Organizational skills

 

Does that photo capture what you thought of, when you read the title? Some people have "mad" (really great) organizational skills. They can put things into categories, work out storage options, and the result is a well-planned, useful space.

Other people have a different kind of organizational skills; they are good at prioritizing tasks, making lists, building a foundation for the next effort, and more. 

This time, we are talking about the organization of the church. Specifically, the New Testament church. We are going to continue in the book of Titus and see what the Holy Spirit has for us to learn.

Here's a question for us: "Who runs the local church?" Some people may think that the pastor runs the church. They believe that all of the decisions filter through his hands, and that all of the business in the church is run by the shepherd of that congregation.

Some people think that the organization of a church should be patterned after the United States government. That it should operate as a democratic republic. They say, the pastors and elders (or deacons) are the elected officers, similar to the President and Congress. They point to the church business meetings as the place where members can voice their opposition or approval, and vote on things.

A third model that has greatly influenced American churches is that of the business world. Many Christians are accustomed to various management and operational procedures. They think that the church is like a corporation, with a chairman of the board at the top (the pastor) and his board of directors (elders) next in the chart. The final level of the organizational chart is that of the stockholders!

It's true that there may be some similarities between the business and government models and the modern church, but the biblical picture is different. The church is not just an organization or a club, but instead it is a living organism. All living organisms are highly organized. Organisms have organs that are separate in function by mutually dependent, like our heart, our circulatory system, our lymphatic system, etc. 

That describes the church, too. We believers are a living, unified organism, the one body of which Jesus Christ is the head. Every member is a necessary part of that body - we may be separate in function, but we are dependent on one another, and also on Christ, the head.

Now we can see that the main idea of the New Testament church (and our churches today) is to allow Jesus to function as the living head of the church body. None of us should be seeking our own way about various matters in the church - we must seek God's will as revealed in His Word. And there is NO one man who "runs" the church; Christ leads the church through godly men who shepherd His flock under His headship.

Here's our focus verse for this part of our study:

The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. .........Since an overseer manages God’s household........ (Titus 1:5, 7a)

We'll talk more about this next time!