As I lay awake earlier this evening in bed the Lord turned my thoughts to the first century church. What caused this tremendous movement to flourish under such adverse conditions for so many generations? If you think being a Christian is difficult in our world, you must read what the first, second, third century church endured And remember, that church did not merely survive, it thrived! Why is it we cannot seem to replicate that movement today…regardless of the good programs available? I believe God has shown me an answer to my question…an answer you may not like: unqualified lay leaders. Now, before you get out the tar and feathers and hunt me down, let me say this. I acknowledge the many failures of clergy. Both God and we know too many pastors who should have never been allowed in the pulpit and have crippled churches. Some are truly gifted people, but they are not pastors. However, having said that, Acts 6:3 gives us the qualifications of lay leaders in the church…as far as I can tell the only list of qualifications. As stated in the Contemporary English Version, they should “be respected and wise and filled with God's Spirit.” Forget the times we have sinned by putting someone in a position because we wanted a name to fill a slot, think of the people who truly lead the church…any church, any tribe. Can you say they are respected, wise, and filled with the Holy Spirit? Many are not. Seems to me too often we put people in positions because they want in those positions or because they have always done that! I also realize the terms "respected" and "wise" are subjective terms…but filled with the Holy Spirit seems both concrete and critical to me…what do you think?
3 comments:
I just recently had a discussion with some at church about the District Superintendants description of how the Cabinet and the Bishop discern the decisions that are made about moving Pastors. It made me feel better to know how much prayer is put into those decisions. He said some decisions take days. When I discussed this with some at church I told them that we need to be making our decisions about who serves in the same prayerful way. It is extremely important to seek God's guidance on who will serve on the (formally) Nomination Committee because they will be the ones that hopefully will pray and discern who will serve on the other committees (not just stick a name on a blank line)! I'm with you Preacher!
Now, I notice that you did your blog at 2:33 a.m. I am going to pray for God to shut your precious mind off so you can sleep at night because you do need to rest your physical body, too!
Amen! I was afraid you would notice that (I couldn't figure out how to delete it or change it) but, that's okay, God and I caught up on some things early this morning...His mind was clear and believe me, I was attentive!
Funny how our thoughts run parallel sometimes. I was just talking with a good friend of mine about the early church too and how they really had to demonstrate their faith. I'm not sure why we have such a hard time in modern times. We have so many ways of communicating and seem to struggle in spreading God's word. It still baffles my little mind that the USA is now one of the world's mission field for other countries to minister to. We need to start praying now for those on the Nominating Committee (I know that's not the right name, but it's the one I remember)so they can select the people God shows them.
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