by Andy Johnson

There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.

The youth minister under whom I grew up had this quote in his office. Although I may have teased him at the time by daring him to try to keep up with us (I was younger then…), it does acknowledge a challenging aspect of life as a foreign missionary or outside catalyst that warrants our prayers.

Generally speaking, out-spoken leaders are the ones who make it to the field. They must lead individuals and whole churches to believe in the vision and call on their lives; without that, they may never launch. Having put themselves and their calling front and center, they are then called to humbly invest in others and keep to the background once they get to the field. Making that turn toward a style of leadership like that of John the Baptist (John 3.30) is counterintuitive and requires the work of the Spirit to accomplish.

One of my mentors used to talk about how, if he were ever to start a monastic order, he would call it The Order of the Towel. He believes that every international worker needs to be daily reminded that the way in which Jesus showed his followers the full extent of his love in John 13 was by leading them through humble service. The way of Jesus is the way of downward mobility. But for missionaries – many of whom are lauded by those who send them and by those who look to their leadership once on the field – this is not always easy to pursue.

I am calling you this month (today, even!) to pray into the challenge missionaries face of knowing when and how both to lead and to follow. Using John 13 as a guide, ask that God give workers in the MedRim, Bengal, and Emerging Leadership Initiatives wisdom to know when to lead and when to follow. Ask for the Spirit to make clear to them when to wrap the towel around their waist as a servant leader unafraid of low service, and when to follow others as they lead in that way. Claim the promise Jesus made that, as they learn their place in the Kingdom and under the Master, they will be blessed.