Me? How can I help my church leadership do a better job?

Have you noticed your pastor (or ministry leader) has been a little off his game lately? Are his sermons or devotions seeming to lack energy or that ‘wow' factor? 

Being a pastor can be one of the most stressful jobs on the planet. Why? Because he has to deal with the likes of you and me on a daily basis. He carries with him our hopes and dreams and does his utmost to see them come to pass. He takes us at our worst and offers us a shoulder to cry on, a leg to stand on, and a board to sound off of. He also has to personally see to it that you are being challenged to change and stimulated to grow spiritually. That is a tall order for one man, especially when your church has more than a dozen people in it. Being married to a pastor has helped me realize there are a good few things you and I can do as church members that can help carry that load.

So how can you help your ministry leader?

1               Resist the temptation to criticize. (Luke 11:46)

Criticism helps no one. It is empty of hope and actually does more to suck the life out of your pastor than anything else. If you see an unmet need in your congregation, it is very likely the Lord is burdening you to find, and/or be, the solution to that need. Pray, seek counsel, and then act. Come up with a Biblical solution that is practical and possible. Then go to your pastor and share your vision to help. If your pastor or leadership do not see it is a possible solution, listen to their reasons. You may have to go back to the drawing board and prayer closet. Do not be too proud to do so. If your leadership like your idea and give you the green light, but you believe you cannot be part of that solution for reasons of time restraints, ask the Lord if He is asking you to sacrifice something in order to do this. Perhaps He wants you to team up with someone with specific giftings. It is my experience that if you care enough about the people in your church, you will find the time to take care of the need the Lord puts on your heart. Imagine, if everyone did this every time he or she felt the need to criticize, how our churches would burst into life!

2               Pray, pray, pray. (Eph. 6:12-18)

Much of our battle as Christians is spiritual in nature. We do not fight against flesh and blood, and we certainly do not fight against the very person God has put as our leader/s to help guide and grow us. Your pastor, your pastor’s wife, your eldership or youth leader is not your enemy; Satan is. He is constantly looking to destroy unity, discredit leaders, and discourage the church as a whole. Be alert for such patterns. Take up the position of watchman. Pray; on your knees, in your closet, with a fervent and unrelenting heart. Help carry the burden spiritually. Do you know how many people each week ask a pastoral team to pray for them? Of course pastors pray, but oh, how you could be holding up weary arms by returning the favor?

3               Do not judge, you're not qualified. (Rom. 14:13, Luke 6:42)

Judgment always comes from a place of pride, of believing you have sufficient knowledge to be in superior position than those you judge. God is the only one qualified, because He is the only one who knows the true heart motive behind any action. Always give your leader the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he was just hungry. Most pastors don’t have the luxury of a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast! Perhaps there was actually good intention behind the decision or action that you did not agree with. Perhaps your pastor was not being selfish in suggesting someone else preach next week. Perhaps he was seeing an opportunity to encourage Mary or John to grow when he asked them instead of you to help with the communion. Jesus spent much of his time discrediting the Pharisees’ self-proclaimed right to judge. Would He do the same with you and me? Watch out for those logs in your eyes and hearts!

4               Encourage. (1 Thes. 5:11)

Every Monday morning brings the same question to a pastor’s heart, “Did I do a good enough job encouraging my flock this weekend?" Self doubt is a leader’s worst enemy. If you felt challenged by his sermon, tell him so. If you feel encouraged just by knowing he will always be there every Sunday (even when he has taken so many flu meds that he is seeing double!), tell him. If you feel spiritually safe under his care, tell him. If you are glad he stood in the gap and prayed for you this week, tell him so. Do not take his care for granted. He does it under conviction from God, not because you deserve it.

5               Be a team player, (and be the one to run for water too!) (1 Cor. 12:12,14:26)

The church is a body, each member has it’s own vital function to perform. If you have a ministry, do it with integrity and without complaint. Show initiative, search out ways to improve what you do: research, study, practice. Do not expect your leader to walk you through with baby steps holding your hand. He may not physically have the time, and believe it or not, a pastor cannot be an expert in all fields. If you find yourself with extra time, look for others who may be struggling and offer a helping hand. If you do not currently have an official ministry, ask the Lord what He would have you do in His church. We all need each other and are all ordained to care for and love one another, (1 John 3:23, Heb. 10:24-25). Pastoring was never intended to be a one-man (or even a ten-man) job. Church was never meant to be a place you visit on Sundays and passively observe. It is not a building. It is not an institution for religious ceremony. It is a living, breathing organism, whose purpose on Earth is to show the world who Jesus is, (John 13:35). If you are part of the church, do not fall into the trap of believing your role in it is any less important than anyone else’s including your pastor's.

