To What Focus?

[cricket]

Among the following church positions, which--indeed, if any--should require a spiritual focus?

• Lower Division Sabbath School Teacher
• Upper Division Sabbath School Teacher
• Sabbath School Superintendant
• Organist/Pianist
• Audio/Visual Technician
• Church Treasurer
• Church Secretary
• Associate Pastor
• Pastor
• Pathfinder Director
• Choir Director
• Deacon
• Deaconess
• Elder
• Church Clerk
• Women's/Men's Ministries Leaders
• Conference Ministerial Director
• Conference Communications Director
• Trust Services Director
• Evangelism Coordinator
• Community Services Director
• Educational Superintendant
• Conference Youth Director
• Conference Vice President for Administration
• Conference Vice President for Finance
• Conference President

[:"brown"] Mammon, n.: The god of the world's leading religion. ~Ambrose Bierce

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[Clio]

All of them should require a spiritual focus.

Time is short.

[cricket]

Really? Even the occupations that involve non-religious matters, such as Trust Services Directors, Vice Presidents of Finance and Accountants?

[Halfstep Denise]

Trust Service Directors, Vice Presidents of Finance and Accountants DEFINITELY need to require spirtual focus! They will be working with money given to support God's work in the church! They need to have that close connection so the right decisions are made.

Halfstep Denise

[cricket]

Then, do we elect these officers by the interview process, or by nominations? And do they earn a salary? And, is their salary dependent on their spirituality?

[cricket]

Just thought I'd bump it to ask again: is their job security dependent on their spirituality?

[Clio]

Quote:

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QBJFN said:

Really? Even the occupations that involve non-religious matters, such as Trust Services Directors, Vice Presidents of Finance and Accountants?

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Absolutely.

Trust service managers are working with people who are planning bequests, which generally includes some manner of focus on death and dying. What more precious and important opportunity to bring a spiritual focus to someone who is contemplating death?

Vp's of Finance and Accountants! You bet! Money and it's stewardship is important both to us as humans and to Abba. His resources should be used to forward HIS work, which from a human perspective, must at times seem like lunacy. It's important that fiscal stewardship in these roles within the church have a spiritual temper and focus in order that the perils of too strong a focus on finances be avoided.

Clio

[Clio]

Unfortunately, I don't know the answers to your questions. I just think the answer to your first one is EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

Now... how we ascertain that, and encourage it? Yikes! Gonna take someone smarter'n me to figure that conundrum out.

Clio

[cricket]

That's a big problem with nominating committees. How do we--as people who choose who our leaders will be--figure out who should stay, who should leave, and who should be brought on board?

[Planey]

When your nominating committee meets to suggest names for the various appointments to be made, as well as their own thoughts I would assume they pray to be led by the Holy Spirit. Judging from most of the comments on this thread, I guess this last bit is just a formality to be got out of the way.

Nobody seems to trust Him to guide at all.

Graeme

[cricket]

(This thread, by the way, is not a comment on how the nominating committee at my church operates. If you're interested in a comment on that, you may PM me and I will discuss at length the wonderfully, spiritually minded people who have taken many months of their time to call on the name of the Lord to find our local church leadership.)

Actually, I don't trust our nominating committees for our our conferences, unions, and divisions--I don't trust that they will put complete confidence in a choice that God puts before them.

This is why I've been asking these questions. It seems to me that some perfectly good choices are set before our committees and they are shunned because there are no accredited degrees backing up the candidates.

I ask which positions are necessary for degrees to be a prerequisite--and for all others then, to not even have the degree come into consideration.

Jesus didn't have a degree. Jesus had a spiritual focus though. Personally, I would vote for Him for any leadership position--regardless of His formal education.