The Board (Pentecost - Day 6)

(Based on 1 Timothy 5:17-25)

Recently, at a church I used to attend, the music pastor and his wife were both forced to resign. They had both been there from the beginning, helping the church grow from a few people meeting in a living room to a massive congregation of 3,000 people. According to the pastor of the church, the couple did not live up to the agreed statutes of the contract they had signed when they stepped into leadership. They had agreed to give a certain amount of their income to the church, something expected of all the paid staff, but all of their gifts were going outside the church. Conversations had been going on for about two years, trying to get the couple to start giving to the church, but it was to no avail. 

Both the man and his wife had huge impacts in the community. The wife led a bible study that was drawing more than 500 women to listen to her teach. The husband spent a lot of time teaching high school age students and others who didn't really have much going for them how to improve their music skills. I even knew of a foster kid who played the guitar, and this man personally bought him a new guitar in order to help the kid excel in his music. 

Nonetheless, the couple failed to live up to the binding contract they had agreed to from the beginning. Although they were giving sacrificially outside of the church in ways that really helped people, they weren't giving to the building that housed the people and the administrative costs of that effort. 

When the congregation found out that the couple was forced to resign, there was a huge uproar. The members were allowed to show up to the church to voice their opinions about the situation, after the resignation. Basically, nothing could be done to turn it around, but the people were allowed to say what was on their mind. The decision to fire the couple was made by a group of board members. Had the decision been a public decision, the couple possibly wouldn't have been fired. 

Never in the scriptures does it say that leadership staff should be forced to sign contracts in order to carry out their duties. Does it mean that it shouldn't happen? The problem with contracts - especially when it comes to serving the community - is that leaders are human beings. Contracts get broken, just like the ten commandments or any other biblical laws get broken. 

In today's passage, Paul gives instructions about church leadership. He says workers who are doing a really good job should get bonuses. He says that when paid leaders fall into sin, they should be called out on the carpet. That all makes sense when the lives of church staff are transparent, and the church structure and leadership is transparent. In his day of the house church, everyone worked together and played together. Everyone knew what was going on in everyone's life. Church structure wasn't built around spending six days a week trying to create the best two hour service on Sunday. Church structure wasn't built around figuring out how to make the most bang for the buck. 

However, church leadership structure was based on one thing: how best to carry the message of Christ into the world. The leaders gathered together with the people to figure out how they could carry out a message of freedom in Christ to a world that was oppressed by Roman and religious emperialism and oppression. When Paul was writing Timothy in this letter, he was telling him that church leaders were accountable to the people. The the lay men and women were the ones who held the leadership accountable. They knew what injustice was. They knew what was right and wrong. Paul says, "Don't listen to a complaint against a leader if there are not two or three witnesses supporting the claim." Who would these complaints be coming from? The people of the church. 

Nowadays, leaders in the church are seemingly perfect. The gap between church leadership and the people who have the responsibility of keeping them accountable is staggering. I would argue that Paul encourages Timothy to have referees instead of leaving the accountability of church leadership up to the leaders themselves. It's the people being led who know if they're being led correctly, being challenged to practice what they preach, and being supported in their struggles. 

Instead of letting the members of the church hold leaders accountable, leaders have become their own referees, their own appointed judges. The voice of the many has been smothered by the voice of the few. 

Last night, I had the opportunity to witness something that is very rare within a church body or any other body for that matter. Each person in my small group had a chance to have their say on which direction the group should go. Every voice that wanted to be heard was heard. Because of our conversation and the conversations to come, the regular Joes and Jolees are getting to direct the ship.

I think what happened last night comes very close to what Paul is trying to convey to Timothy. The people of the church are not stupid. They know when leaders are fulfilling their duties or not. The decisions of the people are much more accurate than the decisions made behind closed doors in secret. Leaders inside the church should not be solely accountable to each other, but should be accountable to the people they are leading. 

Today's Action: Whatever our vocation or position, ask the people we "lead" how we're doing. If we're teachers, let the students tell us how we're doing. If we're managers, let our co-workers tell us how we're doing. If we're pastors, let the members of the church tell us how we're doing. Lets be open-minded enough to be held accountable by the people we are trying to lead.