S05E048, Are Titles Needed, or Not? Andy B 2 Minute Video
Titles can help us in many ways because they can instantly help us understand the function of the person we are talking to, or interacting with. And titles in churches are just as important.
If I’m honest I think the title ‘pastor’ has been thrown around far too liberally because if I’m talking to a pastor I want to know they’ve been chosen to lead the church, and have preferably been to theological college. Sometimes it almost feels as though we’ve taken that position of leadership, and made it into some form of participation award.
God judges those of us who teach, preach and lead churches far more harshly – the standard to which we must hold ourselves is much higher - so we need to ensure that we don’t water down the standards God has already set.
I remember one wise minister had a simple phrase – “Keep the main thing the main thing”. For him it was all about fulfilling a function, and that is a superb way of thinking about it. He didn’t care, for example, about which company the church used to ensure their fire extinguishers up to date. He didn’t mow the grass either. It wasn’t that he saw those as beneath him – far from it! But he did understand the importance of the different people of the church body fulfilling the various functions as God has equipped and called them.
We can assign all sorts of titles to make people feel good, or even to make them feel less good about themselves. But, ultimately, function matters far more than titles and God is seeking people who have a heart to serve Him.
Let’s use titles wisely, and righteously – they really do matter, and they can sow despair and confusion, or peace and clarity. Ambiguity is not something that we should entertain as members of the bride of Christ, of whom Jesus is the head.
Just a thought...
Andy B
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[00:00:00] So another Andy B, 2 Minute video, hopefully three minutes or less. That's the plan. Two minutes, 59. That's the goal.
[00:00:13] So here's another one for you. I've been thinking about titles, not Mr and Mrs but titles as in CEO as in Line Manager or Branch Manager, and Priest, Vicar and all these things that we use to assign a level of responsibility or, or a level of function. And these titles help us understand what the person is.
[00:00:35] I once saw the sign, I think it was the UK's largest haulier, and on their desk was a sign so that everybody walked in. It wasn't the name, although that was there. It was another sign, a name plate on their desk. And it said, the buck stops here. And his viewpoint was really simple, that there is no one to ask after him. So if you come to him with a question, if you've made it to his desk, actually he has to make a decision. He can't pass it anywhere else cuz he's the boss, [00:01:00] he's the man in charge.
[00:01:02] Now as Christians we kind of, British Christians, we sort of get a bit nervous about titles. We don't like titles. You know, why do you need a title? Just get on with a job at hand. It's just a function. And that's true! But, actually, titles are really helpful because what they do are define who we can speak to.
[00:01:21] You ever been to a church, someone's got a badge and it says Welcomer greeter children's worker? There are titles of helpers. I mean, you think of a minister of the gospel, a vicar and, and they wear a dog collar. That's a title. It's, it's identifying not just who they are, but what they are. And actually that does matter in life. And here's why I think it matters in the church.
[00:01:41] I've been a Worship leader, I've been a Music Group Leader. I've been the Leader of music. It, it doesn't really matter, but Worship Leader is the one that really helps me understand that's the person that's gonna be involved in leading the music in this church.
[00:01:53] I remember a vicar getting very upset, I'm the Worship Leader, not you. Well, no, you're not leading the worship. And we understand what it means. And actually the thing [00:02:00] about titles is it helps us understand when we use them appropriate.
[00:02:04] When it comes to the BerryBunch my title would be CEO I'm the man that makes it happen, but I don't function on my own. There's a team of people. I'm not more important than somebody else, and it really comes down to what I wanted to say today.
[00:02:15] Titles are really helpful because they help us understand what someone's doing. In the context of church, what's really important is we know what people's functions are. We don't want the vicar do in the mowing of the grass, and fixing the toilets and all the rest of it. We want the vicar to do the vicar things, we want the gardener to do that. And we want the worship leader to lead the worship and the prayer people to do the prayers, and it helps guide us.
[00:02:37] Titles are important. Function is even more important.
[00:02:41] Just a thought.