I recently had a brief conversation with one of our longtime small group leaders in church, Eva Austria. Tita Eva or Mommy Eva has been a small group leader for many years. She is in fact the mother of Monette, one of our cross-cultural missionaries, who also happens to be a friend. When she saw me, she quipped, “You are my leader ok?!” She said that to let me know that she indicated my name when she updated her info on the church database.

I have had a couple of coffee dates with Tita Eva already. We talked about different things, from aging and medicines, to the insurance business and church discipleship. On both occasions, she has always been open to suggestions and has in fact welcomed and solicited them. What’s amazing is Tita Eva is a couple of decades my senior. And, she is not lacking in experience. Yet, she could easily communicate to a younger person, she is to be led.

We are never too old to be led, nor should we ever think we have arrived. That brief conversation with Tita Eva is packed with volumes. The most experienced does not always equate to being the leader. Being the leader in a certain field will not always mean leadership in another. There are seasons in life where we are leading, different areas where we are following. We may be the youngest and yet tasked with leadership. Sometimes, we may be the oldest and with more experience. Either way, age does not always matter when it comes to leadership.

A lesson we all need to learn is that leadership entails learning to be a good follower. Good followers are some of the best candidates for leadership. To be able to lead well, we need to understand where we need to go. That entails knowing where the directions come from. And in every rung of the leadership ladder, we need to know and embrace this. Because ultimately, we will always be under authority, no matter how high in that ladder we go. We need to understand a higher authority always exists, even when we do not see it in the organizational structure. And the leaders who lead well are those who are themselves led.