Glenwood Presbyterian is a “small church.” With less than 100 members, there are certain dynamics of that type of small group. I stumbled across a good intelligent article which sums up a lot of what is familiar to me. As we start the search for a new pastor, I thought it was good reading and wanted to share it with you. It is from a website called SmallChurch.Com. I haven’t had time to explore their whole site yet, but here’s a link to the article.
My lesson at SHINE this coming Sunday night is on Gideon, that “mighty man of valor” from the book of Judges. I selected this particular story because of the inevitable loss of some members whenever there is a change in the pastor. God called Gideon to go and conquer the Midianites, who were oppressing the nation of Israel. Gideon, after some delays, rounds up an army of 32,000 men, a pitiful force with which to fight the Midianites, but God has him whittle his army down until Gideon is left with a force of 300 men. But God can do more through 300 dedicated men than he can with tens of thousands of lukewarm followers and he delivers the Midianites into Gideon’s hand.
What struck me as I was studying this today happens just after that miraculous victory. In Judges 8:1, the Ephraimites criticize Gideon sharply saying, “Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?” They’re upset that they didn’t get to join this vastly outnumbered army now that they have seen the results…
I can’t tell you how many times as the head of various church committees, I have attempted to get volunteers for certain things and been unsuccessful. I hate putting someone on the spot and asking them to do something, so I will advertise the need and wait (many times in vain) for interested parties to heed the call and volunteer. Same thing happens as the choir director - members of the congregation want more “special music” solos, but no one volunteers and we have to recruit folks who may or may not feel called to participate in that way.
The Ephraimites were upset that they weren’t asked to get involved. More likely, they were upset because they didn’t get to share the glory and probably even attributed arrogance to Gideon, deciding irrationally that he meant to exclude them so he wouldn’t have to share that glory and success.
So the question is this: should Christians need to be asked before they use their spiritual gifts for the good of the church? Should church leaders ask members to do certain things before expecting them to participate? I completely understand the need to encourage some people generally to use their gifts, or in certain circumstances, specifically approaching a person and saying, “I think you would do a great job with [insert program here] based on your gifts and talents. Have you considered it?” But with my Type A personality, if I see a need and feel called to address it, I’m going to volunteer long before anyone has to ask me.
Have I completely missed the mark?
