Like a Shepherd Lead Us

Tomorrow morning I will be spending three to four hours with our elders, doing some planning sorts of things. That's three to four hours; on a beautiful fall morning; on a Saturday.

Every Sunday afternoon our ministers meet with our elders at 3:30PM. The meetings usually last an hour and a half to two hours. On a Sunday afternoon. In between teaching, preaching and leading a small group. Do you realize how many ballgames have about 5 minutes to go when it is time for me to leave?

There are two amazing things about all of this. First, I really don't mind spending this time in these meetings. I don't exactly look forward to them--a meeting is a meeting, after all--but I like what we do and I enjoy my time with these people. There is a good spirit (or should that be Spirit) among our leaders, elders and ministers alike.

The other amazing thing to me is that they do it. This is a part of my job; Sunday is a work day for me, which is why I take Monday off. But not for them. At least some of them are working these and other activities into 40+ hour work weeks.

I think I have been involved with church leadership long enough to see a trend: Churches typically will reflect their leaders. When I think of those churches that have struggled a great deal, many of the problems they had could usually be traced back to leadership issues. I also have been a part of what I would consider to be awesome churches. In those churches, the dynamism began with the elders and flowed to the rest of the church.

When I was in the process of looking at churches where I might want to work, there was one determining factor that stood out above the rest. I would not go to a church where I felt the eldership was not the kind that I would want to follow. That was a non-negotiable for me. After a little over two years I can tell you that I am glad we are in Georgetown.

Our elders are not perfect (translation: they don't always do what I want them to do), but what I most appreciate about them is their willingness to continue to let God reshape them in their own faith and in their roles as church leaders. Maybe that is as close to perfection as any of us will ever get, to simply let God move us to the next step he wants us to take.

Paul wrote Timothy that "the elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor. . . " (1 Tim. 5:17). In most churches, including ours, I don't think we do that near as well as we should. Let's try to change that.