It is never easy to lead a group of people! And, that is no less true of a group of people called the church. A number of things can make it more difficult than we might think. First, for whatever reason, there are always more people than we imagine in a local church that are not truly followers of Jesus Christ. Some of them are interested people who have not yet made a decision to follow Christ. However, all too often, some of them confess to be followers of Jesus, but don't intend to take any steps to see that confession give birth to the life that it anticipates. These people bring expectation into the church that has little, if anything, to do with the ways in which God wants His people to walk. They bring demands about the program and outcomes of the church that minimize the teachings of the Bible and the disciplines necessary to grow God’s people. If listened to, or catered to, they can result in a generation of people who look more like the world around them than the joyous and transformed people that the resurrection of Jesus anticipates.
Second, there are those of us who are indeed followers of Jesus, and we are genuinely cooperating to see the Holy Spirit conform us into the people God has designed us to be, that the resurrection of Jesus anticipates that we will be. But, we are on a journey of faith that will be life long. When we come to faith, we are newborns, and the convictions and disciplines necessary to mature us are just being put into place. As a result, some of our thinking and expectations have not yet been redeemed to the life that God anticipates for us, even here and now. Over time, and with mentoring, we learn to set into place all that is necessary to grow in the wisdom and knowledge necessary to submit regularly to the Holy Spirit and grow the life of Jesus in us.
Third, we too, as leaders of the local church, are on a journey. We should not be newborns, but we are not perfect either. We are still learning to submit to the word of God and the Spirit of God in all things. We are maturing in our daily disciplines in order to walk intimately with the Father, and to see all of His designs formed in us by the Holy Spirit.
