Dan's Marinations

A little over a year ago at a workshop for leadership in the mid-size church as we discussed committee work in the church it struck me how many committee/councils my own church had.  Back in the room, I tried to list them all, and found it difficult to do because there were so many.  When I finally completed my list there were eighteen different ones.  At the next session we brainstormed about how to streamline the structure of the local church and we all began to see that without touching the committees whose function and role are defined in our Discipline that there is wide latitude in how to organize the local church. My own experience in two plus years with this marvelous church has also shown me that there must be a better way to get the essential work and ministries of the church accomplished.  Too many people wore too many different hats.  Too frequently, the same project or idea was bandied about by multiple committees, none really knowing who should b...

This is admittedly a topic that is worthy of a good book, and has been the subject of books.  Nonetheless, I've been musing on the subject of why we do the good things we do, and perhaps just as importantly, what we say about the good that we do.  Having just returned from a Salkehatchie work project several weeks ago, this is a topic that is fresh on my mind. Let's begin with the Biblical basis for doing good.  Contrary to what many contemporary Christians may think, one can get an ear full about it without even cracking the New Testament.  Look at the Holiness Code from Leviticus.  Look at Amos.  Look at portions of Isaiah.  It is there repeatedly, you better not mistreat the poor or God's not going to be happy.  You better take care of the folks who are unable to provide for themselves, the "widows, orphans, and aliens in your midst."  The New Testament gives us the judgment of the sheep and goats from Matthew 25, we find the example of ...