Used To Think

As a young pup in the ministry, speaking about leadership in the church, I was told that men who are doing the work of the pastor or deacon are in fact the ones the church should nominate for the office. It made sense to me. I mean, what did I know? If a guy is teaching and discipling others well, then surely, he should be a pastor. And if a guy was caring for others or serving on ministry teams that took care of the building, then surely, he should be a deacon.

I took to that idea like a kid gulping down medicine their parents gave them. I rarely questioned my pastors and their thinking. I went along with it. So, I used to think.

Until the issue landed right in front of me.

I began to feel the Lord calling me to the ministry to be a pastor in August 2003. I was not teaching in the church. I had not called anyone to ask them if I could disciple them. I was not doing any of the things. I was just wrestling with God and this growing internal call.

I lost that wrestling match, much like Jacob. In January 2004 on my walk to the church that Sunday, the first thing I did was share it with my pastor after the service. That was my process of being nominated — I told my pastor what the Lord had told me. 

Now I’m not knocking anyone’s process per se, but I do think it could be improved. Too many elder teams/boards just have businessmen on them. Popularity contests are the name of the nomination game. The call for brothers and sisters of a church to pick out people of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom are pushed aside. 

I used to think that only the people doing the work without being assigned to do the work are in fact worthy of being nominated and placed in positions to do the work. I never stopped to find a warrant for that in the scriptures. Now I do think the Church needs to let go of those processes and methods and find new and better ones. Maybe then the Church can have more qualified leaders who help add weight to the witness of the gospel to outsiders as well as insiders. After all, we are talking about the Bride of Christ.