Apply: Perspective

Apply: Perspective
Take a moment now to apply the concepts you learned from the readings this week. Follow the instructions below to submit your work.

Introduction
Take a moment and read the following passages: Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16-34, Luke 5:27. In each, we hear the narrative of Jesus callings his first disciples, with the words, “follow me”. So, what was this invitation really all about? Was Jesus just looking to justify His ministry by recruiting a charter group of people who simply had nothing better to do than to trek around the countryside for a few years? Did the disciples interpret Jesus’ invitation as a challenge to leadership, or was there something else at work here?

If you ever have the time to work on translating these phrases, you may be interested to discover some of the nuances that are many times lost in the English translation. For the needs of our discussion, we will just highlight a few here. It is interesting to note that Jesus’ expression of “Follow me” was more of an authoritative command, not an offer. The phrase is articulated as an imperative. This would suggest that Jesus was not so much issuing an invitation, but articulating a directive, which may explain why Peter and Andrew dropped what they were doing and started following Jesus.

It also suggests that this invitation to follow was really a descriptive statement, defining how the relationship was to work. Jesus was not inviting the disciples to come and lead with Him or learn how to lead with Him. In fact, in the translation to English, we can imply the use of the word “with” between the word follow and me – thus Jesus was really telling these disciples “Come – follow with me”.

This was not like reading an ad or flyer inviting you to a weekend seminar on how to become a better leader. There was no indication of future leadership implied in the communication. An illusion to fishing men was made, but even that phrase (used only with the fishermen) was more reflective of the context in which the invitation was given.

However, we do see a leadership dynamic at work here – don’t we?

Over the next few years, these gentlemen follow Jesus and then suddenly after the departure of Jesus we find these guys suddenly emerging as leaders – and not just any type of leader, but highly successful leaders that help birth a worldwide movement

How did that happen? At one point did Jesus teach them anything about leadership principles? Where in the Scriptures do we find Jesus holding leadership conferences, reviewing the five levels of leadership? Were there a number of management parables that never made it into Scripture? In what sermon did Jesus provide the three leadership principles needed to handle thousands of new converts? On what mountainside did Jesus have the disciples complete a personality profile and participate in team-building exercises? What are we missing? Where or when was leadership the focus of their time together?

There are some followership theorists that will proclaim that leadership is best cultivated through the role of being a follower, a concept that will be developed later in this course. It is their assertion that a follower, truly focused on being a good follower (followership), will find that they have all the skills and competencies needed when the time comes for them to act as a leader. To them, leadership is not something to learn before the fact and with that end in mind (being a leader). They would suggest that the competencies needed to lead are best learned through the mastery of being a good follower and that leadership should emerge out of the need of the situation. If a person is a good follower, and a situation occurs whereupon he or she is called upon to be a leader, the person will be ready because the course competencies to be a successful leader have already been rooted. That is not to say that learning will not need to take place, but that leadership can blossom faster and brighter because the core competencies are already in place.

Assignment
This is a free-write assignment. Based on some of what you have learned so far and what was just presented in the introduction to this assignment, respond to the following statement:

• Lead less…follow more…lead better.

Format Requirements
Document Type

MS Word

Paper Size

8.5 X 11″

Length

1-2 pages

Margins

1″

Font

Times or Times New Roman, 12 pt.

Line Spacing

Double. No extra double space between paragraphs please.

In-text Citations & Reference List Style

APA

Paper Structure

Introduction
Body
Conclusion
References
File Naming Convention

LastName_FirstName_Wk2_Apply
Example: Doe_John_Wk2_Apply

Submission
After preparing your assignment in Microsoft Word, you will submit it, as an attachment below. When you are ready, scroll down to access the +File attachment area.

Upload the file first, then write something in the input box, such as “Please see attached.” Then, you will see the ORANGE save button appear. Click the button to submit your assignment.

Questions?
Questions about this assignment? Feel free to post them in the Ask Questions forum, which you can access by clicking the “Discussions” tab from top of the Course Outline.

Answer
Files
Drop files hereThe file size should not be more than 300 MB