Imagine that we were going for a trip to New York.
As we arrive at the airport to check in our luggage, we are greeted by a man in a very smart uniform with four gold stripes on his sleeve. “How can I help you today?” he says warmly. “You will be in good hands as you fly. I should know, because I will be your pilot today!”
Our jaws drop as we turn to look at each other. This is amazing airline service, we are both thinking—we are being checked in by the pilot himself! What other airline would have the pilot as the very first person from the airline that you meet at the airport?
Shaking off our amazement, we start heading towards the immigration and duty free shopping outlets. After amusing ourselves for a while, we finally make our way to gate and settle into one of the rows of chairs just beside the window facing our Airbus 380. Then, something catches our attention. There is a guy in a uniform pushing containers of luggage into the hold who looks awfully familiar… It is the pilot! As he rushes away from pushing the last luggage container into the plane to connect the aeroplane fuel nozzle to the connector on the wing, there is a strange pause in our conversation. Something is a bit odd here.
There he is again with the same smile, though looking a little frazzled now, holding our electronic boarding pass to the scanner as we step into the airbridge, and then he rushes down past the queue of waiting passengers to welcome us onboard at the door and direct us to our seats. As we buckle ourselves into our seats, he is the one putting his head through the orange life vest to show us what to do in event of emergency. Because he is running around trying to check the list of passengers on board and close the last door, the plane final takes off about 90 minutes late. This no longer seems to be good service—it is getting a little bit annoying.
It is the captain who is there at the plane door with a tired smile as we step off onto American territory at JFK Airport, and as we are waiting to collect the luggage, we can see him driving the luggage carts up to the conveyor system and start heaving an endless stream of heavy, black suitcases onto the belt. We also notice that there is a small group of cabin crew there in the corner of the baggage claim area, who are indiscreetly complaining that the captain used a bit of off humour in his welcome over the intercom at the beginning of the flight and how he is planning to introduce a Medieval entertainment channel on the next flight. As we finally wheel our luggage into the arrivals area, we are no longer appreciating the wonderful service that the airline service has provided. We think it is madness!
Having the captain check your luggage in, load your luggage into the hold, fill the plane up with fuel and then check your boarding pass may make sense if you are traveling on a Cessna 680 to Broken Hill, but it is highly ineffective for him to do all that when you are travelling on an Airbus 380 to New York.
As God’s kingdom grows, there is a need to develop higher levels of organisation and for leaders to empower other leaders to lead. Jethro observed this issue with Moses and felt called by God to speak candidly with him: “What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.” Jethro advised Moses to establish a leadership structure that would allow him to delegate smaller responsibilities to other people with leadership abilities, so that he could focus on the bigger issues. Moses may never have had time to write those Biblical classics which we love so much, Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, etc, if he had not listened to Jethro’s wise advise.
What was true about God’s people heading out on their dessert journey was also true of Jesus’ church heading out on their missional journey. Satan used the limitations of the human leaders in the growing church to try and drive a divisive cultural wedge through the church. By listening to the Holy Spirit, though, the twelve apostles were able to establish organisational structure that enabled even more supernatural growth.
They looked for seven men to assist in distributing bread, but because of the leadership qualities that they were looking for and the discipleship training that they had given them, they received much more than bread-handlers. The result was not just happy Greek-speaking widows, but a massive increase in the rate of discipleship multiplication within the early church movement—including priests!
“The appointment of the seven to take the oversight of special lines of work, proved a great blessing to the church. These officers gave careful consideration to individual needs as well as to the general financial interests of the church, and by their prudent management and their godly example they were an important aid to their fellow officers in binding together the various interests of the church into a united whole.
“That this step was in the order of God, is revealed in the immediate results for good that were seen…. The fact that these brethren had been ordained for the special work of looking after the needs of the poor, did not exclude them from teaching the faith. On the contrary, they were fully qualified to instruct others in the truth, and they engaged in the work with great earnestness and success.” AA pp89,90
May God give us the wisdom and openness to being able to expand the leadership structures in our churches for kingdom effectiveness and spiritual success!
The book of Acts is drenched with the Holy Spirit. Reading it is like taking time to play out in the tropical rain! Read the full stories for today in:
Acts 6 NKJV
Acts of the Apostles “The Seven Deacons”
Invite your friends to join this journey with you! You can follow this journey on Facebook too.
