Leading On The Home Front
Let me contrast for you two of my life moments I’m recalling this evening:
- Standing on stage at a youth conference leading young people in prayer and witnessing actual real-life miracles.
- Sitting down to write this blog and being interrupted 5 times so far by my two-year-old stirring and crying and having to go settle a hot, miserable child repeatedly (no doubt all night too…)
As different as these two moments are, both are precious acts of service to God and faithfully outworking the grand design he has for my life. Though at times I have to give my head a wobble to remember this!
Ephesians 2 v 10 states: ‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’
Even though we know this, and can probably all quote this verse, it’s still easy to get trapped in the mindset that the most active and exciting outworking of our calling resides in some form of presenting, mission, ministry or vocation – the more obvious roles of “calling” (in inverted commas because when we say it out loud this is clearly a very narrow view of calling).
I have to be honest, I still felt more like I was outworking Ephesians 2 and seeing the ‘good works’ when I was hands on in youth ministry every week preaching and pastoring, when I used to lead worship, going out on missions sans children – aka when I was doing the “obvious” roles. It feels a bit harder to see the ‘good works’ in the nappy changes, nursery runs, grocery shopping, sitting at the back with the kids, and chaotic bedtime routines, all of which regularly make me choose between them and the meetings or ministries available to me. Can I see God’s ‘good works’ here too? Is this hidden stuff also a form of leadership??
The framework the Bible supplies for Kingdom leadership is outlined in Matthew and Mark where Jesus explains that the great among us must be servants, even slaves of all. As church leaders, we are called to obedience, to service and to submission, in both the seen and unseen moments.
Obedience: I remember hearing a story once of a person being asked by God if he would rather be an up-front preacher and save 1,000,000 souls or spend 20 years as a hermit in prayer and save 1,000,001 souls which would he choose? The correct answer, obviously, if your motives are right is the 1,000,001. What value is 20 years of satisfying your ego in comparison to 20 years of obedience and one additional eternal soul? Yet we are still creatures of ego in the natural. But in the Kingdom, you are doing just as much valuable work serving and leading in obscurity as you could be in other forms of ministry, if that is what is required of you. Perhaps you are raising the next revival preacher? Perhaps your work colleague needs to see your faithful and obedient love of Jesus to ‘get it’? Perhaps that mum on the school run really needs to hear what the Holy Spirit wants to prompt you to say to her? God weaves threads into his tapestry that are subtler, more powerful and longer lasting than the ones whose immediate effects we see.
Service: As for me, I will never serve anyone as faithfully, as consistently or over a longer course of time than I will my children. If I offer them half-hearted service and I offer my church something better, they will learn I am a hypocrite, and ultimately, they will probably resent and leave church. If I serve them wholeheartedly, bring my Spirit-led best to breakfast, lunch and dinner, role-model faith and discipline and practice asking for forgiveness when I get it wrong hopefully, they will grow up seeing the real Jesus in me, not just my ego. This is true of all of us, not just mothers or pastors wives; it encompasses the dad in the creche facilitating his wife serving, the grandparent releasing their children by watching the littles while they go to a meeting, the friend dropping a meal by so that someone else can have one thing taken off their plate that day, as well as when we turn up to our day jobs in tune with the Spirit to be Jesus to people rather than shuffling along on auto-pilot. When we are church to one another, serve one another and release one another, we are all parenting, all serving, all leading in a biblical sense of the word by being a servant, even a slave, of all.
Submission: Ultimately, even though sometimes I have to grit my teeth and force myself, I have to be willing to submit to the will of God for my season, and for my calling. The world will provide ample reasons as to why this must be unfair and I should take offence or be hurt; it must be to do with my gender, or traditional family roles, it must be because I’m not skilled or gifted for “real” calling, it must be because I’ve been overlooked or I took the wrong career path – in short naming me the victim and telling me I should feel bruised. But in truth it is none of those things. It is Joseph hidden and imprisoned, preserved for the right moment, it is Paul chained and captive yet penning words which would inspire generations, it is Ruth given her position ‘for such a time as this’, it is Abraham and Sarah faithfully waiting decades for the promise of God. Submission to the hidden service of the Kingdom of God is never a missed opportunity or a second-place prize, but another thread being woven into a bigger picture than we can possibly begin to comprehend all weaved for the Glory of God and his Kingdom.
During World War 2 those left behind not called up for active fighting duty were on the Home Front. They had to shoulder the burden of ensuring the country’s infrastructure, war munitions, farms, factories and families continued to function. The morale, weapons production, food production and family life these people nurtured and protected had a direct impact on the success of the overseas troops, a factor which many historians credit as one of several decisive factors in the allies’ victory.
Nobody on the Home Front fired a gun or took ground; they grew crops, made weapons, submitted to rationing, evacuation, working in entirely new vocations and arenas, kept up morale and mobilised support. Perhaps your season right now doesn’t look like the classic examples of thriving in your calling that you expected, but let me encourage you, keep the fight, you are still waging war. God sees you and loves you more than you can imagine. Submit to Him in faithful, obedient serving and perhaps by doing so we will better understand the very nature of leadership, as defined by Jesus: to serve one another.
Lauren Jorden