Spiritual Maturity Counts For Something

I am on vacation all this week, so I will probably not be writing as frequently as I normally do (or will I? I do have a few things planned, so I'll have to see how much time I can find to update this...)

I happened to drop by a local Christian bookstore recently, and as is my usual custom, made a quick beeline towards the magazine section. Now, I will be the first one to admit that the Christian publication industry produces a plethora of crap. Many of the books are poorly written and most are overpriced for what you are getting (I understand why they are overpriced, but still, that's no justification). However, one of my favourite magazines, Christian or secular, is "Christian Research Journal", a highly academic publication published by the Christian Research Institute, that delves into recent religious and social trends. It is, in essence, and apologetics-based magazine, but more for the academic or intellectual. There are virtually no ads in the magazine (unlike other Christian mags like Christianity today, which is littered with useless ads). However, CRJ is not cheap (at $10.00 a magazine, you would think it is one of those rip-off jobs, but let me tell you, it is well worth it). Anyway, after flipping through the current CRJ issue and deciding that I was going to purchase it, I thought I'd flip through some other mags on the rack. As you may or may not know, I used to be a contributing music reviewer for HM Magazine (formerly Heaven's Metal), found at almost all Chrstian bookstores. I found a current issue of HM, quickly flipped through that and saw that a lot has changed in 12 years, and put it back.

Against my better judgement, I started flipping through some more magazines, some of them I know are pretty cheesy, but since I was at the rack, I thought I'd flip through it. One magazine was a really thin youth ministry type of rag (forgot the name of it, but it wasn't a well known publication) and in perusing through it, something interesting caught my attention.

It was a job opening/advertisement for some youth minister job (something like junior youth minister, so it was a very entry-level ministry position) at some camp based in New York state somewhere. No, I wasn't looking for a new job or a career change, but
you can't help notice such a full-page colourful ad in such a thin magazine. Anyway, while I don't remember the exact wording, the ad went something like this:

"Looking for energetic, responsible person to work as a leader with a challenging summer camp in (place I don't remember). Must be focussed, willing to serve, able to communicate, and have a team-based mentality. Previous camp experience an asset. Please contact (such and such) Ministries (contact info included). On the ad was a vignette of photos showing the standard kids hiking, setting up a tent, doing some water play, and the obligatory sitting around reading their Bibles, in a studious stupor (I only say this because I have never in my life seen kids that age all sit around quietly reading their Bibles, but then again, maybe I haven't been around enough).

OK, what is my issue here? Oh come on, take a guess...

I was a bit flabbergasted, upon stumbling across the ad, that there was absolutely no mention of the candidate's spiritual maturity, knowledge of the Bible, or some evidence of their walk with God. I can forsee the counterarguments here.

"Well, the ad is in a Christian magazine, so we would have to assume that a Christian audience is understood." That is bullocks. I think Benny Hill, like him or hate him, once said that when you assume you are making an ass out of u and me. Just because it is targeted towards a Christian audience doesn't mean that you will automatically get spiritually qualified candidates. The fact that the ad does not mention any spiritual requirements at all (and it is not a secular ad, as it was put out by such and such ministries) makes me nervous.

"Perhaps they are not looking for a spiritual type of person." If this is the case, why put the ad in a Christian magazine? Why bother showing photos of kids reading their Bibles? I mean, how are you going to be able to continue to perpetuate that Bible reading group photo, if you don't bring on a leader who has some spiritual qualifications. Unless, of course, that photo was a stock photo, but still...

"Maybe they want to discern the spiritual capability during the interview." This is a distinct possibility, but I would argue that if it was not a clear prerequisite out of the blocks, what makes you think that it will be a factor during the interview. It was sort of like some interviews I did this year with some candidates. At first, no one told me that the position called for a bilingual (English/French) candidate, so I proceeded with my position requirements and started interviewing. More than halfway through the candidates, I was told of the requirement, so in interviewing the rest of the original slate of candidates, I threw out the question of whether they spoke French as well. To no one's surprise, none of the candidates were bilingual. So this tells me that unless you state the requirements clearly at the start, you will not get the candidate for which you are seeking.

"Perhaps they are not looking for a spiritual leader." Well, that's fine, but if it's for some Christian camp, that's a pretty sad state of affairs for Christian youth ministry.

