September 7, 2008

“Urgent Demands”

Exodus 18:13-24

Bills need to be paid, children attended to, the dog walked, phone calls and emails returned, calendars kept, appointments made, houses and cars maintained, not to mention our jobs and the actual work to be done.

I’ve often heard people say they wish there were eight days in a week or more hours in a day. Well, I don’t. I have enough trouble dealing with seven, 24-hour days. Maybe this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure we’re under. But more likely it would just add more to our already overburdened lives.

The tyranny of the urgent can compromise our attending to the important things in life. Writing a letter, visiting a friend, reading a book, studying God’s word or learning to pray often take a back seat to some “pressing” task or problem. I find myself saying, “I’ll get to those things later, important as I know they are. But I ‘have to’ do this other urgent thing now.” Then, too often, I never get to the important.   

In Exodus 18, we have an example of the tyranny of the urgent and the adjusted attendance to the important. Moses was spending too much time and energy hearing about the Hebrews’ needs and complaints after they crossed the Red Sea from bondage in Egypt to freedom in the promise of a new life. Now they were traveling through the wilderness toward the Promised Land. This isn’t mere ancient history of 3500 years ago. We have a genuine parallel in our lives in the 21st century. As Christians, we’ve been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And now, we’re the ones journeying through the wilderness of life in this world. As we wait and yearn for entering that heavenly place in eternity, we have many needs and express many complaints. I imagine that God gets a bit weary with my constant need for attention. I need advice for my marriage and family, support and encouragement in my work, and help in meeting life’s demands. Moses had problems on his hands. I have problems on mine. And so do you.

I have to admit. I’m very much like Moses. I prefer doing things myself. You know, “If you want something done right… (do it yourself).” Rarely asking for help, I sometimes feel quite fulfilled in the tasks I accomplish. But more often it’s a source of frustration. Running out of time, energy, and resources leaves me a bit empty and bothered. Important things are often left undone.    

So I have to ask you (and ask myself), “At this moment, which is stacked higher: your IN basket or your OUT basket?” And, “How high does the IN basket have to get before you (or I) shuffle it to others? Before you ask for help?”

“Listen now to me,” says father-in-law Jethro to Moses. “I’ll give you some advice (and may God be with you – ‘I think you ought to listen to this’). Yes, Moses, you must be the people’s representative before God. Teach them his decrees. Show them the way. But select capable people, those who fear God and are trustworthy. Appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.”     

Jethro suggested (strongly) that Moses delegate most of his work to others and focus his efforts on the jobs that only he could do. The art of delegation is a skill that we’ve all heard of. Falsely, it can be used to dump our own failures onto the shoulders of those in our charge. Truly, it can be used as a dynamic tool for motivating and training others to realize their full potential.

As many of you know, the Healthy Church Initiative was a consulting process that we held here at First Pres three years ago. We modified our structure to encourage this kind of delegation by giving our professional and volunteer staff both the responsibility and the authority to manage ministry. After three years of this approach, we now want to evaluate it and see what went well, what needs improvement, and where we go from here. The Session elders did some evaluations in August. The staff will have some conversations this month. And the congregation is invited to interact with the pastors and staff on Saturday morning October 11th. Lastly, we will have a follow-up consultant come in January to help us affirm the good things that HCI brought as well as make adjustments to be even more effective in our mission and ministry together as a church.    

As pastors, James and I want to preach and teach, counsel and lead, and do the work of the pastor-teacher as Ephesians 4 says. Paul says that it’s the job of the pastor “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13). The pastors lead.   

The elders (our Session of 7) are “responsible for the mission and government of the particular church.” That’s in our historic Presbyterian Book of Order. Here’s some more from our Form of Government. “It is the duty of elders, individually and jointly, to strengthen and nurture the faith and life of the congregation. Together with the pastors, they should encourage the people in the worship and service of God, equip and renew them for their tasks within the church and for their mission in the world, visit and comfort and care for the people.” The pastors lead, the session governs.   

Then the staff manages. Currently, we have 27 staff positions. Ten are part-time or full-time paid positions (youth, children’s, music, administrative ministries). And there are 17 volunteer positions (mission support, discipleship, men’s and women’s, small groups, deacons, prayer, congregational care, and the like). Each of our staff members then gathers members and friends within the congregation to do the various ministries of the church. We are trying to break through the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of the work is done by 20 % of the people. I would hope that 100% of the work would be done by 100% of the people.    

The idea is that each person here find their place in the body of Christ as Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12 suggest. “So in Christ,” writes the apostle Paul, “we who are many form one body. We have different gifts according to the grace given us.” And he lists things like serving, teaching, encouragement, giving, leadership, mercy, healing, organizing, and others. All of God’s gifts for life and ministry are distributed among all of his people. Each one of us here this morning has gifts and potential.   

The pastors, lead, the session governs, the staff manages, and the members do ministry.

“If you do this,” said Jethro to Moses, “and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” It will make your load lighter and effectiveness will be multiplied. “Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.”   

So I ask again, “How are you coping with the stresses and strains of trying to get everything done that needs to be done in your life?” I admit that I let the tyranny of the urgent take over too often. I too need to learn how to address the important. One way of doing that is to delegate. Ask for help. Allow others to discover and grow in their gifts and abilities. To enable someone else to do something for you, be sure to let them know what you want and need, give them the authority to do it, and offer help in knowing how to do it. Then cut them loose. Good things will happen.   

In Exodus 18, we’ve seen how a biblical leader acted to keep overwhelming urgent demands on his time and strength from crowding out the important tasks. Life in this world and our culture can be overwhelmingly busy. But God wants you and me to handle our time and energy, our gifts and abilities in a way that multiplies effectiveness. I hope you and I will grow in this in our personal lives as well as in our church life together.
So, let us pray for one another to keep life and faith, mission and ministry focused on the important things.