Joseph's Blessings In Prison

Genesis 39:23 tells us, "The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did." Even in prison Joseph experienced the Lord's blessing. His administrative skills were noticed by the prison warden and he was put in charge of all prison operations.

One of the most important skills missing from far too many churches is the skill of administration. Administration is a gift that the Holy Spirit gives for the purpose of enabling God's work to be done in an orderly, effective manner. Often the task of administration in the Bride of Christ is left up to the pastor, even though it is not one of the Biblical responsibilities of the pastor.

Too often, what the Bible says is considered "impractical," so churches tend to substitute their own concept of how to organize, quite apart from the Biblical model. After all, we believe the Bible is the Word of God, is inspired, is inerrant and is authoritative EXCEPT WHEN IT IS NOT PRACTICAL TO FOLLOW IT.

WRONG!

The Holy Spirit gives the gift of administration for a reason. Christ expects His Bride to plan, coordinate, implement and evaluate His work to ensure its effectiveness.

Many seem to think, "Oh, well. It's only the church. God is forgiving and if we mess up, He will not really care."

ONLY THE CHURCH? HOW DARE WE THINK THAT WAY! The church is to be an offering to God, not a series of popular or entertaining functions. We must place the Bride of Christ in as high esteem as Christ did. He DIED for His bride!

The church's task is to lead people to Christ, to provide effective worship, to train new believers in correct doctrine, to help more mature members grow in Christ, to provide meaningful fellowship and to engage in specific missions education and activity locally and around the world.

That's an awful lot for a pastor to take on at the same time that he tries to accomplish his Bible given duties of prayer, preaching the gospel and ministering to the ongoing needs of his congregation.

Every church needs to come to grips with the need for proper, Godly administration, and someone should serve as the pastor's "right-hand-man" in accomplishing it. It is the administrator's job to take the pressures of day-to-day tasks out of the hands of the pastor in order to allow him to do the job he is called to do. That job is NOT the job of administration.

Churches should seek someone with the kind of administrative skills Joseph had. They should seek someone who can "relieve the warden of his work load," just as Joseph did. Through prayer and careful searching, the Holy Spirit can lead the church to an effective administrator.