The Encourager
“Falling Through the Cracks - by Jeff Curtis”
Falling Through the Cracks
By Jeff Curtis
Many times, we pray, and hear others pray, that the local church grow both spiritually and numerically. The church in Jerusalem was doing both. Had it reached a state of perfection been reached? Not at all: “Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, (Acts 6:1). Success brings problems just as failure does.
Imagine that a program of a congregation is a tabletop. We wish it were a smooth, completely polished tabletop. But in reality, it is rough and uneven, too high in some places, too low in other places. More importantly, it is full of cracks. Some cracks are big, some are small, some long, some short… but there are a lot of cracks…and things seem to fall through these cracks. We often think that a certain has been taken care of, only to find out later, to our embarrassment, that it was not.
Of our greatest concern is when people fall through the cracks. Members of the church often have needs we don’t know about or don’t take care of immediately. AS a result, feelings get hurt. People sometimes leave the church; they fall through the cracks. Maybe members begin to forsake the assembly (Hebrews 10:25), and we don’t notice it, we don’t immediately try to see if there is a problem. Often by the time we check on them, their spirituality has dwindled to the point that these members cannot be restored. These precious souls have fallen through the cracks.
Even with the best leadership in the world, oversights can happen. No congregation will have better leaders that the Spirit-inspired apostles; yet, even under the leadership of these men, people were neglected. When people fall through the cracks, it isn’t necessarily a reflection on the leadership of the church. How the leaders handle these situations may reflect their leadership ability, but the fact that the situations arise is in itself no reflection of weak leadership.
We learn the follow lessons about leadership from the apostles who settled the dispute over the widows being neglected in Acts 6. (1) Handle problems at once (vv.1,2). (2) Handle problems in a sensitive manner (v.2). (3) Involve the congregation (vv.3,5). (4) Delegate responsibility (vv.4,6).
Here is another way to develop the theme of “Good leadership”: (1) Good leaders emphasize the importance of assigned tasks (v.4). (2) Good leaders enjoy the trust and support of the congregation (v.5). (3) Good leaders give workers their support and trust (vv.5,6).
Meditate on these things:
Proverbs 3:1-2
My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands;
2 For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.
Pray for our meeting / VBS.
We had a good meeting with Brother Jim Mickells. Let’s not just let the week go without our following up on our visitors and making application in our lives of the lessons presented this week.
