Everything You Need To Know Is In The Bible
Everything You Need To Know Is In The Bible….including job descriptions! Sitting in staff meeting one day I had an encounter with Jesus! He showed Himself to me through the words of a staff member. You know I like to refer to God “showing off” when He does something so much bigger and better than we could ever think of! I do not know why I am amazed because He proves Himself faithful beyond belief every time!
Mark shared that the Holy Spirit is the leader of our church and we trust our pastor to discern what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. Then the staff supports the pastor in their areas of ministry. We all have our own skills and our own God given gifts and talents but our vision lines up with our pastor’s. Mark shared that he had been working on updating job descriptions after many, many years! He said every time he would start writing, he felt like it was wrong. He would start over and over. Finally, one day, he threw the papers down and said, “I’m done. God, you are going to have to show me what you want.” I do believe God has a sense of humor so I wonder if God chuckled at this point.
Ephesians 4: 11-16 came to Mark’s mind and heart. He looked it up and knew God had given him the answer. Aren’t we told that anything we need to know is in the Bible? Even job descriptions. Here is the general job description for all of our staff: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” There is no better job description for a church!
As I write this blog I have to be honest that this job description is scary for me as a sinful human. I have had supervisors that inspired me to work harder than others but this is God! 2 Timothy 2: 15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” The best thing we can do for our church is pray for it. In Ephesians 6: 19, Paul tells us to, “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel." In Colossians 4: 3, Paul tells us, “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains."
When the Holy Spirit is in charge great things can happen. Great things have happened, are happening and will continue to happen at church! At a time when church attendance is at a low and many churches are losing members, we continue to grow. I believe that is because people are hungry for the Word. I believe we are being blessed!
We can pray Paul’s prayer for the church of Ephesus. Ephesians 1: 15-17, “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” Paul also wrote a prayer for the church of Colosse. Colossians 1: 9, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives…” We can use scripture to pray, because we know the Word of God is God’s will revealed to us.
Join me in going before God’s throne on behalf of c hurch staff. This is something we can all do and we have been given the power to speak protection, love, and care over lives!