Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
@#$%
Scratching
the Surface
of
Church Leaders
(A
Brief and Incomplete Guide to Qualifications)
I refused to go to bed with her.
Sooooooo when
I left, she got on the pastor search committee, picked a paramour, and they
didn’t live happily ever after.
Before going on, parenthetically, some folks
sometimes think I’m writing narcissistically from my own congregational ghetto
while scratching. Certainly and
cynically, people are gonna think what they wanna think; but my
concerns/interventions/ministry have always been more corporate than personal
juxtaposed to the caring/bearing/sharing/time/energy that I spend with other
pastors and congregations who are often victims of bad leaven mixing into their
churches/lives to make ‘em worse.
Besides, despite the arrogance of many churches in thinking their good,
bad, and ugly are unique, most churches are the same when it comes to
individual/corporate good, bad, and ugly.
Simply, while I may be wrong on many things, I’m praying and trying to
identify church challenges/opportunities and, at minimum, provide some input
for their own decision-making. Or
something like that.
However, as
my peer and sometimes mentor Harold said when confronted by an angry pewsitter
who assumed he targeted her in a sermon, “If the shoe fits…”
Getting back to the real issues behind the
symptoms in the first two paragraphs, why do so many pastor search committee
members end up leaving churches after their selections have been around for a
while?
That’s easy.
Hardly exhaustive, lots of ‘em weren’t
looking for a pastor for everybody; but, instead, were searching for a personal
champion, best friend, lover, or…
Why do so many people who were “leaders” in
churches as deacons, elders, staff members, Sunday School teachers, musicians,
and so on end up leaving/quitting and then dissing ‘em after serving terms or
their Sunday School class ends or somebody new exhibits leadership in the choir
or praise team or ensemble or…?
That’s easy.
Hardly exhaustive, lots of ‘em express
symptoms of the real issue causing separation/divorce – insult to our Lord’s
high priestly prayer in John 17 not to mention what He says about
forgiveness/reconciliation in places like Matthew 6:12-15 – like distaste for
other members/staff/pastors, inability to work with others because they’re-not-them
so messed up, and…
But the real issue is lack of call in the
first place!
If really called by God, they are equipped
with enduring fidelity and overcome annoyances/idiosyncrasies and whatever
for Jesus!
If not, not.
When there is a failure of leadership to
endure faithfully, it’s because they were never called in the first place; and
culpability for quitting/exiting/dissing is not with anyone except those who
thought but, obviously, did not accurately discern call (viz., nominating
committees and pastors and the quitters/exiters/dissers themselves).
While our humanity lends itself to
mistakes/miscalculations/commissions/omissions/sins,
we can cut down on ‘em by spending more time
in prayer and evaluating potential church leaders by insisting on basic
qualifications like a clear confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior, regular
worship attendance, a record of faithful stewardship, participation in the
whole life of the church, Romans 12:3, 1 Timothy 3:6, teachability, cooperativeness,
openness, not a control freak, not a my-way-or-the-highwayer, and 1
Thessalonians 5:12ff.
Texts recommended during the discerning
process of who is really called to church leadership include Ezekiel 34:1-10,
Matthew 15, 20:20-28, 23:1ff, Romans 12, 16:17-20, 1 Corinthians 12, 13,
Ephesians 4:1-16, 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-9, and Hebrews 13:7.
The bottom line is a church leader must love
Jesus; and if she/he loves Jesus, she/he will love like Jesus more than less
and church life and ministry will be much better than…
Indeed, if I were searching for a pastor or
trying to discern who should be a church leader, this would be my first
question: “Who is Jesus to you?”
Really, that’s/He’s the keystone of church
leadership.
Uh, He’s the keystone to life – here, now,
and forever!
I’ll never forget talking to the abbot of
Assumption Abbey, a Trappist monastery, in Ava, Missouri about a monk who
quit/left after falling in love with a dental assistant.
When I asked how it could have ever happened;
especially emphasizing how I knew that monk had been there for sooooooo long,
the abbot replied sternly yet with a smile, “Sometimes it takes a while before
we know if someone is really called to this vocation. He was here for only 17 years. He proved not to be called to monastic life.”
Yes, the qualifications for church leadership
are clear.
Yes, who is called is clear.
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
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