Watch!

Sun does fall as wine-dark blood

to cracked black thirsty earth

while cold shadows come to drink

a sacrifice to draw out lady night

who rules the glow-eyed sneaking ones

while light lays waiting in the tomb

 

Listen!

a new call sings blindly forth from the pitch

dawn’s children herald their risen lord

as velvet skies turn sickly purple grey

before the golden crown of new risen day

so all that was is again and will be

the eternal battle ever rages ever on

 

I went out for lunch with a good friend today and in our conversation we wound up talking about church and church structure (as we often do). Today a good chunk of the conversation settled on the role of church leadership – particularly pastoral leadership and if there was anything at all in scripture that offers advice on structure and job function.

 

The bible can be frustratingly sparse of information on the structure of the church and the job descriptions of various roles. I believe this absence of informationis by design. The church is a living being unlike any other structure in existance. It is the body of Christ and also a body of broken human believers at the same time. It is both and. As a living being it must be agile enough to adapt to changing circumstances in culture and the world but also rooted in the unchanging character of God so as to not be washed away by the ever shifting tides of popular opinion etc. Too often people see the bible as a granular "how-to" text for every need and function for life and the church rather then seeing it as the story of God and his relationship with humanity. It is the great story that climaxes with the wondrous proclamation of Christ’s gospel (kerygma) and the salvific kingdom of God breaking into human history. It is distinctly NOT a manual that instructs us to mix spit and mud in our hands if we want to heal our blind neighbour.

 

At any rate there are still aspects of scripture that seem to instruct us in matters of church leadership and structure from time to time. Take for example the following verses from Acts 6:1-7 –

 

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented them to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Here we are presented with a problem the early church had to deal with that we can relate with quite easily in our own churches even now. The Problem: The Jerusalem church is growing in number as more and more Hellenistic Jews (those Jews living or raised outside of Israel) are coming to be believers. The growth is such that we have two very defined culture groups conflicting with one another over practical matters. In this case the Hellenistic Jews were complaining that their widows were being missed in the daily distribution of food in favor of the local Hebraic Jews. Now whether this is true or not is not the issue. The Hellenistic Jews perceived this and perception is reality for most people. With this perception they complain to the Apostles.

 

So what have we learned so far? We learn that even in the earliest church there was conflict between people groups. We have also learned that there is a leadership structure of some sort. The apostles (called the twelve) seem to have highest authority in the Jerusalem church. As leaders in the church it is given to them to solve this problem. The apostles call together the disciples (believers). The apostles ask the disciples to choose seven men "full of spirit and wisdom" to handle the administrative tasks related to food distribution. 

 

Out of all of this we learn that the early church had a basic two-tier heirarchy consisting of apostles (chosen specifically by Christ for pastoral leadership) and disciples (those who had come to believe in Christ). This is not necessarily something we can overlay on our own churches except to say a structure/decision making heirarchy of authority seems necessary given our ongoing flawed (but redeemed) human natures.

 

The Solution: We are never really told the solution. We are told that certain people were chosen to come up with a solution and then they were commissioned by the apostle. We must assume these men came up with a solution because we are told the results of this decision and they are good – "the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."

 

The question is why don’t the apostles deal with this directly? Surely this was not too difficult a problem for them to deal with. After all these are the pastoral leaders of the early churc shouldn’t they be responsible for these administrative tasks? The answer to the question is found in the text. The disciples do not want anything to distract them from "prayer and the ministry of the word".

 

What then are the ramifications of these verses from Acts for church structure and roles today? It seems to me that the primary responsibility of those placed in pastoral leadership should be prayer and the ministry of the word. While this may be obvious to some of my friends out there (I am thinking of you my Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Orthodox readers). My own unique experience in the evangelical stream has been that the pastoral role is a mix of both ministry and administrative tasks. How many churches have I seen hire a pastor with such blended expectations? Pastors who have human resources responsibilities for hiring and managing a staff, they have budgetary responsibilities, they must structure timetables, they must write weekly reports, they must write annual reports. Some of them pay the bills and some of them even manage the repair and maintenance for their church facilities. In the midst of all of this remains their primary responsibilities – prayer and the ministry of the word. In worst case scenarios I have seen pastors actually subordinate prayer and the ministry of the word to the ever pressing administrative tasks of the church.

