Urban Idealist

I have decided to read through the book of Acts for a while and take some notes…I’m usually a fast reader, but I’m downshifting to understand the book better.

In Acts 1 there is a really great scene…here’s the summary: The 12 Apostles had become 11 because Judas was no longer around. They decided that they needed to fill the twelfth spot on the roster and they wanted to fill it with somebody that had been following Jesus His entire ministry. It came down to two guys: Matthias and Justus. They did not make the decision themselves. Instead, they prayed and then had the two guys draw straws. Matthias wins and becomes the twelfth apostle.

Here’s what I get out of this: The Apostles really believed that God was in control of His Church. Despite the fact that Jesus had left them as the initial leaders of His church, they still believed that in a difficult situation that God would be the leader of His Church…even through a gambling game! As one who has been and currently is in leadership of a church, I have never been in a meeting and had somebody suggest that we pray and break out the straws to make a decision. Maybe we feel (and can justify) that we are the leaders of God’s Chruch and that He has equiped us to make decisions on our own? Maybe we feel that this blind trust of God isn’t spiritual enough? Maybe we believe that God doesn’t care about what happens?

I don’t think that point of the story is in whether or not to draw straws to make decisions…I think that the point is in the example that the 11 apostles set: to allow God to be the leader of His church. I believe that God has and will always have a deep desire to be the only true leader of His Church. When we allow our positions, knowledge, or experience to tell us that we are the leaders of the Church then I think that we are missing out on allowing God to be the one and only leader. My prayer for me is that I will see more ways of letting God direct and lead our ministry here…