      Eph. 2:19-22. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

May we all do better at bringing His glory to where we are. 

Teachers of the Law and Disciples of the Kingdom

Today´s 11th grade literature class included the reading of Henry Van Dyke´s The Mansion. It is such a clever and beautiful paradox that tells the story of an elderly man named John Weightman who lived in a mansion. Since the class, I have not been able to shake the story from my thoughts. So, let me share it with you.

Mr. Weightman had spent his life carefully administering his money and building a name for himself as well as many large charities. He had financed hospitals and schools, his local church, and had also prepared a lasting legacy for his family. He was considered successful and generous. 

In the story, (for those who have not had the pleasure of reading it) he enters into a conflict with son Harold, who wants freedom to live his life without having it all planned out for him. He wants to use his summer vacation to go help with a project that has no monetary gain and to help a friend who has fallen ill. His father insists these activities are not a good investment, and they have a falling out. 

John Weightman then tries to read his Bible. He turns to the passage in Matthew that says: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust do corrupt and where thieves break through and steal." He justifies that his treasures had been kept safe from moth, rust and thieves and then falls asleep.

While asleep, he dreams he is taken to heaven with several others, and each is given their own mansion. After everyone has received their just rewards, Weightman is anxious to see his, sure that it will be better than all of the others. His mansion, however, turns out to be a rundown old shack. When he complains, he is told that these were the only materials he had sent ahead to build his mansion. The gatekeeper goes on to explain that in order to build a beautiful mansion in heaven, he had had to live a generous life on earth with selfless motives. Almost all of his ventures on earth had been for his own credit. 

Jesus explains at the end of a series of parables that describe His Kingdom that “...every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” Matthew 13:52

The teachers of the law lived strictly righteous lives. They studied the Scriptures and did their best to live spotless lives, but their motives were not always selfless, even if they were, at times, generous. Jesus said these experts and religious folks were not disciples of the Kingdom, not until they brought out new treasure as well as the old from their storerooms.

Do I have storerooms of treasures that I keep only for myself? And, when I am generous, do I give with selfish motives? What is my mansion in heaven being made out of? 

Empanadas Kiwi Style

Empanadas are typically known as a Latin American pie, but I grew up knowing them in NZ as pasties. Here they can be deep fried or baked. Tonight, I made a bunch and added my own twist and thought I´d share it with you.

Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C.

Dough

3 cups of flour
1 heaped teaspoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 teaspoons of sugar
1/2 cup (or 1/4 lb of butter)
2/3 cup of chicken stock
1 egg

Filling

250g minced beef
1/2 cup of diced capsicum (bell pepper)
1/2 cup of frozen corn
1 tsp mixed herbs
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 brown onion gravy sachet
salt and pepper
I also added some backyard oven seasoning I got in the USA.

Sweet alternative filling (I only made one but it was delicious even with the chicken stock, which sounds weird, but it does work)
1/4 grated apple
1 pecan (left over from Christmas)
1 tsp sugar
a sprinkle of cinnamon

To make the dough: mix the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. In a cup, whisk the egg with a fork and add the room temp. chicken stock. Add these wet ingredients to the dry and mix to form a soft dough.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour and divide the dough into about 18 evenly sized balls. Roll each ball out into a circle and place a spoonful or two on one side, dampen the edges with egg white, fold the edges together and pinch. Brush the top with egg white and bake on a tray lined with wax baking paper.

For the sweet alternative,  place grated apple into one of the rolled crusts, chop up the nut, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon, and close up the empanada. After brushing the top with egg white, sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Then flip them over and put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Well, folks it is time for prayer meeting. Blessings to you all.

Shifts and Surprises!

Christmas has come and gone for yet another year. It seems to me that a shift is taking place. Not a dramatic one and probably not a significant one, but it is a change that makes me stop and think about how our lives with God shift as we grow older. (Why is it that when I find a space in time to get all reflective, a massive shouting match breaks out on the street and all the neighbours flock to see? It seems people are still edgy over the stabbings that occurred about a month ago, killing two of my neighbours.) Now, where was I?

