The Final Frontier of Following

Unlocking the Lost Art of Followership

Photo by Stefan Cosma on Unsplash

Styrofoam rocks, pointy ears, bad makeup, an Irish accent, a fearless leader, someone who’s not making it back to the ship, and a captain’s log. Star Trek is the greatest sci-fi show in all of human history. Spock was the logical, loyal number two always brining reason to Captain Kirk’s impulsive plans to go where no man had gone before.

While Spock is best known for living long and prospering, legacies would be cemented in loyalty to his beloved captain. Nothing symbolized this bond like the V gap wedging its way between the ring and middle finger suspended in the air with ears pointed heavenward. He followed Kirk into the unknown.

Jesus would go where no man had gone before, blazing a heavenly trail into a grace filled frontier unknown to his followers.

Imagine reclining in an ergonomic utopia, sipping your skinny no-fo latte, tickling your ears with a playlist fit for an elevator, slaying spreadsheets, bringing home that bi-weekly chedduh’ when, exploding out of a cold water tub from nowhere, wildly clapping hands, a bright-white-toothed Tony Robbins suddenly appears proclaiming “Put that mouse down, leave everything you know, and follow me!”

You’ve listened to his tapes, but you’ve never shook his hand before. Ok, before moving on: Gen Z, tapes were these things from the eighties which held fourteen miles of musical ribbon that could only be rewound with a pencil. You’ve heard about him, seen him in magazines, and now he’s towering over your desk, pointing a finger that’s hard to say no to. Imagine that phone call to your spouse. Gen Z: Google Tony Robbins.

This is where we lose so many in Christianity. No, not to Tony, but to following. We spent the last twenty-five years training Captain Kirk instead of dropping everything and following.

American culture convulses at the sound of following. We clamor for the captains chair, demanding more power from an engine room that can’t deliver (they just cahhnt dooit cahptin’), signaling for Scotty to beam us up in a moments notice. Christianity raises up leaders to go where no man has gone before instead of following what Jesus has already laid out.

This is the great irony of modern Christianity: Jesus exemplified following while the church emphasizes leadership. Not even biblical leadership necessarily, but taking corporate axioms and injecting them into godly principles. Most modern Christian leadership language finds it roots in corporate lexicons.

Take a moment and think back on all the books over the last thirty years focused on following…we’ll wait. How many conferences showcase following as the main attraction? Who’s the John Maxwell of followership? What university is offering the ‘Servant of All’ degree program?

We’re trashing Spock’s legacy!

Jesus possessed the gift of demystifying the complex, wielding it ever so skillfully when he unlocked the secret to the kingdom. Greatness is found in serving others, where the first shall be last. In Christ’s economy, the mark of a leader is found in their willingness to follow. Leaders aren’t called to blaze trails, but to follow His voice into the abyss.

Paul would echo this In 1 Corinthians 11:1 challenging the church to follow his lead as he followed Christ.

We already have a captain who’s set our coordinates for the mission. We don’t need to reinvent it, adjust it, put our stamp on it. We don’t need anyone to go before their churches with carefully crafted vision statements bathed in strategy. Jesus gave us the vision, leadership is demonstrated in disseminating it to the church.

We don’t need more leaders, we need more Spocks.