Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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Too many of
today's churches are filled with stiff-necked and stubborn nitpickers,
naysayers, and negatives.
Isaiah: "We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way."
Especially in
America, anybody's word is lauded as good as anybody else's word on any
subject.
Radio and
television talk shows - not to mention where two or three are not gathered
together in His name - come to mind.
Of course,
rejecting God's plan for order/authority is why our world, country, churches,
and families are going to...
Click on the last
KD for more on that ("Four Things Missing in Dying
Churches").
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This is
especially true in mainline churches that, more than less, have connectional
polities: confessional/constitutional democracy in which order/authority is
vested in ordered groups rather than individuals.
Hierarchical
polities don't have this problem. They have other problems; like leaders
being a little too full of themselves and acting like no one knows Jesus like
they know Him. They haven't read Romans 12 or 1 Corinthians 12.
Congregational polities
don't have this problem. They have other problems; like the one mentioned
in the third sentence of the previous section. They haven't read Romans
13 or 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13.
Ah, maybe they
read 'em but, obviously, blew 'em off in favor of their egology.
Be that as it is, how can
someone called/gifted to lead, uh, lead in today's church?
Specifically for
those of us in connectional or even congregational polities, how can we pastor or undershepherd or guide/protect
the sheep who prefer to wander around according to their own impulses with
little thought of how they're matching up to His intentions?
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More than less,
though I know some would dispute this claim, I've always been more of the
moderatorial type with ordered groups like trustees, deacons, and elders;
cheerleading good ideas and refereeing so people don't kill each other for
Christ's sake (a literal reality rather than profane blurt).
While I've always
had staff members, officers, and members who'd like me to be a bit more
directive as long as I'm directing according to their dictates, I've resisted
that temptation; even when I coulda gotten away with it.
Yeah, I've had
staff members, officers, and members who'd like a nanny; but I haven't been
feminized yet. Besides, when I've inherited staff/officers/members, I've
figured they musta been appreciated/affirmed by, uh, somebody; so I hang with
'em even if I wouldn't have been a part of calling/ordaining/membering 'em.
And when I'm a part of calling/ordaining/membering 'em, I don't look over their
shoulders because I've got my own job to do and wouldn't have been a part of
calling/ordaining/membering 'em if I was gonna have to take time from my job to
do/dictate theirs.
I was just
trained to undershepherd
in a franchise/denomination that lets laos
- check out that word in a Greek dictionary sometime with special
attention to synonyms for clues to the inherent problems in
connectional/congregational polities - do their thing for better or worse,
richer or poorer, as long as we both shall...
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After spending
almost four decades undershepherding
like that, I was kinda tickled/relieved to get some confirmation from the
really famous guy that four of us met with in Montana a few weeks ago.
He said he led by
preaching and prayer; and only offered direction when asked.
He only attended
committee meetings if asked to, uh, lead.
When he moderated
boards, he never interfered/commented with/on decisions.
He said he did
not feel called to fix the church: "I did not try to get people to do
anything. I preached and prayed with the intention of nurturing our
identity as God's people so that we could model Someone better."
Personally, he
prayed and labored to model Someone better for the staff, officers, and
members: "It's not what you are doing that's important; but who you are in
doing it."
He does not
believe in motivational speaking for two reasons: "It's often a sly way of
manipulating people...You don't have to motivate Christians."
He talked a lot
about trusting each other as trusting God and expressing that trust by
submitting to Godly authority through Godly officers, staff, boards,
denominations, and so on.
He had no problems
letting the church fail without his help.
Why?
Knowing he knew
how to do it better than laos
by Godly call/gifting, why didn't he insist, direct, fix, and the
like?
His answer was
simple: "People are stubborn and like to do it their way. They
can be stiff-necked. You know the saying. You can lead a horse to
water... But when they trust and are humble enough to ask for help,
that's when you can be most effective as a pastor. Only when people are
trusting and humble can you lead them."
Recently, I told
some elders how I was confirmed in my leadership style by all of the above; and
pledged to ratchet it up to my Montana friend's modeling.
We'll, uh, see.
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Dennis, a new
deacon in our family of faith, gave Kyle Idelman's Not a Fan to me.
A few lines
remind me of our friend in Montana who has done a much better job of
modeling Someone better than me/most: "I was struck by the fact that Jesus
doesn't chase...[after people]...He doesn't soften His message to make it
more appealing. He doesn't send disciples chasing after them with a
creative handout inviting them to come back for a 'build your own sundae' ice
cream social. He seems okay with the fact that his popularity has
plummeted...It wasn't the size of the crowd Jesus cared about; it was their
level of commitment...I think over the years my intentions were good; I wanted
to make Jesus look as attractive as possible so that people would come to find
eternal life in Him. I was offering the people Jesus, but I was handing
out a lot of free bread. In the process I cheapened the gospel."
Several centuries
earlier, a novice recorded this experience with Brother Lawrence: "...[He
said]...God would give light concerning those passions to those who truly desire
to serve Him. That if this was my design, sincerely to serve God, I might
come to him (Brother Lawrence) as often as I pleased, without any fear of being
troublesome; but if not, that I ought no more to visit him."
Those lines sum
up a lot of what I/we re-learned in Montana.
It's a choice to
drink deeply from the living waters.
Jesus asked the
ill man, "Do you want to be well?"
Asking precedes
receiving.
Hmm.
Jesus said a lot about
that; and if we're gonna model...
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Blessings and Love!
