Witness Express 9 (May 2010)

 

Family That Matters

By Jim Eschenbrenner

“Eleven years. Eleven years!” Cynthia kept repeating, “Eleven years.”

Her two friends, Barb and Jenny, sat on either side of her, each holding one of her hands. Like clockwork, Jenny pulled a dry tissue from the box to replace the ones that Cynthia was soaking with her tears. There was a growing pile of wadded up tissue balls on the coffee table.

Just a little over two hours ago, Cynthia had retrieved the kids from day care and arrived home to find her husband, Stewart, furiously packing a suitcase. His angry words were seared in her ears and she couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.

Stewart had told her that he could no longer live in the same house with her or continue dealing with their two children which he claimed were “out of control” and for that he held her responsible. With an angry squeal of tires he left in his pick-up.

Cynthia crumpled to the floor and sobbed.

Katy, their seven-year-old, evidently went next door and told Barb because she was the first one to show up. Soon after that Jenny arrived with her 13-year-old daughter, who took the younger children to Barb’s house.

Through the tears and confusion and pain, Cynthia heard Barb and Jenny trying to offer advice and comfort but their voices seemed to be coming through a far-away tunnel. Somewhere in the fog of emotion, she heard someone mention Pastor Chad. To this day she can’t figure out why, but she blurted out, “Call Pastor Chad.”

Cynthia and her family hadn’t been to church very often; maybe three times in the past year, but she knew Pastor Chad was the “real deal.”

Fast Forward ten months: Stewart, Cynthia and their children, Katy and Kyle are sitting in the same row at church. Cynthia and Stewart aren’t sitting next to each other – yet. The kids sit in between them. It’s not what Cynthia would like, however, they are in church together. And although they are still not sharing the same bed, Stewart did move into the spare room in the basement last week. They have a long way to go. But they have hope.

Real Leadership

by Doug Webster

In Acts 6:1-7 we find a case study in biblical leadership that serves as a model for us today. In just a few sentences, Luke lays out five principles of effective leadership.

(1) Leadership addresses the real problems facing the Household of Faith in a direct and timely fashion. “No sooner was the complaint made by the Hellenists (and it was never denied) than the matter was taken in hand” (Williams, 103). Without denial or delay they dealt with the issue. Real needs were going unmet, widows were suffering, and the apostles responded immediately. A defensive attitude that sought to cloud the issue or cover up their failure to respond to the Hellenistic widows may have prevented them from acting, but they wasted no time assigning blame. Nor did they get bogged down in the decision-making process. Likewise, we have to be careful that a bureaucratic mentality does not set in that prevents the church from engaging and resolving issues, especially when people are suffering.

(2) Leadership is rooted in the biblical community and involves a dynamic interaction between those who take the lead and those who are led. “The Twelve,” that is, the twelve apostles, summoned the whole group of believers. This is the only time in Acts where the apostles are referred to by the title, the Twelve. It served to underscore the solidarity of this leadership body and the representative character of the apostles. They were a living parable of the new eschatological Israel. Whereas we tend to emphasis individuals and accentuate top-down leadership, the emerging church emphasized leadership solidarity. Leadership was and is everyone’s responsibility. By calling “all the disciples together,” the Twelve assured effective communication and a spirit of openness. They did not impose a solution on the church, but gathered all the disciples together (Stott, 121). There were neither “back room deals” nor “behind-closed-doors” decision-making. By design, the admission that there was a problem and the proposed solution was out in the open for all to see and deal with.

(3) Leadership priorities need to be established and honored in the Household of Faith. The Twelve issued a statement to testify to their first priority. They affirmed, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables” (6:2). In other words, “It wouldn’t be right for us to abandon our responsibilities for preaching and teaching the Word of God to help with the care of the poor” (The Message). The phrase, “to wait on tables” was a figure of speech for financial transactions, “because money lenders sat at tables to do their business” (Williams, 106).

Helping the poor was not an issue subject to debate, much less denial and neglect. All were agreed that this need must be met. The problem was time. The apostles did not have the time to manage the relief fund and give themselves to the preaching of God’s word and to leading prayer services.  “It would not be right . . .” was their starting point for establishing practical priorities. They led as they themselves were led. They were not making it up as they went along. They were submitting to the will of God. The practice of principled leadership in the emerging church of Acts is radically different from today’s mega-church super-pastor, who sees himself as the Chief Resource Raiser and the motivational point man for get-it-done leadership. The popular profile of the modern-day visionary pastor tends to bypass the lessons of shared leadership in Acts 6 and depreciate the Spirit-led power of the preached word of God and prayer to build a vital Household of Faith. If the apostles refused to be distracted from their primary calling, perhaps we should reconsider our expectations of pastoral leadership.

(4) Leadership selection is a vital responsibility of the Body of believers. The apostles delegated two important types of responsibility: first, to the community of believers, they delegated the selection of leaders, and then, to those selected, they delegated the designated task. Leadership was not a matter of top-down directives, but a highly interactive process that involved the body of believers. They chose from among themselves people who were “known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.” Their selection process depended upon the priesthood of all believers arriving at a consensus, based on prayer and spiritual discernment. The process was radically different from the will of the majority choosing the most popular candidate. Luke adds that “this proposal pleased the whole group.” Everyone had sense of ownership in solving the problem and that helped to assure its success. They demonstrated mutual respect for one another. When the seven were chosen the body of believers “presented them to the apostles, who prayed and laid hands on them.” The process went full circle and concluded with a commissioning service.

