outsourcing our responsibilities
“Whatever the failings of Moses, they are as nothing to the failures among his multitudes of followers. A people will concede greater responsibility to its leaders only so that it may enjoy less responsibility itself. If Moses converses with God, it saves them the exertion of doing so themselves” — Roy Oliver
This leadership ought never to do…to replace the relation people must directly have with God. When we do this, we abandon the calling that Jesus has for us.
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Hi Alan,
I’ve been reading your blog for awhile. I love your heart and your passion. Several from a church planting team that I am part of here in Cleveland, Ohio were down in Columbus last week to hear you speak. I met you once in Orlando at Disney when Vision 360 was launched.
I’m a church planter who came to Cleveland, Ohio 22 years ago to start Cuyahoga Valley Church.
I think that right now, we are in an exciting season in the life of Cuyahoga Valley Church. We are averaging 1,800 adults in 5 weekend services. In 2008, we have sent over 80 CVCers to plant a new church, bringing our total of church plants we are currently sponsoring to six. We have baptized 73 people so far this year. Our attendance has grown by 5 % over the last year. We are a “big box” that is seeking to become more and more missional. God is moving and working.
Amidst all this activity of God, we are feeling God’s leading to prepare for an even more fruitful future. And I am now seeking to follow the Lord’s direction to transition his responsibilities to a younger leader. We hope to do this over the next couple of years. Therefore, we are looking for the person we anticipate may one day be the Senior Pastor of CVC.
So please pray for us.
I am asking you to read through the job description below and then ask the Lord, “Who should I send this to? Who might know of a candidate that would be a good fit at CVC?”
I’m sure you know some young leaders who have a very bright future in serving the King. Please forward the information about this opportunity to some younger leaders that you think might be interested in finding out more. And would you ask your contacts if they would send the information out to people they might know as well?
Thanks!
Rick Duncan
***
Here’s the abbreviated job description:
Co-Teaching Pastor Position
Cuyahoga Valley Church (CVC), a growing regional, contemporary church of 1800+ adults, located in a flourishing suburb of Cleveland, Ohio is looking for a passionate and experienced Co-Teaching Pastor. CVC’s hope is that the Co-Teaching Pastor will become the successor of the current Senior Pastor.
Cuyahoga Valley Church seeks to help people grow to be passionate followers of Christ. We want to help people love God (develop deep devotional lives), love one another (actively serve in ministry and engage in small groups), and love the world (live missionally).
CVC is committed to create irresistible worship environments for children and parents, youth, young adults, and adults. The ultimate win at CVC is seeing lives change for the glory of God.
The Co-Teaching pastor will help with the following responsibilities:
Preaching / Teaching:
Initially, 20-25 service weekends annually. We anticipate that the preaching / teaching opportunities will increase over time.
Staff Leadership and Development:
Alongside the Senior Pastor, the Co-Teaching Pastor will offer pastoral leadership to the staff of CVC and will help provide day-to-day management and oversight to the spiritual, emotional, and relational health of the staff.
Optimal candidates will:
• possess a proven ability to teach / preach at a high level of competence.
• be a proven leader and strategic thinker.
• possess strong interpersonal skills.
Minimum qualifications and experience:
• A Bachelors Degree is required.
• A Masters level seminary degree is preferred.
• 5 or more years experience leading within a growing church setting.
Interested candidates may receive an expanded job description by e-mailing their resume to:
jrutti@cuyahogavalleychurch.com.
Contact Information:
Jane Rutti
5055 East Wallings Road
Broadview Heights, OH 44147
440.746.0404 x208
jrutti@cuyahogavalleychurch.com
Alan, this is one of the reasons why I love Jotham’s parable in Judges 9
!
Alan: Exactly. Finally someone has said it.
Absolutely. But there are, all up and down the chain, examples, overt and covert, intentional and unintentional, of Pastors who do otherwise.
Sadly so.
Too right! but it violates the responsibility of all people to respond directly to God. AND it messes with the seriously important teaching of the priesthood of all believers. Its poisonous to the body of Christ. And its not Christian leadership if it so acts!
Maybe this is what you were alluding to when you referred to us as a priesthood, but I’d like to suggest it goes deeper then just leadership outsourcing responsibility for relationship. I think that people hide behind the sovereignty of God in order to escape responsibility. “God is sovereign and Jesus is coming back to fix everything”. Or “whatever happens, happens. God is in control”.
That sounds good and pious on the surface but it comes attached with the lie that we do not have responsibility for our world our environment. We are called to be the light of the world and to destroy the works of the enemy. Jesus didn’t die just to get us saved, he died to reconcile us with the Father and so that we can do what he did and even greater things; heal the sick, calm the storms, set the captives free. That is our mandate. God IS sovereign and Jesus IS coming back. But we do both God and the world around us a terrible disservice when we outsource all of the responsibility to Him. Jesus is coming back for a bride that is pure and spotless, not one that is weak and hiding in a cave!
