Moses' email

'Moses' Henrick De somer 1638
"Wait! Moses didn't have email!"
Well, on one hand, the 10 Commandments was like an email from God
that Moses hand-delivered.
And... Moses had in-person visits from every unhappy Israelite head of household.
He had to deal with every, every, every human being under his care.
Please read Exodus 18, for the account of Moses receiving counsel from Jethro
about creating a chain of command within the camp.
Moses accepted Jethro's advice, where ordinary members of the camp had authority
to intervene in the lives of others. Notice that when leaders were appointed to do the easy conflicts, the people coming to them - were expected to submit to the leadership of these appointed subordinates.
This structure is lacking in a lot of churches today. Everyone wants to speak directly to the pastor, no one else. This is a case of the tail wagging the dog. And this pressure is partly earned.
A lot of pastors refuse to trust people who aren't certified pastors. It's true.
'"If they aren't certified, they probably can't make good decisions."
Mathematically, if a church is a true leader in soul winning, then that church can and will bring in more souls than that one pastor can intimately mentor.
And the belief "I can only speak to a pastor - no one else knows anything." harms and stagnates that church. And so, the pastor is like a young mother with infants constantly tugging at her apron
who doesn't trust her children with anyone else.
While cell groups may help, there is still a place for Jethro-ites in the church, handling conflicts.
And I believe there is a place in the email ministry for Jethro-ites, with the church making it clear to the emailer that the Jethro-ites have the authority to communicate for the church for certain duties.
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AANNDD... I'm reminded of Abraham, father of our faith, who in Genesis 24, sent a trusted servant to secure a bride for his son, Isaac. Isaac was expected to marry the girl the servant brought home. Chew on that for a while. One of Abraham's leadership qualities was his willingness to trust others.
MOSES' EMAIL
Jethro-ite email
Before we begin, imagine being a pastor who NEVER received an email from anyone.
Utter rejection.
Now let's explore how Jethro-ites could streamline a church's email ministry.
I assert that no church office-holder should ever have a completely private - official email address.
Part of the deacon's duties (in rotating teams of two) should be to review the pastor's official emails weekly.
I've seen too many crimes shows where adulterous pastors murdered their wives
and must have used their church email to facilitate their adultery.
(And far too-often with a church secretary or choir leader).
These deacons should also oversee the volunteer Jethro-ites screening the church email,
acting like switchboard operators, deciding:
* which email is spam
* what is legitimate in-house, housekeeping email
(like regular scheduling and event management and registration)
* outsiders' email, either seeking or trolling
* what is counseling-level email
* what are prayer request items
* what is upper-level stuff from HQ
* what is curious stuff that might be useful (like an announcement about iDonWantGod.com)
The Jethro-ites could sort and route the necessary and useful emails
while junking the spam.
Do you trust your people to be email Jethro-ites?
