GC 2020 – Waiting on Tables

Frank Holbrook 3 GC 2020 , Life in General

If one assumes that some plan will emerge at GC 2020 that will result in providing for new expressions, one of the challenges will be the administrative work of sorting out assets and liabilities. Yesterday’s post concerning the Plain Grace Plan suggested several contexts where delegating authority to a working group is necessary; for example, I suggested a group to do the administrative task of approving a new expression. Suggesting delegation of administrative tasks, is not an original thought. Others have recognized the need for such delegation in many contexts. It’s the primary reason our administrative structure has grown in the United Methodist Church.

One of the most challenging tasks in multiplying new expressions is deciding how to divide financial assets and liabilities. There is a tendency to look upon this work as an example of the church being overcome by the world. It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that dividing the assets and liabilities quickly becomes more important than the mission of making disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. It’s especially easy for the world outside the church to look at that work and conclude that the church is more interested in money than it is in mission. In what spirit should GC 2020 approach this task?

The Book of Acts provides inspiration, instruction and guidance on this point. In Acts 6:1-4 we read the following (from the NIV version):

1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

There is a lot of guidance provided in those four verses. If you’re reading this blog, I assume you are able to meditate on that word and discern many lessons.

The word that really jumps out to me is “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.” We have so many gifted leaders in the episcopacy and clergy who are entrusted with the ministry of the word. It takes, and will take, great wisdom and restraint for those leaders to remain focused on that ministry and avoid waiting on tables.

During the time I practiced law I saw that the general tendency for most law firms was to select as their leaders their most successful lawyers. Unfortunately, there was often a lack of appreciation that the skills that make a person a great lawyer are not necessarily the same skills that make one a great leader. For example, a great trial lawyer is generally one who likes to engage in the adversarial system. In simple terms, an adversarial system is one where two opposing viewpoints are pitted against each another and a decision maker decides a winner. A person who is skilled in winning adversarial contests is not necessarily a leader who can build consensus or one who can change positions when they are persuaded that the other side is right or that compromise is required.

A former law professor of mine once described the perfect trial lawyer. He said that a perfect trial lawyer is a person who has two gifts. First, the person can think of every contingency that may occur in a trial and have a plan on how to address it. Second, when all of those plans go to pieces, the person has the ability to think on their feet and come up with something they haven’t thought about before. He then went on to note that the problem is that most people who have the first gift don’t have the second gift, and vice versa.

At GC 2020, I hope that those who have the gift of leading in the ministry of the word will allow those with the gift of administration to exercise those gifts. We don’t need our spiritual leaders waiting on tables.