Because theology is everybody's task
Monday, April 11, 2011
What Does A Bishop Oversee?
Alan Knox at The Assembling Of The Church re-posts one of his own all-time favorite posts, What Does A Bishop Oversee? He asks whether an "overseer" should oversee an organization or oversee people. He shows from some bible passages that shepherds are supposed to be concerned for people first of all. Alan brings this from the heart of an overseer because he is an elder in the church he assembles with. To my mind, a church whose overseers neglect its people or allow oversight of the organization get in the way of putting people first is fairly useless and to be avoided [Update: your own approach may differ, and I'm fine with that]. Along with Alan, I would have overseers choose people every time. Read Alan's post here.
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Steve,
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking to my post. It's an older post, but like you said, it's one of my favorites. I think the church would be much different if leaders (and others, of course) would recognize that our time, energy, gifts, talents, etc. are for people, not organizations.
-Alan
Oversight is not just oversight of people... as in a crowd of people of whom he barely knows their name and all from a professional distance. Oversight is always mutual and intimate, just like the Chief shepherd maintains with every single believer. He is God and can do it with everyone. A human shepherd can only do this with maybe 12-20. That means we should systematize fellowships to allow for our human limitations all the while providing for God's design and following Jesus' example.
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