Once upon a time Christmas morning was abuzz with little ones teetering on the edge of hysteria at the thought of opening the surprises in their overstuff stockings. As the years rolled on, this level of euforia has dwindled, slowed, and then took a gradual turn.

This particular Christmas morning (actually afternoon since Mexico celebrates Christmas Eve with a large meal that lasts into the wee hours of the morning, and no one wants to get up early on the 25th, ever!), I realized that our kids' greatest moment of delight was watching their parents open these fantastic stocking fillers! They told us they took hours choosing what to get us and and had the most fun doing it.

When did this shift occur? When did my kids 'grow up', and find more excitement in giving instead of getting? Well, they still like the getting too.

Is it not the same with falling in love? It's all firecrackers and jingle bells at first, and then over time we mature and realize it is better to give than to receive.

As I have been following my Saviour now, for close to 40 years, I have grown to love serving Him beyond words. With each New Year, come the challenges and heartbreaks of dealing with the poor and the broken on a daily basis, but there also comes a deep-seated joy, an expectation. What surprises will He let me discover this year? What crazy gift has He secretly planned for me to unwrap? Better yet, what can I surprise Him with? It may take me hours to plan, perhaps even all year, but I can't wait.

Flying Leap and Missing the Mark

Our kids are home for the Christmas break, and to celebrate we went for an overnight getaway to Amecameca. The village is nestled into the skirts of Mexico’s great volcanos Popocatépetl and Ixtaccíhuatl where the air is fresh and the food is fantastic homestyle country cooking. During our stay this week, we set out for a casual stroll under the pine trees. The rainy season ceased several months ago meaning that the grass was now tawny and crunchy underfoot, and the ground was hard and somewhat dusty. I watched my son’s long legs step gracefully over a tiny creek and continue on bounding from old trunks to picnic tables and showing off his goalkeeper agilities. He had made passing the creek look so easy that I didn’t think twice. I took a few steps back, sized up the incline on the far bank, ran and leaped. The world around me seemed to hold its breath, and then erupted with laughter as I missed my footing and fell hard and flopped within inches of that tiny creek! Okay, so I misjudged that one just a tad! I am not the only one in history to do something so publicly stupid, but at least I did not end up in the creek. My family has never laughed so hard, and well, King Solomon did say that laughter is good medicine. That evening as we returned to the city, I nursed my bruises and reflected on what I had read that morning. It seems that King Solomon’s son also missed the mark that was laid out before him. 2 Chronicles 12 tells the story of how Rehoboam, once firmly established as king, turned away from God’s law. He ruled in Jerusalem for seventeen years and in that time learned how to humble himself before the Lord and managed to turn the Lord’s wrath from him. It doesn’t sound too bad, but by the end of his life, verse 14 says the following about Rehoboam,

“He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.”

Rehoboam missed the mark, because he did not set his heart on seeking the Lord. I like the Spanish version of this verse that says (in my personal translation) 'he acted badly because he did not have the firm purpose of seeking the Lord.' With the holiday season in full swing, it is all too easy to get caught up in end-of-year dinners, gift exchanges, decorating and baking. It is easy to get so distracted that we miss the mark regardless of how secure we may feel in our position with God. This Christmas I am challenged to firmly and purposefully set my heart on seeking the Lord.

Here we go...

This week has marked the beginning of my life as a publicly known author. It has only taken me six years to get my first book Shira: The Name History Forgot ready for publishing. I have learned so much about grammar, graphic design, and ebook formatting that I feel like my head could explode. Add that to my life in this mega city, and no wonder my family have been keeping their merry distance this week.

To give you a taste, let me share this little incident with you. One morning this week, I took the skinny backroads option in getting  to the missionary kids' school, where I teach language arts. I sped over the speed humps and wove my way closer to my destination, when suddenly a couple of cyclist decided they would prefer to ride in the middle of the road right in front of me. After following their rather leisurely pace for all of ninety seconds, I found myself honking at the jovial hippies and pointing for them to get out of my way. The girl nearly fell off her bike in fright, but she did move enough for me to zoom on past-only to come smack up behind a garbage truck. Moments later, the bearded hippy threw his body against the passenger door, bending the mirror backward, and yelled something I won't repeat. He then cycled on past ringing his little bike bell.

"Lord, I know you say I shouldn't curse anyone, but you saw that, right?" I said through clenched teeth.

Life in the city can have its stressors to say the least.

Shira's story has been a world away from this one, both a retreat and a stress release. This week I am delighted to share it with you.