M IN IN G THE CHU RCH #S WEALTH continued
Once a church elects or appoints its _officials these should have the au thority the Word of God gives them and they should exercise it. They should find it imperative to care fully study the membership and list basic qualifications of members. The Spirit of God touches basic personality strengths and uses per sonality talents. Certain persons can be well used by the Spirit as trustees, others as teachers, others in certain types of Christian social service, others as ushers, etc. Rarely should any church ask for volunteers. Some persons are not made to teach a church school class and they never will be and it is a mistake to suppose that because the Holy Spirit is omnipotent He capriciously places anyone into any position simply because He can give them requisite abilities if He wants to. True, the Apostle Paul may not have been the polished speaker that Apollos was but the Spirit chose him for other excellent reasons. When the pastor or appropriate official is appointed by the commit tee on Christian education, nomi nating committee or official board to approach a soul concerning ac ceptance of a position in church life, he should be able to explain the requirements of the task. He can also explain the confidence the board has in this person and the help he can expect to receive. The announcement from the pulpit, “ If you would like to help us out, pos sibly singing in the choir or teach ing a class, let us know” will not insure a response from the persons who, because of basic qualifications they possess which the Spirit can use, should be inspired and person ally asked to accept special tasks for Christ. Let us take a case in point. Sup pose that the committee on Chris tian education decided they should have a teaching service to the sick and shut-ins. A committee is ap pointed to list the requirements of the position and the requisite qual ifications. They decide that the man or woman should have a sincere and dependable reverence for the Word. He should be over 35 years of age
feel that verbal w itn e ss in g fo r Christ is 99% of his total responsi bility and he either does that well enough or he doesn’t possess the gift of gab and cannot be bothered. 4) A call to service is presented in such vague terms the laymen are not sure what that specifically in volves. Or if the call is to a specific task such as teaching he acutely feels his lack of training. Thus fear less souls with actual inborn initia tive continually take a dare and continually get the jobs, and that miserable saying continues to be the policy of the pastor and official board: “ If you have a job get a busy person to do it.” 5) A select group of the super- righteous elect have entrenched themselves in positions of leader ship so firmly that new blood can not enter the church’s life. All churches have at least several indi viduals with an Elijah complex. Their security is based on a phar- isaic life role that they are better equipped, more righteous, more con secrated, far less worldly and more intensely spiritual than 90% of the m em b e rsh ip . T h e r e fo r e , it is unthinkable to them that someone else should “ usurp” their authority or “ steal” their position. Thus one views a board member or Sunday school superintendent holding fast against all outsiders for 20 or 30 years and becoming wild with in dignation when someone else re ceives his office. 6) L a ym en w ith personality problems feel they would be sensi tive to criticism. Rather than risk failure and succumb to anxiety in interpersonal relationships they prefer to “mind their own business” and avoid trouble. An able pastor and official board will face these obstacles fearlessly and begin the task of mining this vast store of wasted wealth. They must have complete confidence in the Holy Spirit and should review the organization of the church to see if the Spirit’s work can be facil itated. Actually, this means defin ing boards and committees of au thority, discussion of the rotary
plan and review of methods of elec tion and appointment. There would be less stress and strain among personal dealings if every area of church life knew its immediate authority. Does the offi cial board know exactly what it must do? Does the Sunday school know the exact authority of the superintendent, pastor and commit tee on Christian education? If one person makes all the appointments, leadership enlistment will be hap hazard and unsuccessful. What about the rotary plan in your church? After a certain time in office an officer or chairman rec ognizes that God’s Spirit wishes him to vacate his position for a year while another soul brings new consecration and fresh insight to the task. No one becomes a little dictator in his own comer. More and more souls gain a new and vital perspective of the total work of the church. The rotary plan for all offices is proving its value but it has some disadvantages in certain cases and these should be thorough ly aired. What are your methods of ap pointment? Or in a larger frame, what are your methods of enlist ment? There is a good book that deals at length with this, and we recommend it without reservation: Better Leaders For Your Church by Weldon Crossland, Abingdon Press, 1955. In short, it will pay rich dividends for all our churches to list carefully the jobs which must be undertaken in a church and the qualifications necessary to do them. These jobs should be listed by the board or nominating committee over a period of months or at a retreat. What are the basic goals of this church according to the Word of God? What are we doing? What must we do? Where do we need additional jobs? How can we better coordinate the work of this and that task? What character traits and basic equipment should persons possess who take the fol lowing positions? Here we must make a cardinal point and underscore it heavily.
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