Follower First - Rusty Ricketson

Here is a collection of stuff written in the direction I wish to go. Rusty Ricketson has a lot to say to Christians and the church about followership. I have a collection of several articles I collected from his website.

Ricketson claims the "Bible is a book about followers, written by followers, for followers." His entire passion for followership seems to be driven by this belief. I too share this belief. I really like and agree with his thinking. This is a passion I very deeply share. His website has a copy of the first chapter of his book and a couple other papers. He has developed a biblical followership profile (which I must see!) and a "Following - Leading Philosophy of Leadership."

It is interesting that Ricketson seems as averse to word games as I am. Instead of leadership and followership, he prefers to keep things simple - leaders and followers, leading and following.

Ricketson argues most of the biblical material about followership can be broken into two major categories of concepts: a) relationship concepts and b) responsibility concepts. Each concept is further broken into sub-concepts and suggested survey questions.

As to relationship concepts, biblical followers seek to live in relationship with God. They are utterly abandoned to the leader and intimate with the leader.

As to responsibility concepts, biblical followers live responsibly toward their leaders. This means faithfulness and persistence.

Using questions driven by these concepts, Ricketson conducted a small survey. There were apparently some difficulties and it is obvious there is much work yet to be done. I particularly liked the first statement under the "limitation" paragraph. "The primary limitation of the development of the Biblical Followership Profile (BFP) is that the instrument was developed and pilot-tested by Baptists!" Speaking as a Baptist, I can profoundly affirm the weaknesses and limitations inherent there...

Another of the articles on Ricketson's website is an analysis/application of Chaleff's courageous follower stuff to the church context. Ricketson seems to agree that Chaleff's thinking provides a useful framework for biblical followership.

I will return to Ricketson I suspect. While there is much work yet to be done here, he is obviously a kindred soul.

Thanks Brother!