Our God is perfect in His design, majestic in His plan, precise in His decision making, impeccable in His timing. All contributing to the fact that He is a God of purpose.
Our God is perfect in His design, majestic in His plan, precise in His decision making, impeccable in His timing. All contributing to the fact that He is a God of purpose.
We can define God’s sovereignty as His ability to exercise His perfect will and rule throughout creation, He is in control. Not only is He sovereign but He is also omnipotent, meaning that He is able to bring about His perfect will and plan, there are no limits to His power. This is absolutely amazing! Our God is perfect in His design, majestic in His plan, precise in His decision making, impeccable in His timing. All contributing to the fact that He is a God of purpose. The question is how can we in some small way reflect such awesome characteristics of God? Being all-powerful would certainly make my to-do list a lot easier! Imagine never making any mistakes with your daily tasks. And being in perfect control of every situation. We may be limited by our human weaknesses, but God is not limited. We may not be able to function as He does in His perfect ways, but we know He is perfect, and He goes before us. And we know He has given each of us a purpose to fulfil.
So, what is this purpose? In Genesis 1:26-28, after God has created everything, God purposefully hands over the earth and all its fulness to man. The text (below) tells us that He blesses man and says go ahead be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, ‘subdue it’ and ‘have dominion over everything that moves’. So, we see right at the start of Genesis that God gives man and woman a purpose, a remit, a role, He gives clear instruction.
Genesis 1: 26 – 28 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God has put His stamp on us and made us creatures of purpose. God has made us with a will and ability to make choices, exercise rule, and make decisions. As church administrators we give expression to God’s character every day, making choices and decision in our individual lives as well as the roles we serve in behind the scenes. Not only has God made us with an active will but God has also given us the power to act on it, and the mental strength and physical endurance to complete difficult tasks.
One of the best examples that comes to mind as we consider where we can stamp this characteristic of God would be on the church finances. Church leaders and administrators have the responsibility to rule and have dominion over the financial systems and controls that we put in place for our churches. Very often churches operate as charities and getting the right governance in place is vital. We want to have the correct financial systems and controls that ensure we manage the income and expenditure of the church that is both accurate and efficient. It’s exciting and impactful in our work and ultimately within the church when we consider that God is purposeful. It is a great reminder that how we do what we do is important and matters! It brings significance and intention, the desire to faithfully fulfil God’s purpose within the church in every detail, including the finances.
Every January our Pastoral staff head away on a Team Retreat and one of the big agenda items during this time is the review of last year’s budgets and establishing budgets for the coming year. I really enjoy preparing the budgets for the retreat. I love analysing the budget and comparing it to last year. I thrive on finding ways to save the church money and enjoy the analytical and creative thinking needed. Some of the best moments on the team retreat is when budget holders for each of the ministry areas experience the big reveal (Last Quarter Report). The question is, have they overspent? Or are they coming in on budget? We have had some great celebrations from staff coming in exactly on budget, while others try to understand how they overspent so much. Whatever the result of the big reveal, it is wonderful to see our team come together with a desire to make other ministry areas successful. There is no vying to get the most amount of money for their ministry but a great collaboration, offering support to each other, even if it means they receive less funding for their ministry area.
The retreat is full of prayer, planning, discussion and decisions. As a result of our time together, team members can leave the retreat and go on to make further operational and spending decisions with their own ministry teams and volunteers. I love it! It’s an expression of leadership and purpose to set aside time to plan and budget for the year ahead. It involves using our God-given skills and abilities to prayerfully seek ways to best care for the church and share the good news of the gospel with unbelievers. I love to spend time picturing all the activity that takes place across the church after a team retreat. Watching new ministries start up on the back of decisions made at the retreat. Or existing ministries expand, and operational plans are put into motion. I cannot think of a better time when elders, deacons and support staff all come together and bring the stamp of God’s purpose to their work in ministry and ultimately bring Glory to God. We may be flawed and limited but God goes before us in all things. We can rely on His sovereignty and omnipotence to carry us as we seek to walk in His ways as we serve the church.
Let’s get stamping, stamping the character of God on the operations and on the administration of the church as we think about the God of purpose.
