I received an email today from a client asking me if every group, even a micro group, needed an identified leader. Here is my response.It’s been my experience that no group functions at its peak without an identified leader. Even in a group of three or four, someone will emerge as first among equals or something like that. It’s just the law of the jungle.

However you have to define the word “leader”.  That is where most people get confused.  They equate the term with a dictator or task master or big ego or whatever. Usually their definition means getting people to do what the leader wants them to do. That’s not the way I use the term “leader”.

The new understanding of leadership is that of a guide who takes people where God wants them to go. Still, there aren’t leaders and followers – all of us are followers of something; hopefully, it is Jesus. So a leader is someone who helps others achieve what God has in store for them, instead of what the leader wants.

Of course, if someone doesn’t respect the leader or feels God is calling them to go in a totally different direction than the guide, they are free to find another leader.