S05E091, Why Titles Matter, Andy B 2 Minute Video
Titles can be the source of much contention and confusion. Show me a confused organisation and titles, probably, are part of the problem, because we can allow titles to define and focus the energy of people. Or, we can use ambiguous titles that cause confusion and delay.
In Thomas the Tank Engine we see exactly this as the various engines think they’re more important than the others around them. Frequently we’ll hear the Fat Controller tell one of them off and state that they’ve been causing confusion and delay.
In life it’s good to know what it is that somebody does!
But they only help while the people assigned any given title realise that any assigned title is merely a means to describe the function of any one individual.
When ego gets in the way, titles become unhelpful.
Titles matter, but don’t let your ego get in the way of the function of what you are because, ultimately – as Christians – we are all equal before God, with various functions to fulfil.
Just a thought...
Andy B
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Transcript
[00:00:00] So another Andy B Two Minute Video, and I'm thinking about titles. Now I've used this idea of titles in the past. I've talked about how it can be quite problematic. I've talked about how it can be quite advantageous and a lot of it is how a person with a title deals with that title. And how helpful or relevant that having a title might be.
[00:00:27] In churches, it's quite happy, it's quite good to know who's the vicar? Who's in charge? Who's the, who's the boss man? Who do we know where to go? It's important to have that title. Not because the title gives him any special qualities, or special treatment. It should not! But it's good to know who is who.
[00:00:42] It's good to know who the health and safety person in the church is. Health and safety does matter. Don't, we shouldn't just yawn, and roll our eyes and think, oh, what's going on? Actually, keeping people safe should be, physically, should be a, a foremost consideration for all Christians in all churches. It isn't something that should be relegated to the bottom [00:01:00] somewhere of, well, we better do it. Actually keeping people safe in a, in a physically safe environment is, is the first step that we should be doing. So titles can matter.
[00:01:08] Now we're working on a, a, a new project as a BerryBunch, which is quite exciting. I'm not gonna say anything about that right now. But what I am gonna say is we've assigned titles to ourselves.
[00:01:17] Now, I've never thought of myself as a CEO, I'm just a dad, and we do a ministry and that's what we do. But recently, God's been revealing something that I've been struggling with, is what is it exactly that I do? What am I?
[00:01:27] When someone says, Andy? Me, what are you? Well, I can reel off a list of things that I can do. I can talk about my relationship with God. But, but really, most people, when we meet them for the first time, just want to know what is it that we do? What's the bulk of our time spent doing?
[00:01:40] And I came up with this idea that I think has been inspired by God, that I'm a Digital Missionary. I work online, I work in radio, I work in videos. I, I do what I can, but it's always online, and very rarely with people face-to-face. I miss that. I love that. But that's not what I'm called to do at this time. So I came up with this title of a digital missionary, which I think fits who I am, and [00:02:00] what it is I'm doing.
[00:02:01] Titles matter because as we are looking at this new project as a family, it's really great when a question comes up about how are we gonna do some't, we defer to the person whose title is responsible for that. So it might be to Steven or it might go to Nathan or back to Jo, or to me, or whatever.
[00:02:15] Titles matter as long as we don't let it go to our ego!
[00:02:20] Don't ever think cuz you've got a title somehow you're better than somebody else. Titles are just a way of defining function. That's it. As CEO of, for this new project, I'm no more important than anybody else, but it does mean that certain things go through me that don't go to others. And it does mean that everything comes through one person. It can say yes or no, so we can make the project move forward and, and see if this is really what God wants us to do.
[00:02:43] Titles matter.
[00:02:44] Don't ever let it go to your head.
[00:02:45] Just a thought.
Andy B, 27/06/2023