“Positional Servitude”
Part 2
Ephesians 4:11-16
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Being licensed and ordained is not an
automatic qualification of service for an individual who leaves one ministry
and joins another. When a person resigns
their membership at one church and joins another, they still need to be tested
and approved of before they are placed in a position to serve in a leadership
capacity. Some pastors have discovered
the hard way that certain people were not qualified for the positions that they had acquired. One question that needs to be
answered is how did they leave their last church? Did they formally inform the leader of that
ministry that they were resigning from their position there to attend another
ministry? Were they subject to authority
while attending the previous ministry or did they leave because they could not
get their way? Do they exhibit arrogance
and believe that they are greater than they actually are?
Many pastors have inherited people
problems from other ministries. It’s
important to know whether a ministry actually requires a person to PRODUCE in
order to serve in a particular position.
Unfortunately, in some instances, a person may be considered qualified for
a position because they have contributed large offerings or have been long time
members.
In some cases, pastors may require
that their ministers obtain a letter of request if another ministry invites the
minister to preach. The pastor has this
stipulation in place in order for the minister to receive permission to preach
outside of their local church. Some may
view this as being an unnecessary process because the pastor should not hinder the
person from doing the “Lord’s” work. However,
many pastors are experienced in ministry and possess knowledge that can provide
protection from unpleasant and negative experiences. If a ministry or a particular leader is
unscrupulous, the minister’s pastor may be aware of this information and intervene
so that the minister is not taken advantage of.
But the greatest thing that this process will reveal is whether the
minister is accountable to anyone or not.
God doesn’t use A-N-Y-O-N-E who is not accountable to someone else. God does not expect for members of the body
of Christ to function without accountability.
Some people have gotten angry with their pastor because the pastor would
not “recognize” their gift and place them in a position, but the pastor recognized that the person lacked humility and their lack of humility disqualified them from being of any service
to God. Every position that God has
provided to benefit the body of Christ should be filled by individuals who are
humble and possess a good work ethic.
