God uses weakness

This post is from the defunct blog “Dying Church”

From my mailbag yesterday:

Dear Senior Pastor: As a pace-setting church leader we thought you'd want to be among the very first to know about a new thing we are seeing God doing, to raise the effectiveness of the church to a whole new level. For some time now God has been bringing across our path some of the sharpest minds in Canada's business community: God-honoring men and women who use their strategic thinking skills every day to steer the course of significant corporations. And this has planted a dream. Could the church rise to a new level of effectiveness if these leaders were envisioned, equipped and empowered to use their expertise and gifting at the local church level? Could that local church more fully reach its redemptive potential if the senior pastor and these business leaders worked together in a high level linkage building the church?

Nothing against these business leaders, but I think that we misunderstand God's Kingdom when we exalt the methods of the world and value those who are successful and strong. Sure, we can learn from some of what business does (all truth is God's truth), but these days the Christian world seems so enamored with emulating the business world, so that our churches start to resemble well-run corporations with franchises – miniature versions of Motorola or IBM – rather than the broken and wounded Body of Christ. I can't get over the fact that Christ came to us in weakness and eschewed the powerful and chose fishermen and tax collectors. He talked being poor in spirit and opposed every worldly structure of success. He washed feet and ultimately gave up his life in the greatest display of weakness this world has ever seen (God dying). Every time God used somebody strong and powerful, their strength and power has been an obstacle to overcome rather than an asset that God was waiting to use. God used Moses, but not when he was connected to the most powerful people in the world and up-to-date in the most modern techniques of leadership. God used him after Moses had spent 40 years in obsurity keeping company with sheep. "I delight in weaknesses…for when I am weak, then I am strong"(2 Corinthians 12:10) No offense to these business people, but I think all of us need to remember that God uses us not because we're strategic thinkers with great resumes and finely developed skills. God uses us in spite of these. God seems to like using our weakness and our complete dependence on him.