Leading God’s church
by Pauline Simonsen
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Those who serve well … gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 3:13).
Who would be a bishop?!
Paul’s job specification in 1 Timothy for the role of overseer, or bishop, is a daunting prospect. I wonder how anyone agrees to serve in the role!
It makes me incredibly grateful for the people who have said yes over the years – whom God has raised to oversee our church. They are God’s gifts to us, and he has graced each with the wisdom and ability to lead our Lutheran Church.
Will you join me in thanking God for our leaders, past and present? And in praying for them regularly, as they seek to be Godly shepherds of his church? They would be the first to say how much they need our prayers.
In these verses directed to the young church leader Timothy, Paul speaks of both overseers (bishops) and deacons (servers). Both clergy and lay people, in fact. Both were set aside in the early church to minister to the people of God in different ways. Paul has serious job specs for the deacons and deaconesses, too. All of us who have any leadership role in Jesus’ church can read these verses often and pray for God’s grace and help to be the leaders he calls us to be.
Note that Paul specifically mentions Christian leaders’ relationship to money: they must not be ‘greedy for money’. Being in leadership does not make us immune to the anxieties of insecurity and the temptations of greed we have been reading about this week. Indeed, the love of money is a favourite way Satan undermines leaders of God’s church. Let’s pray protection over them, whatever denomination they are in.
There’s a wonderful promise for us all at the end of Paul’s words in these verses. ‘For those who serve well as deacons [and bishops!] gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.’ As we serve faithfully in Jesus’ church in the power of the Holy Spirit, ministering to each other and to the world, God grows us in boldness in our faith. We become more ready and able to speak our faith, to live it out, to be the leaders God wants us to be. We grow into our job specs!
Thank you, Lord God, for the leaders you have given to your church over the years, especially for our own bishops and lay leaders. We pray for them now, asking you to protect them and give them all they need to fulfil their calling as our leaders. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Pauline is a Bible college teacher and spiritual director in Palmerston North, New Zealand. She’s married to Roger – who is recently retired – and she says she enjoys having him home a bit more! When she gets some free time, Pauline loves cooking and reading and likes nothing better than sitting with a cat on her lap and watching the birds in her garden.
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