A sign of a good leader is not how many followers you have
but how many leaders you create.
Mahatma Ghandi
In today's world of social media and instagram stars there is a lot of focus on followers. A quick google search will tell you that the top followed person on twitter is Katy Perry, who has 106.7 million followers and on instagram it is Selena Gomez with 135.8 million followers.
Often we think of celebrities as leaders because they have a large following, but how are they influencing those followers. It is interesting to look at the ministry of Jesus and to see how much time he focused on the 12 rather than the crowds. He had multitudes following him but he never considered the crowds to be His ministry.
Moving on to Acts we see that the 12 were the ones who changed the world. They were the ones who brought the Gospel to Jerusalem, to Judea, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. They did this not because they were followers of Jesus but because they were His disciples, because Jesus had invested the time to make them leaders.
As far as we know Mahatma Ghandi never became a Christian, never accepted Jesus as Savior, Lord, or God. Another famous quote of Ghandi's is discussed in this post and that quote underlines a part of how Ghandi viewed Jesus and Christians. Ghandi did accept Jesus as a great teacher and much of the philosophy that Ghandi is famous for is at least partially based on the teachings of Jesus. This quote may have very well come from a study of the life of Christ because it is clear that He focused on creating leaders. He didn't just teach His disciples, He spent time with them, He ate with them, He shared life with them, and He challenged them to step out into their own ministry.
Often we think of celebrities as leaders because they have a large following, but how are they influencing those followers. It is interesting to look at the ministry of Jesus and to see how much time he focused on the 12 rather than the crowds. He had multitudes following him but he never considered the crowds to be His ministry.
Jesus's ministry was to the individual, then to the small group (the 12), and lastly to the crowd.
Moving on to Acts we see that the 12 were the ones who changed the world. They were the ones who brought the Gospel to Jerusalem, to Judea, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. They did this not because they were followers of Jesus but because they were His disciples, because Jesus had invested the time to make them leaders.
As far as we know Mahatma Ghandi never became a Christian, never accepted Jesus as Savior, Lord, or God. Another famous quote of Ghandi's is discussed in this post and that quote underlines a part of how Ghandi viewed Jesus and Christians. Ghandi did accept Jesus as a great teacher and much of the philosophy that Ghandi is famous for is at least partially based on the teachings of Jesus. This quote may have very well come from a study of the life of Christ because it is clear that He focused on creating leaders. He didn't just teach His disciples, He spent time with them, He ate with them, He shared life with them, and He challenged them to step out into their own ministry.
Jesus is the ultimate example of where a good leader's focus should be.
In today's churches and organizations we often seem to have it backwards. The people at the top are worried first about how to get more people surrounding them rather than on developing the few closest to them and training them to do the same. They want to be seen as someone who has a lot of followers but they forget to develop leaders.
No matter what type of organization you are involved in, no matter what position you may hold, I encourage you to strive to focus on the few, build leaders, and train them to do the same. This is how you multiply your influence and make it last beyond your own presence in that organization.