I was recently asked "how do we stay true to the mission of the church?" It was a 5-page questionnaire designed to help a church leader know if their church has succumbed to mission-creep vs faithfully following God's calling. If God were not actively leading his Church, we human leaders would need to be constantly, urgently evaluating the expenditure of our energy/money/time/focus against our church vision and mission statements and scriptural guidelines. We'd be following Him by following his guidance.
I am a dancer, though, and I have access to another definition for Following. When I lead in swing dancing or waltzing, my partner and I are in a wonderful tension. When I am leading at my best, I'm aware of how my Follow is responding to my indications, and I'm sensitive to what they're communicating through touch and gesture. When I am following at my best, I anticipate what my Lead may be communicating next and we work together to get me into the right position for the subsequent steps in the pattern. I'm not insisting on doing some steps that I *thought* he might be leading me into. I'm also not floppy, being limply thrown from one sequence to the next.
When I follow God, I get the sense that it's like He's asking me to dance with Him.
It's unlike following a map. It's unlike following directions. It's unlike following a religious observance or obeying a creed.
It's a couples dance, and as I mature into faith the dancing gets more fun. I began by being comfortable only with the basic box-steps, and then I learned turns and twinkles and other fun things. I'm dancing with a partner whose company I enjoy, and I can see that he likes me back and is enjoying dancing with me. I don't understand the dance the way he does, but he's a capable Lead and he's teaching me as we go, and every dance I get better as a Follow.
When God asks me to dance, he doesn't ask me if I know all the steps to certain dance patterns, and then when I mess up in the follow he doesn't frustratedly call for the music to stop and restart from the beginning. He's not all stiff and severe, hoping that I'll know how to follow his cues.
I always get the sense, and more so as I get older, that he's exuberant with this dancing. He comes to me with a huge grin and holds out an inviting hand and is already backing* onto the dance floor as I come up off the chair so I have to hurry a little to get into the frame of his leadership as it gets me not only into position but also syncs me to his rhythm. He leads and I follow, and sometimes I flub it up, and he grins and says that's okay, he's got me. And he backs up and leads other moves that I can follow, and we dance. And he's grinning. And I'm his bride, and that's my mission.