As I put down the magazine and wandered around the rest of the store, I thought I'd take a gander over at the "leadership" section of the store. Naturally, there were plenty of books about being a leader, and in viewing the backs of the books and the table of contents, I was encouraged a bit to see that some books did mention spiritual maturity as part of being a leader in the church, while others seem to talk more about communication, conflict resolution, etc., stuff you can find in any non-Christian leadership book.

I suppose, I should not be surprised or disappointed in these change of events. In visiting several churches over the past few years, while on vacation or visiting just for the sake of seeing something different, I noticed a trend among evangelical churches that their leaders/pastors are more geared towards slick-speaking, projecting, motivational types. The topics are pretty syrupy, and it's no different than a business meeting. So few are the preachers who are passionate about reaching people for Christ, who read their Bibles with passion and who impart the same love of ministering to others. It almost seems as if they are looking to fill church pews and garner the most tithes and offerings as a result, rather than looking at growing the spiritual maturity of the congregation.

At my own church, I have seen this trend at times, although I am encouraged to see that the congregation has put, as their number one requirement in looking for a senior pastor, someone who preaches Biblically-based sermons. This would indicate to me that they are looking for more spiritual nourishment, rather than simply someone to talk their ear off and give them slick illustrations.

I am not sure that the same could be said for other churches, though. I went to one late last year in my area by myself (my wife was setting up for some party that she was hosting at the time), and after the service, I was able to sit down with two of the elders (separately). I was a bit surprised in talking with both of them, that neither one seemed to stress any spiritual development in their ministry vision (yes, I get into these conversations with people). No, I am not talking about people who simply talk "Christianese" or use theological jargon. This was just a standard conversation. I asked them about their ministry distinctives and they said it was to meet people's needs, whether they were divorced, have mental problems, etc. I asked what kinds of needs were they trying to meet, and one person said, "to make them feel better about themselves" and the other said, "to realize that they are loved and supported". Those are fine in and of themselves, though there was nothing about building up people in their relationship with Jesus, or providing spiritual support in their situation, or to make them realize that they can lean on the Lord, etc. Again, you may think this is simple semantics, and I thought so too, until I talked with the other elder who told me that the church is in the business to give people an alternative, and while they can't always make everything into a spiritual matter (why not?), they try to have practical ways to help people. So, how is this different than any other support group? And these are some of the elders of the church? Maybe this is today's trend in churches, but that doesn't mean that we should accept mediocrity.

At my church, I am very encouraged that we have a person on staff, our pastoral associate, who I highly respect because of his spiritual maturity. You see that in the way that he conducts himself, the way that he deals with conflict, the way he listens far more than he talks, and the way in which, when you hear him preach a sermon, you can tell that he spent some time in Scripture and study preparing for it, and prayed for God's insight. His sermons are generally quite good, and in the 12+ years that I've attended the church, the best sermon I have ever heard was by him (it was about the Good Samaritan, and it was good not only in a sense of relevant substance, but also in how he picked apart the context, making the pasages alive for those listeners who sought understanding. Outside of church, he conducts himself with maturity, exercises a great depth of humility (something that is sorely lacking in today's church leaders), and has a good relationship with others, irrespective of their station or lot in life. Many church leaders will go the business-like "schmooze" route, befriending those who have important positions or lots of money, but eventually, their shallow approach is discovered by others and they will be abandoned. We need more Christian leaders like our pastoral associate, who quietly goes about his business, serving fervently, listening to God's leading. I seriously hope he becomes our senior pastor someday.

I think that spiritual maturity for any church leader should be the first and foremost requirement, rather than an afterthought. After all, if you are leading a group of people, no matter who they are, I would like to think that your goal would be to either nurture their relationship with Jesus Christ, if they are already believers, or to help lead them to a relationship with Jesus Christ. In reality, I think this is the ultimate goal of any Christian, since Jesus tasked his followers with this during his final commission. A Christian leader needs to be able to set a good example, in word and deed, naturally demonstrating his/her desire to live a life that strives towards becoming like Christ. A Christian leader needs to be able to back everything up that he / she is saying through Scripture and has a deep love for reading and studying the Word. This is a tough call and a tall order, but Christians should expect nothing less from their leaders.