Jesus to shape you is very different from "following me as a leader." The first is an invitation into my life that allows you to see life in Jesus lived out with an authenticity that doesn't create dependence upon me but does create hope in you that this Jesus life is possible. But the second, "follow me," creates dependence upon me, diminishing your felt need to hear God for yourself, and it also allows for pretense because I can lead folks to a lot of places without allowing them into my life!

This brings me to the questions I like to ask those who are called "leaders." First, if someone were to live with you 24/7, having access even to your thought life, would they want to be like you? Second, if not, why not, given the emphasis upon modeling in the New Testament? Note that saying "yes" to the first question doesn't imply the need for perfection, just authenticity and a genuine conformity of one's life to the leadership of Jesus by His Spirit. Neither does it imply superiority or better anything, just the fact that one has been living the life of dependence upon Jesus in a way that can be seen. Neither do I mean anything that smacks of self-effort. Review my first few entries on "Be Like Jesus" in the blog (2007) to catch my heart in how we become people others can imitate (and/or read books like Grace Walk or True Faced, etc.)

May God deliver us from "leaders" and grant us instead servants (slaves, really) whose lives we can enter and whom we will want to imitate as they imitate Jesus.

Tom, one of Abba's children