In Acts 15 the matter of requiring the newly saved Gentiles
to be circumcised has reached the Council at Jerusalem for a decision. Barnabas
and Paul reported to the Council how these new believers had received the
infilling of Holy Spirit, the miracles that had took place in their midst…and
that some were requiring them to be circumcised as adults…in order to even be
saved. This event, could easily be considered a “roadblock” to the unity and growth of the church, it became
abundantly obvious that this was something that needed to be dealt with if the
church was to continue to grow among the Gentiles.
It’s amazing at times how we can be oblivious to or ignore
the much needed decisions that need to be made, some of them simple, that would
keep the church growing, reaching and even less frustrating. On some occasions
they can even be our own rules or past patterns that have grown out of date and
ineffective.
In Verne Harnish’s article he points out that that question
of how to motivate employees (church)
could be in fact the wrong question. The right question is “How do I stop
demotivating them?” Ask what are the processes and obstacles in their way from
being more effective. Long pointless meetings, no vision, poorly staffed
nursery, not enough budget, church culture counter effective to reaching the
community, incompetence, etc. could be some issues. Staff, leaders and pre-leaders
often will be able to point out the sometimes simple changes needed to promote
better, greater, more effective growth or morale. In other words…one of the
roles of leaders is to “clear the
roadblocks”.
