Greetings,
A year ago we saw God guiding us into a deeper appreciation of the spiritual nature of His governance. We embarked on a pursuit of developing an understanding of how that should function within God’s Church. We knew we did not fully understand what that looked like in practical application. We wanted God to show us how He wanted it practiced. Now, a year later, we saw the need for more structure as we looked for a way forward – all the while not wanting to get ahead of God’s lead.
We were beginning to observe a situation that bears similarities to that described in Ben Horowitz’s book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers. “In good organizations, people can focus on their work and have confidence that if they get their work done, good things will happen for both the company and them personally. It is a true pleasure to work in an organization such as this. Every person can wake up knowing that the work they do will be efficient, effective, and make a difference for the organization and themselves. These things make their jobs both motivating and fulfilling. In a poor organization, on the other hand, people spend much of their time fighting organizational boundaries, infighting, and broken processes. They are not even clear on what their jobs are, so there is no way to know if they are getting the job done or not.”
Without clear structure the diligent efforts of dedicated people were languishing. This is not to say that nothing was being accomplished, it was. But many fine ideas were sitting undeveloped, lacking clarity on whose responsibility it was to move the process forward.
The conference agenda called for discussions on a purpose statement, a perspective of the gospel, media and web development. We also discussed steps to consider in remaining open with all those called. As the meetings proceeded it became clear that we needed to address the organization necessary to implement ongoing development.
Any effort to organize must never lose the clarity of the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, as the head of the Church. The nature of governance in the Church is family – an extension of the family relationship of the Father and the Son. Any organized effort must facilitate the relationship of the members of the body with the Head, Jesus Christ and through Him to the Father. As the apostle Paul admonished the elders in Ephesus, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood” Acts 20:28. Overseers shepherding the flock is a good job description for any form of church organization. An overseer guides and directs others into a continually deeper relationship with Christ, their Head and with God, their Father. It’s an extension of the family model of governance within the church.
Accordingly the conference decided that Brian Orchard will oversee the spiritual matters relating to the body of Christ. This represents his primary focus. His role is to coordinate among the gifts we have been given by God, a unified approach to the work we do that is aligned with the Word of God.
When establishing roles within the Church—as we will do so that we can function effectively— it is important to remember that we are not creating exclusive areas of authority. We are brothers under our elder brother Jesus Christ. As such we work together, exchange ideas, and seek counsel.
The principle of submitting one to another in the fear of God means we have shared leadership and responsibility throughout the body of Christ. All roles within the church impact the others and so we must work together brother to brother. It follows then too that the quality of our relationships needs to be a primary focus of the church so that we more fully engage the gifts that God has given us through the people He has called.
The mailing address we have used this past year was a temporary situation established by Steve Andrews. He and his wife have worked hard to receive and process the mail but it is time to take some of the load off them. Their diligent efforts have been greatly appreciated. We could not have begun and functioned this past year the way we have without them.
We now have a new Post Office Box. From now on all mail should be directed to:
Church of God
Post Office Box 5490
Pasadena CA 91117
Starting in February we will begin bi-weekly Bible Studies. While many appreciate the steady stream of material, some say they are struggling to keep up.
Work is being done on a purpose statement and a perspective of the gospel. We plan to have these posted on the website soon. As we firm up plans for media and website development we will keep you updated. We will define specific roles for various areas; however some will remain as is.
The attendees at the conference left feeling that God had answered the prayers of His people. He provided us with direction and purpose and there was no doubt of His Holy Spirit leading us. We worship a wonderful and awesome God. His mercy and lovingkindness knows no bounds. Having asked for His will to be known, let us be sure to offer praise and thankfulness for His willingness to recognize us as His sons and to lead us into a greater knowledge of His will.
Advisory Council of Elders
