How do we, as the church of God, assist in changing the hearts of our members? 

Last blog I pondered our enjoyment of church, which shows up in our willingness to invite others to join us. Part of my conclusion was that our hearts should be turned to delight in being God's child, and delight in the privilege of being together. 

But how does this happen? 

The answer, at its basic level is simple. It is the work of the Spirit of God, through the proclamation and appropriation of the Word of God. But there is also a human element as well. One of God's gifts is each other, and we should keep working at helping each other. 

Calling people to wholehearted devotion to God is a joint responsibility. It is the responsibility of the individual, it is the responsibility of our congregational fellowship, and it is the responsibility of our leaders. 

Each of us must stand on our own before God and give an account of ourselves. Yet it is also that godliness (and godlessness) is infectious. Much profound change occurs because a person embraces the 'vibe' of our shared lives. It is also the responsibility of our leaders to lead us in the ways of God. 

The ‘how?’ of discipleship

How can we help each other I this? 

A few years ago I read Larry Crabb's book God of my father. In it he considers how good fathers lead, teach and form their sons. It seems to me that this is a brilliant model for how we help each other. 

Crabb argues that:

1. Fathers must stand in front of their sons in order to show them the way and that it can be done. 

2. Fathers must stand beside their sons to put their arms around their shoulders in support and comfort them. 

3. Fathers must stand behind their sons to let them do it and to cheer their successes. 

We must stand in all three places from time to time and move further back as our children mature. While I think we do better than society in general in this, there are still some important things to reflect upon in our church life. 

My guess is that clergy are pretty good at standing in front of their church partners, but are not so good at standing beside or behind their congregations. This stifles the growth in Christian ministry of our congregations. I also guess that it is made worse by the fact that a large number of clergy, being baby boomers, suffer from the baby boomer syndrome of not letting go of power. 

My guess is that many congregation members think the task of helping others to maturity is the responsibility of the clergy to stand in front, other ‘lay leaders’ to stand beside, while they have little commitment to standing behind. 

My guess is that many individuals feel, whether it is the reality or not, that the leader has gone ahead and is barely in view, that no one is beside them supporting them, and that their ministry is unappreciated. 

I wonder what will happen if we think about how we relate to each other in terms of standing before, beside and behind others.