Ready to take on the world.... or not?

Hi!

I was really taken this week by the amazing scripture in Acts 6.  Take a look…

‘In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, 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 the ministry of the word.”’  Acts 6v1-4

My initial reaction was ‘Wow, that’s so amazing’.  You see I care for Tim and Helen, my church leaders, a lot, and particularly with the ever-growing work at Watford Community Church, and the increased numbers of people attending, not to mention the third service at Highwood, I do worry about them taking so much on and burning themselves out.  So how cool is this passage that almost lets them off the hook.  It’s ok to delegate.  The disciples couldn’t do everything themselves and had to focus on their calling, rather than trying to take on everything.  We have one pair of hands for a reason.  If God wanted us to do more than we can do with one pair of hands, He would have created us with two pairs.  I would hate for my leaders to take on too much, feel they have to do everything, and thus end up being removed from their ministry and teaching to do all of the extras.  This is definitely a word for some people, in that you can’t do everything.  We need a break, we need to rest, we need to stop, we need to delegate, we need to prayerfully hand the relay baton on and trust other people enough to carry on certain aspects of church and ministry.  We can’t be selfish and do it all.  That’s not what God wants.  If a footballer keeps the ball to himself without passing, he is going to set himself and his team up for losing.  We need to pass.

However on a second reflection of this, and through certain discussions on this passage, I was made aware of the difficulties of passing things on because sometimes God’s people, *myself included* just aren’t ready.  Sometimes there can appear to be a lack of people ready to receive the baton in the relay.  We can sometimes be too busy watching from the sidelines, looking at the other competitors and becoming distracted with other things, rather than standing in the starting blocks, ready to receive the baton or the ‘pass’.  This made me sad and upset me a fair amount.

Whilst I understand that sometimes it is just not possible to do, do, do all the time, and whilst I completely sympathise with those who just aren’t ready to take things on, at the same time sometimes I think we need to toughen up, train up, man up and open up ready to receive the baton and start running.  Sometimes I think we are so busy that we miss God’s calling to receive responsibility.  Sometimes we are just too apathetic to train and prepare ourselves for the next race or the next step.  Guys.  Church.  Family.  Let’s take a look at where we are in the relay.  Yes there is a time to rest, but there is also a time to receive the baton and run.  This can’t just happen straight away, we need to train, practise and prepare ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually in order to do this. 

So are we going to be a church who is ready to run; having prepared, prayed, trained, and so on?  Or are we going to hinder the growth of church by not allowing the baton to be passed on, and the few who are running the relay become overwhelmed and burnt out and exhausted?  Harsh words I know, but I pray this may stir you up and cause you to think about your position in the race.  Are you ready to take the baton and run?  Do you need to train a bit more?  Have you been an onlooker on the sidelines, but now need to train, prepare and act?

Love you guys J  Have a blessed day.