The past few months have been amazing. We finished Mark, and we are well on our way to finishing 1 and 2 Corinthians. I believe that we were lead by God to read in that order to first connect to Jesus.. and then to understand who we are to be as the Church and as ambassadors of the good news. God has truly taken over our men's group. It is no longer I that leads, but truly the Lord. I am now very comfortable that my men can read the Word for themselves and love one another.I tell you what, it's been difficult to get to this point. It's an exercise in patience. I'm sure I've looked foolish, pushy, lackadaisical and everything in between at times to these Men of God. But in the end it was a lack of me that hopefully pushed the men towards seeking God first. As John said of his ministry, I must become lesser and He must become greater. I have intentionally been lazy in my leadership.
I think that one of the main points of leadership in the Church is to give that leadership away so God will be the greater and so people will go to the Source instead of an imitation like me. I want to disappoint them a bit so they will turn to the One who never disappoints.
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Here's what we've seen. Men are leading other men. They are opening up and teaching one another with experience and the Word. They are listening to rebukes in the Word. They are fed by encouragement from the Word. They are allowing the Holy Spirit to interrupt the "flow", and they are following the paths the Spirit is having them go down. They are eating with each other - always. They are praying for each other about the hard things in life.
I think they are at a stage where they are beginning to depend on the Lord in a way they didn't understand before. They are beginning to mature from being babies who only drink the milk that is predigested from the minister's mouth. Now they are eating the steak and potatoes (with a side salad) of the balanced Word of God, and they are relying on the Spirit to interpret and guide.
That is a very firm foundation, but we do lack some things. We are not mission-oriented, as we still have not hammered down what a vision of the church actually is. We are struggling so much with internal issues that we have no time for the outside. I look forward to the day when we can be healed from those hard things and go forward into the darkness to be the light. I believe it's coming soon. They also lack a dying desire for Christ. I'm waiting patiently for the Lord to move over His men so they will gain the strength to be willing to die for Christ, not just literally, but also emotionally and through the sometimes harsh times of godly discipline.
These things will be added to them, but it will take time, and there may be fewer men than when we started. However, such is the Kingdom. It's always marching forward.