Hi, I’m Dan and am new to this. A friend of mine posts here and prompted me to post, and an Australian friend of mine turned me onto your blog. He lives in Kentucky now, though. Anyway, I like the quote and the idea behind it, but I have a question.
On whom is the onus of responsibility placed for allowing such an outsourcing to happen? Is the leadership? Is it the multitude of followers? Both? Who takes responsibility when such a blunder occurs?
DAn, you know I remember reading Nikolai Berdyaev on the mutual slavery of the leader to the crowd and the crowd to the leader. Each need each other. The crowd doesn’t want responsibility and the leader loves to take responsibility away from others in order to bolster ego or the like. Its a mutual slavery…both are addicted to the other. Weird eh?
Alan,
So, the leader is enslaved to the crowd because he/she needs someone to take authority away from? And the crowd becomes enslaved? Is that the mutual slavery? And if so, how does a leader take something from someone that those people don’t want in the first place? Wouldn’t the crowd, knowingly or unknowingly, actually be giving the responsibility away?
Here’s another question. Does the Roy Oliver quote paint a picture of Christianity in North America? With the heavy emphasis on Jesus “as personal Lord and Savior” amongst so many Evangelicals, how have leadership done what the quote describes?
“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over there under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.” (Mark 10:42-44
)
It seems to me that modern Christianity has reversed this teaching. It says, “Serve by leading.” Jesus said, “Lead by serving.” Leadership in the Kingdom means setting the pace in whatever way you serve.
Dan, I think the cmmet is for all leadership everywhere, but certainly includes Western Christianity with its Bishops, priests, pastors, celebrities. After a while, a celebrity speaker is addicted to his/her own PR and needs it to justify himself/herself (usually a him).
OK, I’m home sick and I’ve got a bunch ‘o (Tylenol induced) thoughts….
1. I wonder if shepherding would better be described as a method of leadership or management?
2. From my perspective, this is a human / sociological weakness that has been exploited by church and state for all of human history. Controlling what the people commonly hold as truth allows folks to control people.
That’s what’s brilliant about the Christ. He cut out the middle man (Church and State (no wonder they were upset)), and offers direct access to God (truth) by way of Himself (our new High Priest /The Word).
3. That all begs the question… what is the root of the deception that has the American church submitting to the propaganda of the state? Instead of living out the truth revealed in the Word of God by means of the ways of Christ?
Complex question Darrell… but surely the wrong image of God (and Jesus) has to be part of the problem.
The God of the prophets who is on the side of the poor and oppressed has been recast as the God on our side… the God on the side of the US government, the God on the side of the religious right, the God on the side of democratic governments. Not the God of justice and mercy and righteousness.
Jesus the radical prophet (who ticked off virtually everyone in authority) has been recast as Jesus the good citizen.
Why? Complex historical reasons no doubt… and it would be true to say most people are “socialised” into their beliefs and practices rather than being independent thinkers. It is certainly highly comforting to have a God on our side. And we all love comfort. Noone likes to think they might be one of the “goats” of Matthew 25
.
Touche Jan!
Thanks…
Another response to Darrell’s point 1… when “shepherding” was selected as an analogy of God’s leadership of His people (and of a ministry gift in the body of Christ) shepherds had small flocks… they knew their sheep by name, they responded to the needs of the sheep, they led the sheep physically, and the sheep followed (as sheep do).
This seems to me about servant leadership, not about management… we can think today of the giant agri-businesses, where farmers have thousands of sheep, and where they face a massive management task in terms of feed and water and stock numbers and land management. (maybe a little like managing a megachurch???? Just to be a little provokative!!!)
Biblical shepherding is about servant leadership IMO. In the context of this post, it is leadership that resists the codependency of bottle feeding grown sheep… the shepherd fully expects sheep to feed themselves ASAP.
Well my perspective is different. I don’t read the text that way. In Jewish life, God most definitely is intimately involved with the daily flow of life of every believer, and while all are guided by halachah, for which the most learned are consulted for advice, that is the superficial part that is most obviously seen. Beneath this, personal ‘cleaving’ to God, to loving him passionately, to imbuing each mitzva with beauty, care, and kavannah, there is a fiercely powerful dynamic going on there between individual yidden and God. God didn’t speak to Moses because he wasn’t speaking to the rest of the klal, he spoke to Moses to demonstrate who he is, and what he is like, which is what those emerging from the mindset of slavery needed to witness and ‘catch’. We see the pattern change as the b’nei Yisrael go into the land, and then for a long period each household is very much independent, before they slowly come to form the desire together to have someone as the ‘head’ again, and desire a King. But even at that point neither David nor the Cohenim take away from the Yidden any responsibility for avodah, for the service of the heart or the service of physical acts of obedience. I find these texts profound, and completely contemporary in their message!
Warmest blessings
Eleanor
Eleanor, we are kindred souls with the love of Judaism! There is so much to love there. Actually this guy was quoting from Martin Buber, the eminent Jewish interpreter of Judaism. I think that even though ideally the people would not shirk responsibility, I think they (and we) constantly do.