Multiple Choices: What Would Jesus Have a Leader Do?

January 21, 2014

By Mary Ann Wray

When I went on my first mission’s trip to St. Thomas Virgin Islands in 2007, I was not only struck with its beauty but its deep poverty and spiritual oppression. I learned quickly that just a short distance from the cruise ship port was the largest red light district of the island replete with prostitutes, homeless street people and drug dealers. As we went about passing out tracts and witnessing to the locals, we ran across a few believers scattered among Rastafarians, alcoholics, homeless drug addicts and surrounded by deep poverty on every side.  The only attractive inhabitable places were high up on the hills that were laced with lovely colorful homes and mansions lined up majestically along the cliffs. This all seemed so ironic to me since St. Thomas was and is a major port of call for luxurious cruise ships bustling with tourists from all over the world. I wasn’t prepared at all for this crude reality.  What made it more disconcerting was the fact that almost every believer we ran into said they either didn’t go to church or didn’t like the church who was hosting the crusade we were promoting.

One afternoon, after our team returned from witnessing in a local neighborhood, we stopped to pray at a storefront para church ministry that helped the homeless and prostitutes. I began to weep  with tears of intercession as the Spirit prayed John 17: 20-26 through me. The Lord showed me that the churches on this tiny island were as divided and fragmented as the Virgin Islands themselves. There was no connection in the natural or in the  spirit. I began to weep for the leaders to come together in a spirit of unity. The spirit of religion had raped and ravaged the people to where they had no power to overcome. They were defeated in a curse of poverty and brokenness. His Body was sorely fragmented and divided.  I could feel the heart of Jesus as He wept over the condition of His body on that tiny Island. I could hardly bear it.  

I wondered why was it so hard to get people to come to this event and why was it so hard to praise and pray through a tough heavy atmosphere that night where little fruit was manifested by the end of the service. It was like we were all going through lifeless motions even though there was plenty of music, clapping, shouting, dancing and praying. The message was pretty good too. However, there was no manifestation of liberty, deliverance and power to set people free. Was I the only one who noticed these things or felt this way amidst strained smiles and warm but limp handshakes? I was afraid to ask!

Could it be that the church leaders who lived at the top of the hills away from the rest of the folks made a silent statement to the tiny island that they were somehow better, higher or more anointed? Could it be that these same leaders were in competition with one another and more concerned with their individual ministries than they were promoting the Kingdom of God in order to set the captives free? Only one church put on this event. Where were the rest? Evidently the others were not interested -so the leaders said shaking their heads when asked.

I really can’t answer all those questions because I was a team member there to help facilitate what the other leaders of this event asked us to do. I was not privy to any conversations that the leaders had with one another or any of the church leaders for that matter.  However, it is amazing to me what you can see at a distance from behind the scenes or in the back of the bus, so to speak. Yes, we did ride around town in an old ratchety school bus with no AC. I was able to take the spiritual pulse of the city while praying in the Spirit as we rode around town in the sweltering heat. The Spirit prayed as we observed the goings on down each cobble-stoned roadway. I’ve learned you don’t have to be at the top to see what’s happening below. Sometimes you get a better view from a lowly place. What I was seeing was not what I was ‘hearing’ from the leadership. I left St. Thomas feeling very grieved in the spirit because there was little if no impact made as a result of that trip. I know that the Father will reward each one of us one day who went with a right heart attitude, but the truth is the team was not prepared, equipped or ready to take on the religious spirit on that island.

This leads me to a question the Lord just popped into my head tonight. Is God’s Kingdom Divided? The sort of things He showed me in St. Thomas happens here in the United States all the time. This ‘quiz’ is not to point out who’s right or who’s wrong but rather to try and get us to think about  the Body of Christ as a whole rather than by bits and fragments.

You may know the story about the Levite in Judges 19 & 20 who offered his concubine up to  be raped and abused by the wicked men of Gibeah in order to avoid being abused himself. After her death by abuse, he cut her body up into 12 pieces and sent one piece of her to each region of Israel’s inheritance. The Levite justified his actions and blamed this horrendous act on the wicked men of Gibeah, but he himself was the one who disregarded the wellbeing of his concubine and allowed her to be abused. As a result, her body was defragmented and divided at his own hand and war broke out between the tribe of Benjamin (son of the right hand) and the rest of the Israelites. 

Could it be that many of the religious leaders of our day have the same regard for the Body of Christ as this Levite did? In order to preserve and protect their individual ministries they would disregard the well-being and protection of the flock of God which He has entrusted to them? As a result of this selfishness, self preservation of ministry and perversion of trust, could this be one if not the main reason why the Body of Christ has become divided in the land with no connectivity with the other parts of the Body?

What would Jesus have a Leader do in a case like this? Quiz your heart…

Church A has been around for a while and is well established in the community. Church B comes along and some folks from church A leave and go to church B. These same people  tell the pastor of Church B why they left Church A. The Pastor of Church B welcomes them into fellowship but the pastor of Church A gets more upset that members are leaving and going to Church B. Pastor from Church A then starts to blame Church B for proselyting his people. What should Church B’s pastor do?

a. Believe everything the folks from church A told him without question, and go along with the story the discontented members told him without seeking the Father about it or doing anything at all

b. Totally ignore the situation and not be concerned with Church A or any other church in the region for that matter

c. Call the pastor of church A or visa versa in humility and try to meet and discuss why the folks from his church are leaving and then try to offer help in an effort to promote unity in the Body of Christ?

d. leave town because the conflict and pressure is too great

This is just one of a myriad of different scenarios that exist. My husband and I have been through quite a few of them.  I realize not everyone can agree on every point but for the sake of unity in the Spirit, can’t we agree whose church we really belong to i.e., the Universal, invisible Church (ecclesia-called out ones) of the Lord Jesus Christ? Whose Body are we ALL a part of? Can’t we focus on the Head rather than our differences? Can we judge truth without being condemning and can we discern without devouring one another?

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Galatians 5: 13-15

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17: 20-23

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, a in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas ”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” 1 Cor 1:10-18

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4: 1-6

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Ephesians 4: 15-16

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4: 11-14

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room 

for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink .In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” Romans 12: 17-21

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5: 9