One of my quarterly clergy magazines I receive is “Leadership: Real Ministry in a Complex World.” In the most recent issue was an article written by Rev. Lillian Daniel titled, “A Cast of Thousands: The mission of the church is not efficiency, but developing all its people.”
I loved this article for many reasons. Here are a few excerpts.
“At my daughter’s elementary school musical, the printed program noted: ‘This musical was originally written for 15 actors, but it has been adapted to accommodate our cast of 206.’ No cut auditions and no performer left without something special to do. It was not a short program.
“So many productions in life are competitive. TV’s American Idol is popular as much for the failures as for the successes. Admit it. If no one got cut, would we really want to listen to all those people? The excitement is seeing who makes it and who does not, and the winner is idolized.
“Well, the world may operate that way, but the gospel response, the church’s calling is like the volunteer geniuses that took an elementary school musical with 15 parts and made room for 206. We take a few loaves and fishes and feed thousands, at the church potluck or at the homeless shelter. We take a task that we could professionalize and simply pay someone to do it, and we divide it into parts so that everyone has something special to do. Is it efficient? No. Not if all you care about is getting the job done.
“But the church cares less about getting the job done and more about the people doing it. We are not in the efficiency business. Our business is to make disciples. We want to offer as many people as possible the chance to know Jesus Christ in service and in community.
“The church should always remain the home of the no-cut auditions. There are so many parts in this musical. It will not be a short program. It will last from generation to generation. Sometimes we forget that Jesus started this venture with just twelve disciples, but look where it went from there. The script was adapted. Maybe we should add a line in our bulletin, ‘Christianity was originally written for a cast of twelve, but it has since been adapted to accommodate people of all ages, the brave, the quiet, the wise, the silly, the broken-hearted, the talented, the untalented, the rich, the poor, the graceful, the klutzy, and the shy.’”
Thank you for being part of this “cast.” I give God thanks and praise for those who are front and center leading people to know the love of Jesus; and I give God thanks and praise for those whose work is known only to the Lord. Each “cast member” is a gift from God!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Sue Beadle
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