Well, I did say that you shouldn’t expect daily offerings… I guess that’s different than actually saying that you might need to wait for 3+ months for any offering at all. But, on the up side, I never actually told people I was starting a blog. Call it cowardice if you want – because it was! So, what was the tripping point, you ask? Well, anyone who knows me knows that it wasn’t that I had nothing to say. Also, if you know me, you know my difficulty with decisions when faced with multiple good choices. I have a whole list of blog ideas jotted down on my handy-dandy, ever-present, iPhone Notepad. But which one to lead with?? That was the quandary.
I got myself in a dither feeling like the very first thing that I said on this yet-to-be-discovered blog, had to be something of import. Something that meant something. Something that mattered. And then I looked at my idea list and felt that ALL of them mattered. And therein lay the problem. Too many choices, none of them easily discarded. So, I finally decided to get over myself, and just start somewhere. No one is actually reading this yet anyway!
So, which option won? Well, honestly, none of them. I just decided to start with what has been on my heart these days. This issue rises out of some of the recent hullabaloo in the Christian non-profit world, in which I spend most of my mental time. The issues that brought this to the forefront of the minds of everyone in this world I live in, will be left for another blog post. I will not pontificate on the confusion of declaring that you will hire openly gay and lesbian employees and then immediately rescinding that decision. I believe the final chapter on that oscillation has not yet been written, so I will wait to read it first.
What I do find fascinating, however, is the deeper issue in question – how do we, as Bible-believing, evangelical organizational leaders view the Bible in our practice – both administratively and programmatically? Is the Bible a guideline that can be quoted when it conveniently fits the milieu in which we find ourselves, and quickly discarded when it conflicts with the status quo? Or, is it a non-negotiable standard that drives our decisions? In organizational leadership, we are well-versed in the importance of a well-crafted mission statement – a concise and comprehensive statement that can be used to direct and measure every decision, program, activity and policy that we deliberate over in our practice. We have missed the mark, however, if we (as Christian organizations) do not intentionally include the authority of Scripture and the mission of the church (making disciples) in our mission statement. This will eventually create dissonance in our organization – a mission statement that says one thing, and Scriptures that say something other. Unless the two are intentionally amalgamated, we will become an organization of do-gooders who love Jesus, but aren’t informed by that devotion.
In my 25 years of working overseas in various mission and NGO capacities, I have seen my share of Christian NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) who started out with the intention of pointing people to Jesus, but become secular organizations with altruistic motives. If you, as a partner, are intent on joining with the Great Commission in your partnership with ministries and non-profits around the world, ask them about their intentionality in discipleship and the authority of Scripture. If their answer sounds vague or sketchy, dig deeper. They may have forgotten their original mission – and it is OK to call them back to it.