Titus Email - Volume 1, Number 4 – April, 2007

I received a pleasant surprise five weeks ago. Henry Mukonda emailed me indicating that he was coming. We had been praying for him on this. He came here on March 9^th. I found out how spiritual he was right away for he did walk on water (on ice) and has pictures to prove it. It was a great, exciting time with Henry. My vision has deepened as the Lord has shown me where more needs are and taught me why many things are the way they are for those of you in Africa. I am more than ever committed to assisting you however I am able as God allows.

Having Henry here has also given many people in this part of the world a very good understanding of what WILD is working to do and how they can be involved. This has been an excellent teaching time for us Americans to understand better the situation the Church is in Africa. Henry effectively articulated the needs and encouraged people to get involved. He spoke highly of each of you African pastors and Bishop and in each of your situations, shared how people can help you even on a personal level. I feel he is an excellent ambassador for the Evangelical Church in Zambia.

God has certainly shown me more ways to be involved. As for this July, there are people wanting to come and teach. Another group may be wanting to come at a different time and do some construction along with teaching. We will see what God has in store.

WHERE DO WE FIT???

What is something that when you do it, you feel alive and think that this is what I was made for? It can be something you do in your job or free time, get paid for it or volunteering.

Something that I am not good at is singing. I am a “1” on a scale of 1 to 10. The Bible talks about a joyful noise. That is me. I enjoy singing worship songs. When asked to lead a church service where I am speaking, I find out who the piano player is and request that they play a little louder than normal. Someone may want give me singing lessons. The person giving the lessons may quit after the first lesson. If I try real hard, I may be able to become a “2” on the scale.

Another area is the visitation pastor. No mercy can be squeezed out of me, so if I visit you when you are sick, you may be told to get over your problem and get out of bed. That may be a bit extreme but the point is in the world of singing and being a visitation pastor, I am not gifted in those areas. As hard as I try, I will not really get better in those areas and I have tried. (When called upon, I go visiting and enjoy the people once I get there.)

Is it because I am not as spiritual that I would not be a good singer or visitation pastor even if I try or am promoted to those positions? Do I need to just pray and work harder in those areas? Seriously, God can do a work in me and suddenly develop a great singing voice or receive the gift of mercy. He has not done that yet.

Should I be involved in those areas as the central part of my role in the Body of Christ? Or should I focus in on the way God has created me with the spiritual gifts, personality and passion He has placed in me? I am willing to visit and sing but those areas are not passionate parts of my relationship with Christ. My passion is teaching and developing people. I could teach 24/7. To teach and develop people is me. When the light goes on inside a person’s head and they understand a Biblical concept, I get pumped. These activities give me a natural, spiritual high. My closest communion with Jesus is when I am teaching, developing people. My relationship with Jesus gets stronger when I am doing what I was created for.

Did God put that in me? What has God put in you? What do you do well, that you love to do? Where does your walk with God get exciting? Where and when do you feel the closest to Jesus? Every Christian has been given at least one spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12). We are like a puzzle with our piece fitting in a special spot in the whole picture. Without your piece, the picture is NOT complete. Without you, the Body is NOT complete. We need you because together we make up the whole Body of Christ. You complement the rest of the Body and help make all of us complete. You are no accident.

Do not keep your “piece” of the puzzle away from the rest of us. You are too valuable. Some of you are good at singing. Others of you love to visit people. If you are gifted in a certain way, it would be a disservice to not allow you to be used the way God created you. Does it make more sense to utilize you where your strengths lay verses putting you in positions where you do not do well and more often than not, fail?

If a pastor is good and gifted at preaching, should not the pastor’s main focus be in that area and have people assist the pastor in visiting people. This is not to say the pastor should never do visiting (unless you have a mega staff that can specialize in one or two areas). The flip side is if the pastor is gifted in visiting people (and struggles in preaching/teaching), should not the church let the pastor focus where the strengths lie and help to find people in the congregation or area who are gifted in teaching to come along side the pastor and assist in that aspect of the ministry. That is the Body functioning well.

It is not a matter of not willing to serve in a certain way. Rather, spiritual leaders need to assist Christians to find where they fit in the Body so that the Body functions the way we need to and developing our relationships with Jesus because we are getting exceedingly great amounts of joy serving Him and one another.

ILLUSTRATION

This illustration would fit when you talk about David in 2 Sam 16 when Samuel came to anoint the new king and the area of tradition and how tradition is not always a good way to develop leaders. This is from Henry Mukonda.

“When the missionaries went to Africa to establish or plant the church there, the colonial masters were already there and the African people believed that every white man was a colonial master. The missionaries were given certain areas to work in where there were no other missionary groups and they were to work with the local tribal leaders to reach the people. In many if not all cases the village headman or the local leader would be the leader of the new church. The people attended church because they had to be loyal to their leaders. These leaders would not even be saved or did not have enough knowledge to lead the church. As time went on the younger people who barely knew how to read and write were encouraged to work in the church and those who got better education, left the church partly because they were not challenged and because they thought the church was for the tribal leaders and the lowly educated or the poor. This should tell you the kind of church that was there and which is there. Thus we have the need for Spiritual leadership development.”