Thoughts for the Day

Salutation

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness, in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began—in due time he revealed his word through the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Saviour,

To Titus, my loyal child in the faith we share: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.

Titus in Crete

I left you behind in Crete for this reason, that you should put in order what remained to be done, and should appoint elders in every town, as I directed you: someone who is blameless, married only once, whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery and not rebellious. For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain; but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled. He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

We return to one of Paul's epistles, the tiny one to Titus, because it offers such good practical teaching that we can apply to our life today. Paul had left Titus in Crete, asking that he appoint worthy elders to positions of responsibility. In the way that Paul had chosen Titus, Titus must now find worthy successors to himself, if the gospel message is to continue spreading.

Over some sixty years of working in churches around Britain I have learnt much about congregations. I remember arriving at one church that had suffered a long interregnum to be faced with two wonderful churchwardens who were run ragged after many years in the job. As members of the congregation had moved away or died, they had taken on their work. They were amazing, but they gave me a year's notice. With their help we divided up the work and allocated small jobs to others. From then on all those who took on any work were asked to "look behind them" to see who could be trained to do their particular job. Finally, with God's help there were Deputy Churchwardens, Assistant Flower arrangers, more helpers in the kitchen, and a group of intercessors.

My first question to every new Lay Reader or Curate was also "Who can be trained to replace you?" So the question for each of us today is: "If you went sick tomorrow, who would do your work for God, and how can you ensure this happens?" And if you feel you are doing nothing, start praying for others, and ask the same question about your new prayer ministry.

Holy Spirit,
You have given each of us gifts
to be used to extend the work of the Kingdom.
May we look behind us to nurture
others to use their gifts,
and be willing to share our knowledge and expertise,
not just to grow good leaders,
but also to create healthy congregations.
Amen.