“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” — Jesus

“Follow my example, as I follow Christ.” — Paul

A Christian friend of mine told me the other day that he was taking a course on leadership. That got me wondering if there are any courses on “followership.”

The reason why I wondered is because my twenty years of experience as a pastor has taught me that there are too many people in local churches who think they are great leaders and not enough who know how to be great followers.

Maybe it’s time for churches to teach a course on “The Art of Followership.” Here is a suggested syllabus:

• Great followers know and trust their leader to guide them in the right direction, even when they don’t know how they are going to get where they are going. (That is why they are following in the first place.)
• Great followers make it possible for their leader to focus on the goal ahead of them instead of on the problems behind them.
• Great followers stay behind the stragglers and help them keep up. (In other words, they help others be great followers too.)
• Great followers pay attention to their leader and imitate what he or she is doing.
• Great followers have infectious enthusiasm for reaching the goal ahead.
• Great followers do their part and help others do their part too.
• Great followers are honest and humble about giving advice and/or correction to their leader.
• Great followers often become great leaders.

Want to be a blessing to your pastor instead of being a thorn in his side? Ace this course on The Art of Followership.

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.