Reflections on "One More Thing I Need from My Church: Leaders" I Corinthians 12: 27-31; Exodus 18: 13-27

The Exodus is a great story with lots of fodder for a sermon on leadership.  The I Corinthians passage is probably better suited for a sermon on the church community.

The text printed is not that close to what was preached as I was revising as I went, which is indicative of this not being a strong sermon.

The peanut butter and jelly illustration is really good, but I think it was not developed enough in this sermon.

We were ordaining and installing Ruling Elders and Deacons, so the sermon had that "live" illustration as a follow-up in the service.

“One Thing I Need from My Church: Leadership” Feb. 1, 2015; FPC, Troy; I Corinthians 12: 27-31; Exodus 18: 13-27

Move 1: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

If you were coming to Washington, DC for the March on Washington in 1963, you were supposed to bring a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, if you brought a sandwich. At least that's what the manual developed for the march said.

Maybe someone ate a ham and cheese sandwich, but the leadership for the march had mandated peanut butter and jelly.

Although I like peanut butter and jelly, it seems rather silly at first glance to mandate what type of sandwich people would eat.

But, understand what was at stake. There was great concern that the march would turn out badly due to violence or crowd control issues.

The leaders wanted everything to go smoothly – they decided that if people traveling to DC or those lining the mall area in front of Lincoln's Memorial brought sandwiches with mayonnaise or some other topping that might spoil on a hot August day, then it might be a problem. No one wanted the headline the next day to be about sick people with food poisoning flooding the hospitals in DC.

So the leadership mandated peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (Time, “One Man, One March, One Speech, One Dream,” August 26- Sept. 3, 2013, p. 54

Leadership exerts itself in a variety of ways depending on the situation.

Move 2: The church needs leaders. In part, because the task of being the church is greater than any one person can handle.

a. Jethro teaches that lesson to Moses in the story we read from Exodus.

1. Jethro tells Moses that Moses cannot sustain his work as a leader of the Israelites if he does not have some help.
2. And, perhaps more importantly, the people need more than what Moses can provide doing it all himself.
3. Thus, the infrastructure of leadership for the Israelite people is developed.
4. Not unique to Israelites: Hawaii – alii In ancient Hawaiian society, aliʻi was a hereditary chiefly or noble rank (social class or caste).[5] The aliʻi class consisted of the high and lesser chiefs of the various realms in the islands.
   ]The aliʻi were the highest class, ranking above both kahuna (priests) and makaʻāinana (commoners). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali%CA%BBiRuling elder – vision and faithfulness

b. As a church, we need leadership.

1. people to guide and direct the congregation.

2. We cannot do all that God calls us to do alone.
3. Or with one person making decisions or doing it all.
4. We need a group of people to be in leadership.
   5. Not a group of people whose goal is to tell the rest of us what to do, but people who take it upon themselves to partner with the congregation and guide us in our work as the body of Christ.

Move 2: We also need leaders because of the different gifts people have.

a. Diverse kinds of leaders and leadership in the Bible

1. Abraham: patriarch; lead his family into unknown places; be an example to the world.
2. Moses: reluctant leader; at odds with the Israelites and with God; led people through a difficult transition.
3. Judges: particular gifts for specific moments – Deborah, the great warrior; Samson, great strength; Samuel, wise and faithful counsel
4. Disciples: clear call by God; even among them we see the bold and brash Peter compared the quiet and steady Andrew
5. Paul – transformative experience lead s to dogged, confrontational leadership style.

6. Paul's letter – different types of talents and gifts needed.

b. Within the Presbyterian Church, we see two particular areas where we need gifted leadership – vision and pastoral care.

1. Ordain Ruling Elders for vision and Deacons for pastoral care.

2. Ruling Elders make up the Session – what we need from them is not the best business plan; not the best marketing plan; not the most efficiently run church; we need to seek and follow the vision God has for us. Ruling Elder measures, as in ruler, the congregation’s faithfulness to God's vision.

3. Deacons – pastoral care; looking after our members and extending pastoral care to our community.
4. Trustees – not ordained, but take care of our physical plant.

100. We are partnership with the leadership.
     1. It is not the task of the Elders and Deacons to be the church.
     2. Collectively, we are the church.

3. But, in the vital areas we depend on leaders to guide and direct us. To help us be the church.
4. God calls people to leadership.

Conclusion: Paul describes the church where people are using their particular gifts in leadership as showing forth a more excellent way.