February 14, 2008
Real Stories
When I was team leader for the Adult Education Ministry I published a weekly newsletter for the adult Sunday School program. One column in the newsletter was interviews with individuals in the congregation. Recently one of the interviewees told me, “I really miss reading those newsletters. I still have the one you wrote on me.” She laughed, “I’m saving it for my obituary!”
My stint in Adult Education ended when the preacher told me that unless I went to worship services I couldn’t be in a leadership position. I was taken back because at the time I was attending and monitoring two adult Sunday School classes, leading Women’s Ministry and participating in the evening fellowship program.
I now read the church staff is seeking ‘skilled creative communicators in writing to communicate real stories of how lives are being changed…’ for the new Publications Ministry. A word of caution to creative writing applicants: Read the fine print on leadership qualifications.
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----What you were doing with your publication the Bible calls acknowledgment. It is a broad concept that only begins with printing stories of individual lives. It also involves becoming acquainted with the individual and learning what is that person’s joys, fears, needs, interests, and understandings. For fellowship involves each participating in the joys, encouraging against the fears, serving the needs, sharing the interests, and moderating behavior according to the understanding of the others. This all grows in time with genuine gathering together, and is the finishing process to what you began and what your church leaders are wanting to do.
-----I am sure they are going to find the skilled writers they need. The Lord continues to bring talent into your church even though the genius of your leaders continues to drive it away. And the fine print of the qualifications as written by the leaders is easy. It is the fine print of the qualifications as written by the Lord that is difficult.
-----It is scattered throughout the Word of God in almost passing terms, such as: “Love…does not demand its own way…” (I Cor 13:5 RSV), “Love must be sincere,” (Rom 12:9 NIV), “…let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth,” (I John 3:18 NIV), “Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up,” (Rom 15:2 NIV), “…love one another deeply, from the heart,” (I Pet 1:22 NIV), and, “… let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Gal 6:10 NIV). The Word is full of this kind of fine print. And the Lord regards it as even more operative than the leaders regard their own fine print. Yet, their love for you, Gail, was not genuine when they denied the publishing service you were performing from your heart. And they denied it because you did not agree with the favoritism they show in their worship services (speaking the truth in love, that is what the issue really was.) Since love does not demand its own way, there was actually no love to you, nor to those you were serving. If they ever professed any love towards any of you, it was only with the tongue. For their actions in their worship services demand what pleases themselves and denies what pleases these neighbors. Deeply from their hearts they were hating you and those who read your publications. They could not have you leading them to participate in each other’s joys, or encouraging against each other’s fears, serving each other’s needs, sharing each other’s interests, or learning each other’s understandings. For these are what makes a fellowshipping people strong. All of you could not be allowed to become strong, because you were all to be defeated, since you stood for what the leaders did not want in their partisan worship services. And who should be writing the fine print of leadership qualifications? Indeed!
-----All of what looks so innocent in the practices of the leaders at your church is so guilty when understood in the light of the Lord’s fine print. Although I know that the normal print says, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven,“ (Matt 7:21-23 NIV) I, too, am drawn to always hope in the bold print, “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Acts 2:21 NIV). But just how much of calling upon His name involves a genuine abiding to the fine print of His Word?
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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