Building a Community of Trust

    The church is a social organization. The NT pictures it as a family, with brothers and sisters. Romans 12:10 talks about “brotherly love,” for example. Certainly, as the church is composed of humans, it is, by nature, a social organization. That means that we have to learn how to deal with one another, tolerate one another, sharpen one another, and work together.

    The church needs to have a high level of trust among its members. Nearly 100 million people fly each year. We trust our pilots to get us to the destination safely. We trust the mechanics to keep the airplanes in good working order. We trust the Federal Aviation Administration to develop and enforce rules that are designed to keep us safe. Trust is an important feature of our existence.

    Therefore, trust is inherent in the inner workings of the church. Jesus calls on us, certainly, to trust Him: “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1). That trust originates in our relationship with God: “He who gives attention to the word will find good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord” (Prov. 16:20).

    But that trust also has to exist within the leadership, the elders and deacons and ministers, as well as within the broader body of Christians within a congregation. The church, as a whole, needs to be fully committed to training men and women in various roles in the church including teaching others. This training must begin with solid studies of the word of God. Our members do not need “fluff” in their Bible classes. They need meat (Heb. 5:11-14). 

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     I’m not talking about “The Theology of the Book of Leviticus.” But I am suggesting that much of the book of Leviticus (to simply use an example) can be taught, in the right way, to most anyone with a fundamental understanding of the Bible, with great spiritual profit.

    But our training goes beyond just what we learn in Bible class. It goes to putting that knowledge into practice, both in worship and outside worship, in the ministries of the local congregation. The more training that someone receives, the more they learn and the better they can perform. This concept is reflected in the description of the work of deacons in 1 Timothy 3: deacons “must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach” (vs 10).

    Bible class teachers should not be thrown into the classroom without being trained. They can do a devotional. They can fill-in by teaching one class period. With growth and maturity, they can be given an entire quarter of classes. Men who might be deacons could be given some degree of responsibility in certain areas and, should they meet the other biblical qualifications, then they could be made deacons and given more responsibility.

    This relationship among members of a congregation and between members and the leadership is built on and sustained by trust. At some point, the leadership has to give responsibilities to the membership, to the deacons, teachers, etc. and step back and let them work and get their job done. The more we are trusted by those above us, the more we can work with confidence in accomplishing what we need to do.

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