Church Leaders vs. football managers

Just a mixture of conversations I had between one of my brothers and my Dad, led me to start thinking about football managers and church leaders and some similarities.

A team I really struggle with talking about is Man U, horrible, horrible team, I will not say anymore, except, my dad, father in law and 2 of my brother in laws all support them and me being a Liverpool fan, is sometimes not pretty. The thing is, at man U at the moment, they will be at the top of their game for a long while, they are and will probably continue to be successful, and the probable biggest reason for this is the manager.

He is consistent, stable , innovative and some not very nice things as well, he has the support of his team and of the fans, he is building for the future and has done plenty, but if I remember rightly, at one point he was one game away from being sacked, I wonder what way Man U would have went if they had of sacked him?
I look at how some managers are treated and it is wrong, they never get the chance, things are handled badly internally, there is divisiveness, there is a lack of support, destined to fail. Yet as well, there are those that should not be in the job, those that fail and carry on regardless and cause more damage to their club, not knowing when to walk away, or to notice that things are not working, or the club does not handle the situation properly, fails to act and once again causes more damage.

All of these things have plenty to do with church leaders, especially new church leaders. How many times does a new leader come in and people are against him from the off, not supportive, decisive, not even willing to give someone a chance, a church leader walking into that situation is being set up to fail.
There are leaders that maybe should never have been appointed and are maybe in the wrong place, but an awful lot of the time, it is the support that is lacking, look what can happen if they do get the support, the backing, the chance to lead effectively, if they do get the support from their team and their congregation.

I was told that something like, out of the 20 biggest churches in the world today, 18 have had the same leader for the last 20 years, Man U moment!

Also, it does seem to me that if the support is not united, then that runs all the way up.

When Jesus was talking in Revelation about churches he had a problem with, He didn't tell anyone to leave and go somewhere else, he told them to sort it out.

Support, not divide, a divided house will fall, supported, we will win.

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Forgiveness

In my time I have wanted to lash out so much, I have done on occasion, there is so much that is not fair, so many that hurt others with no comeback and yet I am called to forgive.

The lord's prayer says ' Forgive me my trespasses and help me to forgive those that trespass against me.' Jesus goes on to say, if you forgive you will be forgiven, in Mark 11, Jesus says again when you stand praying 'forgive.'

More importantly, and in example, as Jesus was dying horribly on the cross, he asked his Father, 'forgive them..' Not 'when', not 'if', just forgive.

As a parent, I have wanted to hurt those that have hurt mine, yet the biggest truth and greatest example of forgiveness comes from God, when he saw his own son tortured, abused and murdered and forgave.

So hard, yet true, difficult, but the example has been set, and ultimately, beyond that forgiveness, beyond vengance and bitterness, anger and pain, lies freedom and life

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The Pursuit Of......

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is one of the most famous phrases from the U.S. declaration of independence, I like the idea of pursuit, to chase after something, to try to attain, it involves an effort, although it does not mean that the thing pursued is attained.

I am involved in an accountability group, based on a model from the Organic Church book by Neil Cole, in it there is a question, am I pursuing freedom from strongholds/patterns of behaviour?

I am challenged by this, it involves making choices and decisions which lead me into freedom and yet it encourages me in its pursuit, rather than its goal. I mess up, sometimes I really don't get it, but I am willing to chase, to keep running the race and keep pursuing.

Paul said in Philippians 3:12

'Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.'

I intend to keep following