I would consider myself the typical male. If it comes to things to be done around the house I will try almost anything including those skills for which I have had no training. There are some projects like painting , carpentry , some plumbing and simple electrical work that my wife will let me do. There are times however when she puts her foot down and calls in a professional. I don\u2019t understand why, but I submit to her wishes even though I just know I could have done the job.<\/p>\n
GPS\u2019s were made for people like me who will not admit to be lost. Even with those things I still think I can get us there another way. When I do that I usually make a wrong turn somewhere and wind up having to back track or taking a longer route thus wasting precious time.<\/p>\n
My experiences at home have been a good lesson for me at church. Quite often I have to realize that there are many things I cannot do, well maybe I could try them but the results would be inferior at best. I leave the leading of the music ministry, drama, finances and building and grounds for example to those who know what they are doing. I need all of the other people in my life to help things run smoothly and to carry on God\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
The experiences of the past number of years have shown us that the church is not a one man\/woman show. There is just too many things to be done even on a daily basis for one person to think that they have the capability to do everything. This attitude leads to confusion, frustration and an apathetic spirit among the members. Each person truly wants to be part of something significant. Deep down we realize that each one of us is part of the greater body for a reason. We should gain some amount of comfort from knowing that we are not expected to accomplish the task all by ourselves. Not including others causes us to waste time and energy. Bringing others along on the journey makes for a pleasant trip and everyone then knows where we are headed.<\/p>\n
Before looking at the Scripture for today, let\u2019s look at what brought the church to the situation found in today\u2019s lesson of defining specific roles needed for the church to continue to grow.<\/p>\n
In each of the above examples there is a common thread that can be seen. The apostles were either teaching\/preaching or healing.<\/p>\n
Acts 6:1<\/p>\n
The ever increasing number of disciples caused a complaint to arise. It was not the numbers of new believers that brought on the problem, but the fact that now there were Jews with different cultural backgrounds involved.<\/p>\n
Acts 6:2-4<\/p>\n
As leaders, the apostles stepped in to resolve the problem. They took a different approach than the church might have expected.<\/p>\n
As mentioned above the church had grown exponentially and it would was becoming more difficult if not impossible for the apostles to handle everything. They understood very clearly that to try to do too many things would not allow them to do any of them well. The church was therefore informed that they viewed their leadership roles as being the main teachers and the ones who would consistently pray for the church. This did not mean that they viewed any of these other ministry needs of the church less important.<\/p>\n
The congregation was therefore called together to choose men to handle this ministry need. There are two important things happening here. First the congregation was given the responsibility of making the decisions of the church. Two, the men chosen were from within the body. Third, All of the men had Greek names. This means the congregation chose those who would have a clear understanding of the particular ministry need of the congregation.<\/p>\n
Now there are three different roles in the early church.<\/p>\n
Acts 6:7<\/p>\n
The apostles were allowed to continue to focus on God\u2019s word in study and sharing of it. They were not shackled by everyday details, therefore the word kept spreading. Because the church dealt with the issue in a way that was God honoring, the church continued to grow.<\/p>\n
All that was taking place finally began to break through the fortress of the law that the priests had built around them. Many of them became \u201cobedient to the faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the last two weeks you have heard explained in different ways what the biblical form of church leadership and the qualifications of those who would fill those positions. Now is the time for you to prayerfully consider the direction the church should take. You will be given ample opportunity to give your input on this matter. If is important that you participate in this study that could affect the church for many years to come. The more knowledge you have about church leadership the better decision you will be able to make.<\/p>\n
Over the time period given to study leadership models we will come to understand what the New Testament from Acts through the Epistles has to say to us. We will notice that although given the model of leadership (form) that God\u2019s word does not give us a set of rules by which we are to carry out the ministry of Bethany Place (function). What worked for the first century church in meeting the needs of the people may not and probably would not in our unique church setting and culture. Every church operates in a different environment and time.<\/p>\n
Together we can determine what we want the church to look like under God\u2019s guidance over the next few years. All of the details of how we will minister have been left to us to work out. Now is the time to possibly reshape who we are so that Bethany Place can be a viable part of God\u2019s work in this community. We have the opportunity to impact the future in a meaningful way .<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Church of Genuine Teamwork Lesson 11 Acts 6:1-7 I would consider myself the typical male. If it comes to things to be done around the house I will try almost anything including those skills for which I have had no training. There are some projects like painting , carpentry , some plumbing and simple electrical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions\/650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}