THE BIRTH OF A STARFISH

Monday night we had a meeting of the “missional core” of The Journey – those who have been through what we have called “Lead-in”, and have taken on the rhythm of weekly discipleship triads and monthly training in addition to the weekly house church meetings. For the first time that I can remember in the last year, everyone spoke their mind, and many adjustments were made and affirmed to chart the course of next steps in the journey we are on. It was very exciting to me.

One of the changes we made in order to remove an obstacle for others was to take the “l-word” (leadership) out of the step that takes a person into the missional core. It has mostly created misunderstanding since most have a very definite image of what that word means and what a “leader” looks like. We are breaking that mould, but not all in one day. We find organic leadership has to be learned by doing, and the doing part needs to be free of hinderances. The change was part of “contextualizing” the path of following Jesus. So we are calling it “Follow-in” now, in keeping with the first of the three priorities of walking in the manner Jesus walked: Followership.

He followed the Father – John 5:19. Jesus only did what He saw His Father do. Only that!
He followed God’s prophet – Matthew 3:13-17. He followed John the baptizer in baptism, despite John’s protest.

“Follow-in” speaks of following the manner of our Messiah: coming under authority as the way to walk IN authority – God’s. When our lives lack authority from God, we fall to the pattern of living from the influences outside ourselves; the pressures of life, rather than the leading of the Spirit of God within us. To follow Jesus in coming under authority is to begin living from the influence of the Spirit of God within us, who presses against the spirit of the world outside us.

We cannot lead until we learn to follow. That is Jesus’ way – and there is no real debate about the power of Jesus’ leadership in the history of this world. His way is rock-solid!