"Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and ministry of the word."
Acts 6:3-4 NIV
In Acts, we read of much church growth and as a result of the growth, challenges arose. Today, we read of a solution to the problem of Grecian Jews complaining that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. With church growth, labor needs to be divided; remember Jethro's advice to Moses in Exodus 18:13-26 to "select capable men from all the people--men who fear God, trustworthy men, who hate dishonest gain--and appoint them as officials...have them serve as judges."
The challenge is the same today in churches when there is growth. Duties increase and as the duties increase, more need to be called to serve in various leadership roles. Those roles are many and diverse. Some roles take much time, others less time. Roles need to be filled or the job, duty, event, service or other item might be challenged, and might not even occur.
We church members need to pray about where we could serve. Discuss answers to prayers with the pastor(s), with other church members. Consider your own God given strengths and weaknesses in your discernment.
How might one identify an individual with wisdom and being full of the Spirit, capable, fearing God, trustworthy, and hating dishonest gain. One place to look is for fruits of the Spirit. Does that person show the fruits of the Spirit as mentioned in Galatians 5:22; love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? That is a starting point. As you get to know that potential leader (as you get to know yourself) one may consider areas of potential darkness, habits, pastimes, activities, language habits, or others you might consider that might be kept out of the light.
With that background, one might have a sense of where that potential leaders heart is. After guidance of the Spirit, prayer, and discernment, one then is best equipped to choose or select a potential leader who is growing and focused on Christ. This approach might reduce the chance of selecting a potential leader/servant who is not double minded and trying to serve two masters.
How might one consider their own strengths and weaknesses for service in Christ's church?
How would you respond if asked for a service/leadership role in Christ's church?
Pray for discernment for church leaders as they select lay leaders for service.
Pray for the Spirit to open the hearts and make time available for those asked to be leaders.
Pray for God's protective arms to be wrapped around the pastoral staff.
In Christ,
David P
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