We are coming up towards Christmas. I wonder if you’ve started planning for Christmas yet? Maybe the mere thought of it fills you with dread! All those things to do; All the family coming to stay; All the visits to other family to get in; All the presents to buy, and wrap, and hide, and deliver, and… . Well, of course, Christmas is not about that, is it? We celebrate Christmas because ‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders, and He shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God.’ And as a church we want, like the Angels that first Christmas, to point to Jesus and join together to praise God for His wonderful salvation plan in Jesus. It’s all about Him!

Keeping first things first is so important. In the chapters of Acts the rapid growth of the church presented big problems. We discover in Acts 6:1-7 that their desire to help the widows who had no wider family support (there were no pension schemes, no social security) was overwhelming the work of the church. The twelve were engaged in lots of good and noble activity, but not activity that would build the church. The proclamation of Jesus was being overwhelmed by the detail and organisational needs. Their solution? – elect Deacons. The organisational work was handed over to them. The result? Actually, it was dramatic: (v7) “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly…”.

As churches were established in the wake of the spread of God’s people and the missionary journeys of Paul and others, the same problems were faced and the same solution was proposed. In order to ensure that the important work of the church was kept central Titus was explicitly instructed to “straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint Elders in every town, as I directed you.” (Titus 1:5). It was not enough to merely have a preacher (Titus), or only Deacons – there must be both Elders and Deacons as Paul had appointed elsewhere (see, for example, Phil 1:1, 1 Tim 3:1-13). Why was this so important? For the same reason – to stop the organisational matters in the church drowning out the important work of word ministry and to enable the spread of the gospel.

I knew one lady who dreaded Christmas. Actually, her words were simply this: ‘I hate Christmas’. When I asked why, it turned out that she wasn’t some Scrooge-like character with a ‘Bah, Humbug’ attitude to Christmas. The problem was that she really struggled with the organisational side … she hated shopping and so put it off until it was a panic situation, she struggled with planning to cater and so often did not have something she needed in her cupboards when making the Christmas meal, and she never was able to plan to visit all the wider family. But, it turned out that her problem wasn’t really Christmas – her difficulties were because she had taken the whole of the Christmas organisation on herself, thinking she had ‘failed’ if she did not do everything. But she had a husband, wider family, and many friends who were longing to help. By helping her pass on things she wasn’t so good at, she not only survived Christmas but got her focus back on Jesus and could rejoice with God’s people.

Sadly, churches can be stuck in her position organisationally. Just because it has always been done one way, we stick with it. But this can prevent leadership from being effective and will prevent growth and cause stagnation. Getting leadership structures right is not a matter of organisational tinkering – it is central to gospel growth in the church. And the Bible gives clear direction for us to follow. It is for this reason that the Leadership in Cambray Baptist is recommending that we change the leadership structure of the church. Rather than a Pastoral Team and Deacons, we want to move to Elders (of which the Pastor and Associate Pastor are a part) and Deacons. The aim is that the Elders concentrate on the teaching, Pastoral oversight, and strategic development of the church and the Deacons concentrate on the administration, ministry oversight, finance, and day to day running of the church. We are proposing this because we see it as the Biblical way to move the church forward and enable long-term church growth.

Can we ask you to pray with us as we present this to Members and seek God’s enabling for this important step? We recognise that change brings challenges and managing change needs wisdom. And so please pray that God would make the way smooth, help with the wider church understanding of all we are doing, and preserve unity in the church and among the leadership. Above all, pray that, as we obey God in this matter, Cambray Baptist would also see God’s hand of blessing in gospel growth as a result.