 

To be fair I am speaking of a traditional evangelical way of doing church that has existed for quite a while. Some larger churches hire "executive pastors" to manage the handling of administrative tasks and I think this is great if you have the money to do so because it frees up the rest of the pastoral staff for prayer and the ministry of the word which should be their priority if I am interpreting these verses correctly. On the other hand I have seen pastors so fearful of trying to find the equivalent of "seven men" to manage the administrative tasks that they simply do it all themselves anyhow. The worst case scenario is when the call is given for such administrators (often called deacons, elders, or the like) and there is no response from the congregation because of the mindset of "that’s what we hired you to do". When this mindset exists the pastor’s responsibility again is prayer and the ministry of the word. The pastor must teach the conregation the vital importance of taking on these responsibilities. Afterall when we are members of the body of Christ there is no such thing as optional and voluntary – there is only God-given responsibility and obedience to Christ.

 

So I guess what I am saying here is that when administrative tasks conflict with pastoral tasks in the life and ministry of those given responsibility for prayer and the ministry of the word then the pastoral tasks must take precedence and others must be appointed to manage the VERY important administrative functions. Notice I didn’t say that the administrative should not occur or diminish in favor of the pastoral? Never should this be the case. Those in pastoral leadership have the very clear biblical responsibility to ensure that people are appointed and these tasks are completed so that their prayer and ministry of the word can be safe-guarded. We must remember that when the apostles did this:

 

"the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."

 

the bent willow weeps

but not for loss

branches pulled low

but not for burden

leaves poured like green tears

but not for wistful woe

 

the bent willow weeps

because it’s what it does

its lost nymph is brokenheart

created to cry out

singing songs of –

 

"I will bear your ache

if you let me

I will drink your pain

if you press your life

against my cold hard skin

for a moment…

just a moment…

 

Crush like an unanswered door

bolted closed and sealed with rust

 

Crush like the unreceived gift

cold empty sky going forever

 

Crush like a mountain that just won’t move

granite testimony of nothing and nowhere

 

Crush like the fall into unwaiting hands

of the no-father, of the no-mother

 

Crush like every shade of gray

a striving failure to be black

 

Crush like a dozen loving arms

void of the strength to hold you up

 

(Crush)

"in this world you will have trouble"

(Crush)

"but rejoice"

(Crush)

"for I have defeated the world"

 

What sweet wine will be made

from the fruit of the press that

closes upon this body?

Whose blood is shed from the everlasting

Crush?

 

I don’t like writing about books before I have completed reading them but I need to say a few things about John H. Armstrong’s book Your Church Is Too Small: Why Unity In Christ’s Mission Is Vital to the Future of the Church.

 

It is apparent from the beginning that this book is a challenge. It is a challenge laid at the feet of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox believers and many of them will find it too difficult to meet. Nevertheless I think it is necessary.

 

Any book with the support of J.I. Packer (who wrote the intro), Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon, Chuck Colson, James Kushiner and others should not be ignored. Any book that opens with quotes from Karl Barth, Frederick Buechner, C.S. Lewis and Robert Webber should not be ignored. I will let the first few chapters speak for themselves through the following quotes:

 

In speaking of the movement of new Christians toward a more united expression of orthodox Christian belief regardless of denomination he writes "this one faith is developing in ways we would never have thought possible while we were still indulging in the cultural luxury of seeing other Christians as our enemies. Many of us have begun to drink deeply from the wells of various Christian traditions."

 

A true challenge to the mainstream of Christianity in North America – "True Christian faith is not found in personal religious feelings but in the historical and incarnational reality of a confessing church."

 

A challenge that hits very close to home for many evangelical churches:

 

"(North) American Christians talk a great deal about megashifts, which has led us to evaluate the performance of the church endlessly. In the process, multitudes of pragmatists have made the church a proverbial "wax nose" shaped by the newest book (irony noted) or seminar on trends and techniques. This approach is often based on polls, ministry/spiritual gift inventories, and various theories rooted in marketing. A major development within many local congregations is to write mission/vision statements. We are right to be weary of many of these approaches since they sap our collective soul dry and fail to give us a big vision of what God intends to do throughout the world."

 

Finally (for now) on why people (especially women) are leaving the evangelical side of the church in droves (backed by statistical evidence):

 

"The reasons for this exodus are numerous – loneliness, boredom, lack of community, church teaching that fails to go into the important truths of the faith, and the inability of the church to reach people who are suffering or going through deep trials, and more."

 

Wow. Who can relate to these things? I would hazard a guess many of us can. Anyhow – stay tuned for my full review.