(5) Leadership selection is based on a unique set of qualifications. They chose a team of seven who were qualified in a special way. They were “known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.” It may be easy to skip over this qualification, but consider its true significance. The seven were not picked because of what they might become but what they already were known to be. They were chosen not for their wished-for-potential but for their clearly demonstrated character. Nor were they chosen for their personality. Somebody wasn’t saying that what we need for this position is an extroverted personality type who has an intuitive grasp of people’s problems and is considerate of other people’s needs. There wasn’t a Myers-Briggs personality type that they were looking for. They were looking for people full of faith and the Holy Spirit. They were looking for people “willing to trust Christ, to take him at his word and to risk all for Christ’s sake” (Williams, 104).

Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One-Minute Manager, counsels pastors never to select a person for their leadership team who doesn’t have a positive emotional effect on you the minute he or she walks into your office. In other words, you can have the character of a man or woman of God, and the competence to meet the need, but if you don’t pass the chemistry test, you don’t belong. Thankfully, this was not how the early church selected its leaders. They looked for people full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.

There may have been practical reasons for selecting seven men with Greek names, but I don’t think it can be said that they were chosen for political reasons. Undoubtedly they needed Greek-speaking disciples to minister to the needs of the Greek-speaking believers. Selection was not based on potential, personality or politics, but on a consistent demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That was what commended these seven to all the disciples.

Douglas D. Webster teaches pastoral theology and preaching at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. Excerpted with permission from a message preached August 22, 2004.

No One Ever Told Me!

by Jenny Prine

One summer, eight year old Kourtney pedaled her bicycle down the street to her neighbor’s house. Her neighbor, Mrs. Williams, had invited her to a special week-long Bible club that was just for kids. Kourtney was so excited when she arrived that first day and saw ten other boys and girls there; they had been invited to the club, too. Jeffry and Rachel, two teenagers, were also there.  They were going to lead the hour long club each day. With curiosity and anticipation, the children gathered on blankets under a large shade tree in the backyard.  The first day of Good News Club began.

The boys and girls sang songs, learned a Bible verse, heard an exciting Bible story, played a review game, and listened to a true-life missionary story.  Kourtney, with the other children, heard of God’s love for her and how He created each one uniquely special. They learned of sin, a problem with which everyone is born that separates them from God. They also learned of Jesus, God the Son, who came and willingly died on a cross for their sin, was buried and came alive again.  They heard that Jesus said, “whoever believes in Him will not perish (not be separated from Him) but will have eternal life (life with Him now and forever)” (John 3:16).

At the end of club, the children were given an opportunity to believe in the Lord Jesus as their own personal Savior.  Rachel invited those who were interested in believing in the Lord Jesus to come and talk to her while the rest of the children line up for their snack.  As the boys and girls lined up, Kourtney quietly came and stood beside Rachel.  Rachel asked her why she came.  Kourtney said that she would like Jesus to come and live in her and forgive her sin.  Rachel asked her if she had ever done that before.  Kourtney shrugged her shoulders and said, “No, no one ever told me I could.”  Right then Kourtney believed in the Lord Jesus as her personal Savior, believing that He died for her sin, asking Him to forgive her sin and to come and live in her.  Kourtney continued to attend club each day that week.  She continued to learn more exciting truths from God’s Word and how she could grow in her new life in Christ.

There are many children throughout our communities just like Kourtney who have never heard the gospel and have never received an opportunity to personally believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior.  I have heard it said that approximately 80% of today’s children will never walk through the doors of a church.  We reach some through our children’s programs and summer vacation Bible schools, but there is still a large number of boys and girls who are not being reached within the walls of our church buildings.

So how do we reach these unreached children who are not coming to us?  We go to where they are, into their neighborhoods, bringing God’s Word to them.  This is at the heart of Child Evangelism Fellowship’s® summer 5-Day Club® ministry.  CEF® works alongside churches and individuals who are burdened for the spiritually lost children in their community.  During the summer individuals volunteer to host a club in their front or backyard or on their porch or patio for a week.  They invite the children in their neighborhood to come to their home for a 5-Day Club, a club like the one Kourtney attended.  CEF trains and equips Christian teenagers and adults who then go out in teams to teach these Bible clubs throughout the community.

If you find yourself burdened for these unreached boys and girls in your own community and desire to find out if 5-Day Clubs are available in your area, you may check out Child Evangelism Fellowship’s website at www.cefonline.com or call the CEF headquarters 1-800-300-4033 for more information.

INTRODUCTION TO MYSELF: My name is Jenny Prine and I am a Christian Union missionary serving with Child Evangelism Fellowship in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I grew up in the First Delphos Christian Union Church in Delphos, Ohio.  I am a 2000 graduate of our Christian Union Bible College.  I have been on fulltime staff with CEF for the past six years but I am approaching my eighth summer of being involved with the local 5-Day Club ministry.  This will be our fifth summer of training Christian teenagers to go out and teach these clubs in the Fort Wayne community.  We began with a group of 6 dedicated young people, last year we had 13, and this summer we are looking at the possibility of having 20 teenagers dedicating their summer to the Lord’s service by teaching these clubs and reaching the unreached children in our area with the gospel.

Why not seek to reach children in your community? Contact Child Evangelism (www.cefonline.com) or Jenny at jenprine@verizon.net or 260-471-2763

How I Distribute Our Bulletins

by Avis Brown, Homer Christian Union, Indiana

I print the bulletins at my church. . . . I put the Witness Express in our bulletins the Sunday after their receipt. At the present time the number I receive . . . is adequate for us. If there are unused bulletins I remove the Express and put it on the table with the other “pick up” literature.

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