Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to Him those He wanted, and they came to Him. He appointed twelve that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach.
Mark 3:13–14
Growing up, almost every child played “Follow the Leader.” The followers had to imitate the leader and do everything he or she did. The challenge for the leader was to keep all of his playmates interested in what he was doing, so that they would continue to follow his leadership and stay close behind him.
This game does not end with childhood; it is a lifelong activity. If we had a bad leadership experience as a child, we will be insecure and timid about accepting a leadership position as an adult. If we had a bad experience following someone as a child or teenager, we will have a problem trusting leaders and other authority figures in our adult life.
Jesus expressed the universal need for leadership when He said that mankind is “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). If people do not have a good shepherd to follow, they are very vulnerable to the deceits and deceptions of a false leader.
A leader is a person who influences people, motivating them to follow him or her toward a particular goal. There are two kinds of leaders: those who are leaders by nature, and those who are leaders by nurture. That means that some leaders are born, while many others are built. It is my firm belief that leadership skills can be both caught and taught. But if a person is going to be a good leader, whether they are a born leader or a built leader, they must be available, teachable, responsible, and accountable.
We can see a clear example of both of these types of leaders in the first 12 disciples chosen by Jesus. Some of them, like Peter, James, and John, were more natural-born leaders. But the majority of the rest of the Twelve were not so much natural leaders as nurtured leaders.
We read about Jesus’ mentoring method in these verses from the Gospel of Mark. We can see at least three phrases that distinguish His leadership training with the Twelve. First, He called them to Him (mastery). Second, they were to be with Him (mentoring). And thirdly, they would be trained by Him (ministry). Christ’s mentoring model of leadership development was relational, informal, oral, practical, concrete, mobile, and transferable. His emphasis was upon learning by doing. He was not interested in producing academicians, but apostles.
Jesus knew that the only way for His disciples to come to personal and spiritual maturity was in the context of intense relationships. In just three short years, He had spent enough time with the Twelve to prepare them for the greatest leadership challenge in the history of the world—leading His Church!
Some of you reading this naturally exemplify certain characteristics of a good leader. However, in order to see other characteristics develop in your life, it will take a supernatural endowment by the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit and the Word, you may learn leadership characteristics rather quickly. For others to be manifested and matured in you, it will take a lifetime of disciplined study and striving. Either way, God wants you to develop and mature as a leader.